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Ride by a bunch of idiots.

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Ride by a bunch of idiots.

Old 10-09-13, 10:06 AM
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Ride by a bunch of idiots.

Remember that lot from my son-in-laws company that were doing a ride from one of their branches to the other? Well it happened last weekend.

I was involved in sorting their bikes and keeping them maintained up to the event and taking the "Slower" riders for training and getting them used to saddle time and mileage and in training most of them to get up hills. These riders are in the younger age brackets of 20 to 40 and at the start were all capabilities and fitness. The amount of riding they got in improved their fitness- and it is surprising how their hill climbing ability improved over the months. By the end of the ride they had all aged 20 years- in particular on the second day when they had to climb back on that saddle for the hilly part of the ride.



But they all managed it and none of the bikes fell apart on them and plenty of money raised for the charity they were supporting
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Old 10-09-13, 10:24 AM
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Not quite sure I understand how that makes them "a bunch of idiots", but then, British humor is quite a bit different from what we Yanks call humor. And, yes, I do know. I was married to a delightful British lady for twenty-six years until she passed away.
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Old 10-09-13, 10:39 AM
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So GREAT to see your post, Stapfam, and, yes, I do remember the group you were training and "sorting out" their bikes. Looks like a very successful endeavor!

Originally Posted by SFCRetired
Not quite sure I understand how that makes them "a bunch of idiots", but then, British humor is quite a bit different from what we Yanks call humor. And, yes, I do know. I was married to a delightful British lady for twenty-six years until she passed away.
It helps if you were on the forum several months ago when Stapfam started this process. He has had quite an accomplishment with this group.
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Old 10-09-13, 10:58 AM
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Sounds like the investment you made in them was quite helpful. Glad they all made it, and not at all surprised about the reluctance to climb back on the saddle for the second day. Think any of them may become regular cyclist after this?
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Old 10-09-13, 11:27 AM
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When this ride was mooted- None of them even had cycles. The MD had ridden many Years ago but that was about it and I had his 30 year old Giant in for "Renovation". Hybrid Cycles were acquired from one of their suppliers and it was great fun watching them attempt the 2% slope for 1/2 mile and even changing gear was a problem. But gradually those that were keen got in the miles- several of them got road bikes but to be honest they were just a bit above "Wally Mart" status and they would have been better off staying with the hybrids. The ride was planned for earlier in the year but they were not capable of a 50 mile ride- let alone 160.

My job was maintaining the bikes and going out with those that needed assistance on learning hills and improving speed. The ride last Sunday was cut from the original 20 down to 10 and they were finally cyclists. Last ride I did with them was 60 miles with no stops and repeat runs up an average 14% hill for 1.5 miles. Average of 14 but the steep section at the end was 20%.

But they surprised me that all managed the ride and the time was down to the slowest rider. They stayed as a group which probably helped the tearaways to conserve energy and For a first real ride- the "Idiots" did well. A Ride is planned for a couple of weeks time so we shall see who is going to stay riding.
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Old 10-09-13, 11:46 AM
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So the ride did go off! I remember the original plan was to do the ride in ONE DAY!

How many riders participated? Do you have pictures?

I just looked at the other thread - I mentioned then that doing the ride over two or even three days would be (more) fun.
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Old 10-09-13, 11:53 AM
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Give yourself a huge pat on the back Stap.
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Old 10-09-13, 01:46 PM
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Way to go Stapfam, sounds like you had your hands full. glad to hear they all made it.
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Old 10-09-13, 02:07 PM
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I remember the proposal, and thought it had little chance of ending well. From your report, though, it sounds like you were a remarkable success on many fronts!!

I'm amazed that the entire group cooperated with the fitness & speed training (given your preference for hills!). I'm slightly surprised there were no mechanical disasters with such a diverse selection of bikes. I'm sure you were absolutely central to the success, and that most felt it to be an accomplishment. Given a group of that size with a common goal, I'd bet you made a few long term cyclists, as well. Great job!
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Old 10-09-13, 04:46 PM
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Two days + zero medivacs = SUCCESS!
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Old 10-09-13, 08:45 PM
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I still think it was a bad idea.

(I could be wrong I guess.)
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Old 10-10-13, 06:03 AM
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Originally Posted by billydonn
I still think it was a bad idea.

(I could be wrong I guess.)
Are you ever wrong, Don?
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Old 10-10-13, 06:08 AM
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"But they all managed it and none of the bikes fell apart on them and plenty of money raised for the charity they were supporting"
Congratulations, Stap. I remember your musings some months ago about this and was only wondering the other day if it ever happened. That's quite an achievement to a)train the guys and b) for them to do that course, which is by no means flat, at that av. speed. Maybe when we come over next year, you can be our trainer for hills!
Well done!
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Old 10-10-13, 07:02 AM
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Congratulations on getting the bikes and the bicycles ready for such a challenge. I am sure that it rewarding to see success after putting your efforts into such endeavor that would have surely failed without your help.
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Old 10-10-13, 09:46 AM
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Good job, stapfam. This turned out a lot better than I would have predicted when you first brought it up.
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Old 10-10-13, 02:41 PM
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I still think they were idiots. With such little training they did not stand a chance. I have not contacted them but I can only guess what they felt like on Sunday morning. Sunday must have shown a lot of "Guts" to even get back on the saddle but I did hear that one of them took my suggestion of lowering the saddle by an inch for Sunday so he could ride out of the saddle easier to ease the butt for extended periods.

I did nothing for this ride. OK I checked the bikes- got them set up for the ride and maintained them while they were training but they did the ride. I did not.
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Old 10-11-13, 08:09 PM
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That is a cool story. You did a good thing.
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Old 10-12-13, 03:31 AM
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This thread is really vexing.

The OP says a bunch of guys are idiots... because they succeeded in raising a bunch of money for charity by stepping way out of their comfort zones.

I get a strong feeling that there is a back-story here to which we are not privy.
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Old 10-12-13, 09:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Rowan
This thread is really vexing.

The OP says a bunch of guys are idiots... because they succeeded in raising a bunch of money for charity by stepping way out of their comfort zones.

I get a strong feeling that there is a back-story here to which we are not privy.
It's a British term of endearment

Last edited by Artmo; 10-12-13 at 09:53 AM. Reason: Correction
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Old 10-12-13, 11:39 AM
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I am an accomplished bike rider and I used to be serious about running. Swimming is not my forte so if I were to enter a Triathlon next year- it would take a lot of training for me to finish the Swimming leg and due to the knee problems I now have- I doubt that I would finish. OK- there are different lengths of Triathlon and the severity of such. I "Might" with training manage to complete the shorter easier ones but it would still take a lot of training. But It would be Lunacy for me to attempt say an Olympic grade of Triathlon even with training.

That is why I called this lot idiots. 160 miles is a ride that I would struggle with but I would be able to do it.

And just found out that of the 10 that did the ride- 3 of them were in serious trouble on the Sunday. Not just talking pain and tiredness- they were in trouble and a lot of walking was done that day. In fact one of them put his bike in the van and walked 5 miles only to be forced to get back on the bike for the last mile so it looked good for the reception committee.

But all credit to them for doing the ride- but I still call them idiots.
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Old 10-16-13, 02:47 PM
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well done Sir. anyone say thank you?
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Old 10-21-13, 09:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Artmo
Are you ever wrong, Don?
Originally Posted by stapfam
I still think they were idiots. With such little training they did not stand a chance. I have not contacted them but I can only guess what they felt like on Sunday morning. Sunday must have shown a lot of "Guts" to even get back on the saddle but I did hear that one of them took my suggestion of lowering the saddle by an inch for Sunday so he could ride out of the saddle easier to ease the butt for extended periods.

I did nothing for this ride. OK I checked the bikes- got them set up for the ride and maintained them while they were training but they did the ride. I did not.
Arthur,
See? See? Sometimes you get away with it even though it was a bad idea?
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Old 10-22-13, 07:53 AM
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I see! Right again, Don!
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Old 10-24-13, 09:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Artmo
I see! Right again, Don!
My bad... I meant to use Stap's quote that three of them were in "serious trouble". Let me see... Yes I was wrong about the personal computer being stupid. Still mulling over that one. Have given up on the mainframe finally though. LOL.
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