antimike

So have any of you had anything said to you on group rides where there were a bunch of skinny people that made you feel either good or bad?

I have a positive experience from last night where 3 people commented on my riding. I'd been on this group ride before but I felt pretty good and wanted to drop the hammer in some of the sprints and push myself harder on the hill climb.

1. You used to be Big Mike, now you're Little Mike.
2. Dang dude you got fast.
3. You were riding really strong tonight man.

I guess we all have our good and bad rides..this just happened to be a good one for me.

I know there is a flip side to the positivity that I received, how do you deal with that? If any of you care to share by all means!

skinnysanta

Not a group rider yet but I've had a couple of area A teamers slowly catch up to me then obviously sprint pass within inches to show their cycling supremacy. Good for them, but what does it prove passing a clyde when you've obviously been training for years and are as lean as Iggy Pop? Nothing to me, maybe "something" to them? :lol

(IMHO that was what was going on).

Neil_B

I get a lot of condescending comments from 'group' riders, so unless I know the group well, I ride alone.

Mithrandir

I've never done the group thing, too intimidated I suppose. Never had another cyclist I meet on the road criticize my weight; but I do catch a fair amount gawking. I like to imagine that they are impressed as hell.

Seattle Forrest

"Wow, that was a great pace up that hill" came from a fellow roadie, on a carbon aero bike, after I dropped him on a climb and he caught up at a light.

I don't do much group riding, but I do find myself having short conversations with other roadies from time to time. There are a couple of very scenic rides in town that everybody loves, so people tend to bump into each other (figuratively).

magohn

Not on a group ride (as I dont do them) but on a charity ride with hundreds of other riders.

The ride was full of the usual "big fishes in a little pond" skinny riders who use the ride for their own Tour De France experiences. One of the 150lb heroes races up to behind me and yells "Your rear tires flat, your rear tires flat" as he overtakes me he realizes that Im a clyde and says "So very sorry, I didnt realize" - What does THAT mean?

He was probably being nice but anyways, it stuck with me a little.

Alternatively, on the same ride, a skinny rode passed me and says "Dude - from behind, your calf muscles are huge, biggest Ive seen" - I like to take that one as a compliment.

dcrowell

I don't do many group rides, other than a small group of us that know each other, and mostly are clydes.

However, I did participate in a 100K Populaire a couple of weeks ago. There was another clyde on the ride, and he had just come back from France after riding Paris-Brest-Paris.

I was the only single-speed rider on the Populaire and the course was hillier than advertised. I was slower than the other riders, but they thought I put in a good ride.

CliftonGK1

We were making a moderately quick pace up a mile and a half climb during a 100k last year, and one of the megamilers turns to me and says "You climb really well for a big guy." I told him "Yeah, but I want to climb well like a little guy." Everyone got a chuckle out of that.

Another guy with the group passed me on a climb one day (he's a RAAM and FC508 racer, and recent Charly Miller Society PBP finisher) and he hollered "Stand up, big man!" I was being lazy and slogging a really weaksauce gear, and he called me out on it. Now I hear him in the back of my mind, yelling at me when I'm not hammering the hell out of it on any incline.

Sayre Kulp 

I've gotten negative reactions ranging from simply whizzing past me to telling me everything that I'm "doing wrong."

But I've gotten many more positive comments. Some are kind of funny. "Your NOT slow!" (said in disbelief) and "Your bike's NOT crap!" (also in a surprised voice) Some are more encouraging; like, "a rider like you should probably be leading these things." And my personal favorite is still a champion competitive cyclist with numerous records to his name calling ME the most impressive young rider he's seen.

Every group is different. Sometimes the vibe from the group can change depending on who shows up or what they're day was like, etc. I rode with a group out in Reading and hated every bloody minute of it. In Florida, I was met more with shock than anything else. Now in Harrisburg, the group scene has been extremely positive so far. Your guess is as good as mine as to why.

Mr. Beanz

No, I'm still waiting.

Seattle Forrest

That's about as insulting as the time my Garmin said AUTO PAUSE while I was climbing a hill.

freighttraininguphill

Yeah, when I first got my Garmin and tried that auto-pause feature it got turned right off once I figured out it would auto-pause at 2 mph. On the steepest climbs I've seen my speed drop that low for short periods of time.

A few months ago when I was 164 lbs I was talking to another female cyclist while climbing an 8-11% grade. She said "you're a strong climber". It was all I could do to keep from busting up laughing. Even better yet, it was all captured on video!

Mithrandir

If you guys are using the Garmin edge 500 you can set auto-pause at 0mph. I do that and the only time it pauses when I'm moving is when I hit a bump and knock the GSC10 into the spokes. Sigh.