genejockey 

I, in fact, never have. My first, 5 year HS reunion came just after I dropped out of grad school - let's just say it was mutual between me and the program. Ever since then, I've been out here in CA and not inclined to travel 3000 miles for it. But I did check out the pictures from the last couple. The 30th, I looked at the pics and my first thought was, "Why did everyone's parents come to a reunion?", before I realized it wasn't their parents, it was THEM!

The 40th, my first thought was they'd invited their grandparents.

indyfabz

It's not like I had great friendships with the types of people who attend reunions. That wasn't my experience in that environment. My closest friends and I were like prison inmates who planned to go their separate ways once we got released. I will probably end up skipping it if I can come up with something better.

datlas 

I don't think I have ever gone to a reunion. I think my high school and college and med school got the memo as I don't even get invited anymore.

big john

I've never been to a reunion from my school, most of my friends went to other schools and I did go to a few of theirs. My 50th would have been 2021 and there wasn't one due to covid.
I've gone on Classmates to see if anyone I remember is there and I got the same "why are their parents pics here?" thing as you did.

genejockey 

I'm Friends on FB with a small selection of folks I went to high school or college with, and they aren't necessarily the ones I was closest with at the time. Part of the whole "Low social needs introvert" thing - I struggle to maintain friendships once we're no longer in frequent contact.

thin_concrete

I went to my 20th HS reunion and I’m all set from there on out. We’re coming up on 30 soon! It was good to see everyone (small parochial school), but I don’t need to see them in person again. FB is enough the 3 times a year I actually log in and check it.

datlas 

I don't do FB either.

#Misanthrope

big john

You might find Classmates amusing. You can see recent pictures posted by people you haven't seen in decades.

genejockey 

4 of my 5 siblings are on FB, and it keeps us pretty close. One of us set up a Group on Messenger, where we have a more or less constant conversation (sometimes with many hours between comments). My sister has been keeping us updated on her son's recovery - poor guy got pretty messed up when a car pulled out from a stop sign in front of his motorcycle.

I somehow manage to avoid a lot of the political arguments there, since I decided some time back that wrassling with pigs only gets you dirty and the pigs like it. Or maybe anyone who disagrees with me de-friended me long since?

WhyFi

I think that your self-assessment is pretty fair. I'd say that you're pretty strong at mid- and long-duration efforts but start to fall off, relatively speaking, at efforts shorter than 3 min or so, which is kind of the opposite of me. The question is what to do with that, though, which is something that I've asked myself. I've come to the opinion that you go for the low-hanging fruit, which in your case would be the sprint form/technique work. After that, though, I'm of a mind to embrace/train your strengths rather than beat your head against your weaknesses.

datlas 

Maybe. I did not have a great experience in High School, I survived but had only a small group of friends and we were all eager to GTFO and move on with our lives. I actually do not have contact with any of them and my life is already busy/complicated enough so I am not looking for trouble. I have plenty.

bampilot06

Right, but even my top end of my diesal efforts I want to be faster. I can get up to 26-28 mph and hold that for a decent time, but I can’t hold anything faster than that for any length of time. I get behind Newf and he dials it up to 32 mph without even breaking a sweat, he pulls off the front and gives me the number 1 spot and I instantly blow up.

seedsbelize2

"Low social needs introvert" thing
Same

seedsbelize2

57.6 km
It tired me out so I was happy to get home. Just a hair on the hot side but that won't last much longer.
(One of)the downside(s) of having only one kit is that it must be taken into the shower after the ride. It begins to get old after awhile. When the Mrs returns from Atlanta at the end of the month, she will bring three jerseys with her. I can get shorts locally.
I am effectively getting back into cycling with kit, after all that time riding in street clothes. It's a new morning. Cue Bob Dylan

seedsbelize2

Is Classmates a fb thing?

WhyFi

Lots to unpack here, but the theme is: let's not be unrealistic.

I know that Newf is strong - I've seen him on the leaderboards - but even if he's world-class, 32mph on a road bike isn't a without-breaking-a-sweat effort. Glancing at the speed on your head unit while on his wheel is simply playing too loose with the numbers. If he's at 32mph, it's not for nearly as long as you think it is - almost certainly less than 90 seconds - at least not without the aid of a tailwind or a subtle downhill on your flat, but never *actually* flat, terrain... so let's not be *too* unrealistic about his physical accomplishments. Stop looking at speed and start looking at power over duration - that's why you have power meters on your bikes. Get to know your 60sec power, your 5 min, your 20 min power, etc.

Second, we need to acknowledge that there will always be people more gifted. You're strong, but you're not a genetic freak lotto winner. If you (or I, or anyone else in this thread) were to maximize our training efforts, there will still be plenty of people out there with fitness floors lower than our ceilings, so don't worry about them, worry about doing the best with what you've got.

bampilot06

Have you seen the size of my ears? Totally a genetic freak, I understand what you are saying.


I honestly have no idea what my 60, 5 or 20 min power is.

big john

Nope. It's a .com.

WhyFi

So, a few days after this, my throat started getting better and my body ached less... and then my ears, well, one in particular, went all bat**** crazy. Big, migraine-inducing pressure build-up that just couldn't be relieved. Figuring it was an ear infection complication from the illness, I gave it a few days to sort itself out. It didn't.

When I finally decided to wave the white flag, I couldn't get in to my usual doctor, so I went to Urgent Care. I got there just in time to see them roll out a sign indicating at least a two-hour wait time. That didn't sound like too much fun, so I decided to try out the virtual consultation that our insurance company had recently started offering. I think that I spent close to an hour getting registered, answering questions from the bot and then, finally, texting with the doctor, but I eventually got script for some antibiotics. I've been on 'em for a few days, and I've seen definite improvement, but they weren't the magic pills of relief that I was hoping they'd be.

The good news is that the energy levels are starting to get back to normal. The bad news is that it's essentially been a month off of the bike. Eeesh. I'll have to re-up my Zwift membership in the next few days and start the slog back to semi-fitness.

WhyFi

Bruh.

Look at Intervals. Your top figures for the last 84 days are 484w, 281w and 230w, respectively. You can also look at how your duration power figures, in w/kg, compare to the rest of the Intervals user base.

WhyFi

The silver lining, of the forced time off the bike, is that I've been semi-productive, otherwise: I tore apart the old espresso machine - replacing brew valves, fixing the low water sensor, etc - and have it in ready-to-sell condition, I've spent a little more time in the wood shop, getting Christmas gifts and some floating shelves planned out and, today, with winter weather on our doorstep, I finally pulled the carb from the snow blower, cleaned it out and got it up and running again... now, having gone without it for the last few years, I just need to decide on whether to actually use the thing or if I should sell it.

big john

Glad to hear you are recovering. I remember you got sick but it sounded like a cold. Guess it was pretty awful.

WhyFi

It was a man cold of the worst sort.

bampilot06

I meant that I have not activity tried to set numbers for those. 5 second power should be higher? My last intervals were at 500 andI have done them as high as 600.

WhyFi

That was your 1min, 5min and 20min. Your 5 sec is 903w. What duration are your intervals - 30sec? You're at 626w, there.