Xavier65

I was accosted yesterday by someone, who in appreciating my 4-pannier tourer, couldn't help but let me know how he was always impressed whenever he saw fully loaded tourers painstakingly ascending long mountain passes.

It turned out that he was a carbon framed, lycra roadie, who did three mountain passes before breakfast - to get in practice for a 5 day, 3-5 pass per day, tour (luggage travelling separately).

I said I had once done two mountain passes in one day on a fully laden tourer, but it was one of those things that had thereby been crossed out on my bucket-list.

Weird eh? Could it be possible that roadies secretly fantasise about swapping their 5Kg carbon ultralight for a 50Kg (bike+luggage) juggernaut?

79pmooney

Lightweight mountain goat here. Raced long ago. Also did self sufficient touring. (Eastern part of the country; no high mountains.) Done Cycle Oregon 10 times, riding bikes close to race bikes (or similar but fix gear), riding light and having a truck pull my 65 pounds of gear. Love to go uphill. Always have.

The different modes of uphill travel are so different they take (or give us) different mindsets. The "dance" with a light (how light matters little until the comparison mind games start; I've done the dance with bikes most of 30 pounds) is quite different from chugging up the hill on a rig that is a very real percent of your weight. But, in that mindset, and with a bike that is completely "right" for the job, you can make it disappear, even with all that stuff on it.

I say this having not come close to either of your examples. Never had a bike much lighter than about 19 pounds (CF is probably not happening in this lifetime) and I probably haven't gone much heavier than half your rig. The majority of my touring before I had panniers and on tubulars. Usually ~100 miles./day and sleeping under the stars. Recent years I've been riding a bike set up close to touring bike with front and rear panniers to the farmers market. 16 mile round trip. Coming home with load I climb a hill I've stormed thousands of times on light bikes and lightish commuters. Big day at the market and I get to see a very different ride home.

Yan 

Different journey, different equipment necessary. It's not one or the other. You're allowed to own more than one bike. The tourist also has a $15k high end road bike at home.

mstateglfr 

You had 1 brief conversation with 1 person. Why would you think that interaction should apply to an entire large group of people(carbon framed lycra roadies)? Seems like a huge jump in logic to even ask the question, much less come to that conclusion.

indyfabz

*yawn*

Want to know how you messed up? “Accosted” is but one example.

At least it’s not as bad as your e bike waving thread in General.

indyfabz

And I tour in the same “Lycra” that I wear on road rides.

Yet another mistake by the OP.

saddlesores

What's so weird about that?

I imagine drinking a few in a dockside bar in sydney, cigar boat adrenaline junkie tells a round-the-world in a sailboat guy he's impressed whenever he sees a wee, tiny unpowered boat from souf' africa sail into port.

nah, i don't think powersports guy wants to trade places with popeye. he just appreciates the dedication and endurance required for the task.

saddlesores

to be fair, if you go on any harley-themed site, you'll sooner rather than later run across "do you do the nod to goldwing riders?" posts.

indyfabz

Heh. I got passed by a Spanish racing team while climbing the Puerto del Viento in Andalucia. They were most impressed, but when I asked one of them for help with my “luggage” he smiled and politely declined. Then they all dropped me.

Xavier65

As everyone knows*, all generalisations are invalid+.

* Argumentum ad populum.
+ Apart from this one.

Let's not forget, I merely asked "Could it be possible...".

One could qualify it such that it met your rigorous standards, or one could just leave it as a rhetorical 'conversation catalyst'.

I was indeed accosted outside a shop, by a smartly dressed, middle aged chap who had just arrived on a folding city bike, no doubt emboldened to do so by dint of being a fellow cyclist. 'Accost' doesn't necessarily require aggressive, threatening or other antagonistic attitude. It can simply indicate a bold approach by a stranger (with benign motive).

My use of 'lycra roadie' was as a caricature, i.e. a stereotypical shorthand for the class of cyclists concerned with efficient, aerodynamic, lightweight, brisk cycling, e.g. Tour de France riders.

So, yes, there may even be people that ride motorcycles wearing only lycra.

Well, to some people, not much at all.

That is a good point, and you're probably right.

Xavier65

I was once in a group of 3 tourers slogging it up a Pyrénéan pass, and we were joined by an acquaintance (carbon framed, lycra clad roadie) half way up - a chap who would normally do it before breakfast, or as one of half a dozen in a day. He kindly offered to carry the ruck-sack of the eldest of us - who later confessed that he doubted he'd have made the summit otherwise.

BobG

Hah! One year this weight lifter solved a problem for the free climbing roadies! I had cycled 3 weeks from Paris down to the Pyrenees on my steel touring bike with four panniers and camping gear where I met friends who had flown in for a TDF tour. They all rode Merlin titanium bikes, wore full kits and had a rental car for one of them to drive with their gear. Needless to say I got a lot of chuckles when they saw my heavy bike!

I threw my rear bags into their car for five days but kept the mostly empty front bags for incidentals. One day we climbed the Col du Tourmalet late in the afternoon to meet the Tour at the top coming from the opposite direction. My companions had no way to carry their lunches to the top. They paid for my hotel room that night in exchange for my portage service!

afrowheels

It's always interesting to see how roadies* react in these situations. I've been observing the different reactions I've had here in Colombia and Ecuador. Sometimes they are really enthusiastic, sometimes I have had the feeling it takes the wind out of their sails to see someone so much more heavily laden doing something they see as a major achievement on a lighter bike. Some are so put off they don't even greet or return a greeting, but that usually gives me a chuckle. Same for MTBers actually: I remember going down a very rough dirt road towards Jardin in Colombia (only wiped out right at the end because I lost concentration) and the MTBers I met did not seem happy to see me.

*I have probably done as many kilometres on a road bike as a loaded tourer so I have been both.