Eric F 

What about the cyclists who ride for all of those reasons? As one of them, which side of the fence should I be on?

mschwett 

does not compute.

if you care about speed, fitness, technique, training, etc, you are not having pleasure and are not a fun footloose live-in-the-moment zen master recreational rider.

2manybikes

What about someone who enjoys all four of those categories? Like me and others?
Oops. Missed post number 177. Oh well, what's the answer?

GhostRider62

I never get when others think that those who ride for speed are not pleasurably recreating for fun.

On a 300km brevet about 200km into it, three of us came upon a rider going 20 mph decked out in some pro team skinsuit on a TT bike that must have cost $20K. Full on best of the best stuff. As we approached, I was amused at how slow he was going. Then, I saw the huge smile on his face, the face of about an 80-85 year old man. Ear to ear. I still feel bad judging him from behind. God bless him having so much enjoyment and 20 mph even on a MUP is fast at that age.

genejockey 

This.

On my Sunday rides, there are places where I sit up a bit and just groove on the beauty of riding through a "tree tunnel" on a lightly traveled back road, and other times when I get as aero as possible to see if I can go faster than my highest 38 mph down this straight downhill stretch, and a couple times when I get into 'aero hoods' position and grind along, trying to keep the momentum from the last little descent for as long as I can across the flat, and other times when I'm standing up on the pedals to get over this hump or that as quickly as possible, and ALL OF THAT is me having a rip-roaring good time - so much so that I spend a lot of Saturday happily anticipating the ride.

livedarklions

You can always tell when someone is claiming bs when they say it's obvious but they can't provide examples.

livedarklions

I think you've been too busy making up stuff other people didn't say.

Lombard

Reminds me of that quote wrongly attributed to Henry Ford: "If I ask the people what they want, they will tell me 'a faster horse'".

mstateglfr 

This is, like much of what you post, a very warped version of reality.

beng1

I don't have a "cell phone", and never had a "smart" phone and never will. I have a stop-watch.

mstateglfr 

His road bike and MTB.
These couple pics came from another thread on General where Beng makes some absurd claims about bike strength, and proceeds to lob a couple of general insults where he claims anyone who doesn't see things bis way is inexperienced or doesnt ride as much.

beng1 is nothing if not entertaining.

Stem shifters, steel rims, pressed dropouts, and bare steel bars in all its glory.

Koyote

I ride for sport and speed and for pleasure, recreation, and exercise -- all at the same time. I suspect many others on bf are just like me.

caloso

okay, whatever

genejockey 

We need to get this guy together with Timtak.

livedarklions

Needs a dumpster vodka bottle rack.

rsbob 

You are quite correct that in a city, a racing or hot bike would not be the way to get around - and no need for Bicycle Magazine or others. However, for many of us romantic unrealistic suckers, that live in the countryside or have access to the countryside, and enjoy speed and performance there are lots of good options marketed that might just give us the boost we crave. One size does not fit all and beware ethnocentric points of view.

Polaris OBark

And for that, we have Bicycle Quarterly.

genejockey 

The other thing is, it's way too small for him. Even in the 60s, they made bigger bikes..

Ironfish653

['QUOTE=beng1;22824110] Experienced mountain-bikers and road-bikers always pick a frame on the smaller side so on a MTB they can drop behind the seat easily on steep downhills, and on the road they can get as aero as possible. Anyone that is really into cycling knows these things....[/QUOTE]

No, no, he's right. It's how experienced cyclists pick out the frame when they buy a new bike. None of us are experienced cyclists, by his measure.

Except that he's not bought a new bike in the last 40 years. Or perhaps bought any bicycle, ever, depending on how deep you dive into his manifesto.

I mean, why buy, when the commercially brainwashed sheep are throwing away perfectly good ten-speeds in favor of disposable plastic junk bikes. A 60's Schwinn, picked from a dumpster, is all the bike anyone could ever need, amiright?

Polaris OBark

Quote:

Originally Posted by beng1

Experienced mountain-bikers and road-bikers always pick a frame on the smaller side so on a MTB they can drop behind the seat easily on steep downhills, and on the road they can get as aero as possible. Anyone that is really into cycling knows these things....

Mountain bikers in the last quarter of a century have these dohickies called dropper posts, and they also tend to ride larger frames than a standard fit might suggest.

Maelochs

Over and over we throw reason at the unreasonable and truth at the dishonest.

I 'd say the heroes of this thread are GhostRider62 and genejockey .... the latter proves that people who appreciate older machinery can be sane and happy, and the former proves that riding recumbents or trikes does not induce brain-rot in everybody who dares try ......

The rest of us, who obtain pleasure from riding however we want to ... we are just doing it wrong. I am so glad I finally found out.

My favorite Feynman bit was the afterward of his last book, when he was about to die of cancer .... he went on about science, and probity, and about how scientists should be totally committed to truth, not to discovery and certainly not to satisfy the corporations providing funding---scientists should, as soon as they made a breakthrough, not tell the world, but try their best to prove themselves wrong. Only if their work stood up to their own harshest scrutiny would it be worth passing on to others for them to test.

He understood that scientists were human, and thus fallible, and that the duty of a scientist was to use the methods of science to ensure that the human element didn't color the results.

He saw what happened with the Challenger space shuttle ... where people lied about science to please the corporations providing funding ... didn't work so well.

He missed out on the glorious present, where what matters is not truth, but how many likes you get on social media.

I was having a good morning until I came here .... I will leave you all in peace and go enjoy life again .....

GhostRider62

Going to celebrate the foolishness of this thread today by trying to ride fast up the steepest local hill where I the fool is the local legend. I hope to average 6.2 mph.

Climbing that hill the other day, it felt like another rider had latched onto my wheel. I looked back. What was there? A beautiful puppy seemingly smiling following me up the climb. Happy as can be. I don't seem to recall the GSD asking me if I had electronic or mechanical.

shelbyfv

OMG

Lombard

Since you're on this forum, you obviously have a computer. Isn't that too much tech for you?

Seriously, I'm not one to jump on new tech when it first arrives. I let others work out the bugs. And I'm still somewhat of a Luddite. Yes, I have a smartphone, but I don't have a Garmin or power meter and I'm just starting to warm to Di2. My "new" car is now 3 years old and I haven't quite figured out the head unit or figured out how to make Android Auto work. I still plug my MP3 player into the headphone jack and also have my collection of CD's in the car.

This being said, I don't go onto forums and bash people who use these techie gadgets even if I have no interest in them. That's just a form of trolling. Trolling isn't nice, mmmmkay?

tcs