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I have been cycling for about 3 yrs now and I have finally accepted that I am built to go the distance...
I am NOT built for climbing, I am NOT built for speed or racing... but once in my groove I can just go forever... :)
so what are YOU built for? and are you happy with where you're at or do you want more of yourself?
I love to call the flats "flatouts" because that's what I love to do on them...ride flat out as fast as I can!
I haven't been riding long, but with all sports I've learned I'm also an endurance kind of person; my first couple of rides were 30 and 40 miles and I'm up to just shy of 60 miles now. I'm sure I'll be hitting 70 very soon. Hills hate me (otherwise they'd be kinder to me, right?), but I do also love to go fast. I can maintain about 18mph average on a flat which isn't very fast, but I'm pretty sure I'll be getting faster with time. I don't even have the blood vessel network built up yet!
I'm tall and heavy so hills are not my friend but I have strong, massive legs and on the flats I can hang with the best of them (averaging between 22 - 25mph)! If choosing between a climber, sprinter or time trialist, I would be the sprinter but I also have alot of endurance and can ride forever, even with some hills thrown in - I'm just not fast!
hills and distance/endurance... i haven't been blessed with speed yet.... i always say i'm a tortoise: slow and steady.... that's my pace! :o
I haven't done enough yet, but everyone who has seen me says I'm made for shortish distances at sustained speed...
...hence my "title" <<<<< TT Wannabe
I want to TT competitively - its where I feel most comfortable and right
I don't think hills will ever be my strength
I'm definitely a distance girl. As you can see from my fast twitch post, I'm not a sprinter. I can climb pretty well also, I can do 18 up a moderate hill. A big hill slows me down to about 13. I also get this weird gratification from one of those long gradual climbs that seems to go on forever. But for me I'm happiest on a loooooooooooong steady, flat ride. When I was in H.S. I was a swimmer, and all I wanted to do was the 500 freestyle. So I think that's ingrained in me. I would like to broaden my skills though. I think if you can hang for the distances, you're ahead of the game. Now we just need to work on being speedy :D
before cycling?? I would've told you I was built for bearing many children and pulling the plow all day. Now: not a clue. No matter where you go in this town ya gotta climb so I just accept that. I do seem to climb faster than most women but not at some of the speeds ya'll are talking about. I sprint at the green light, to cross lanes of traffic, and sometimes just coz but I don't think of myself as a sprinter. I get bored on short rides just coz I don't feel like I"ve really ridden. I don't mind doing long rides and my avg on 1/2 and full centuries is about 15 mph. I guess I'm just an average all-around Jill! :p
Texas sized hills and a head wind. That always helps me stay with a group... because neither one bothers me. I LOVE TEXAS HILLS!!!!
What I am NOT made for... decending DOWN any kind hill. Scares the crap out of me.
with these hips? I must be built for bearing children, but until that day - I'm a better climber than a sprinter and I can usually hang with long distance rides.
I just go and go and keep going and going and go and keep going....no speed but point me in any direction and say you'll meet up 100 miles from there and I go and go....workin' on some speed though. On climbs sit and spin, hardly ever stand. :rolleyes:
:eek: :eek: :eek: you are fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on our local climb we all practice on.. i'm lucky if i can do 10 mph up it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by betagirl
when i did breathless agony (12000 feet total of climbing)... there were times i was even as slow as 4 mph!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I was running I preferred sprints, as distance nothing longer than 5K. I ran plenty of 5 milers and 10K's, even trained for and did a 1/2 marathon and a marathon. The distance training killed me... my body hated the impact and I started resemling an AAMCO transmission ad, parts falling out everywhere.
With cycling I'm not sure yet what will be my stronger suite. I love speed, descending is a blast, climbing makes me swear like a marine. I just don't know... with my build (long/lean and gettin' older) I'm guessing climbing wouldn't be a natural fit.
clueless spazz
Spazz, I'd say you're the fast on the flats racer girl.
I have always had "ample" thighs - even at my skinniest - 110 pounds. When I'm in good form - I like climbing. I figure that's why I have these legs!
So far I seem to be extremely well engineered for falling off my bike :D
Ha, ha! That's what I was going to say!Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsairMac
Hey, you're on my team!! What are the "builds" of all these varieties of specialization? I know climbers are little, light fellers. What are big, heavy riders good at? Are they all-arounders? Big Georgie seems to be keeping up with his much lighter boss in the Tour.Quote:
Originally Posted by bikerz
Me? I'm an endurance and distance rider, no speed at all! But happily staying on the bike all day and maintaining the same strength at the end of the day as I had at the beginning supports my touring habit very well.
--- Denise
Downhills scare me to death too - I don't like the feeling of uncontrolled speed. I have the same problem waterskiing - no problem getting up and going, but once the boat planes and we take off, I have to give it up. It makes me feel like my heart is in my throat. I wouldnt be a good mountain biker because heights scare me even more!
I have gotten my bike up to 37 on a downhill....once, even that is too fast for me. But I do love spinning those pedals into 22 to 24 mph runs on the flats. Yep LOVE that! And I love climbing the hills. And I love riding for hours.
"you are fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on our local climb we all practice on.. i'm lucky if i can do 10 mph up it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Caligurl, I live in IL so my idea of a moderate hill may be different than your idea of one :D I'd love to see what I'd do in some mountains, I suspect I'd be slower. We do have a few big hills up north of me, and on a century I did this year the last 10 miles had about a 2 mile climb at about a 7% grade. I did about 14 up that thing. Riding up to it it just looked like a big wall lined with trees. You don't see that a lot around here so I was like oh this should be fun.
On a related note I would love to do the Seattle-Portland ride, but I'm curious as to how I'd train for that other than going up to WI or something to get in some decent hills.
I guess that I'm more of a distance kind of gal. I finding that I'm getting better at hills (or maybe just less intimidated by them) but I really love to get on a stretch of freshed paved flat country road and ride for hours.
I think that I've been getting too hung up on increasing my average speed. I find myself constantly checking my computer on my commute to work. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm out there to have FUN, get exercise, save gas....not to be race training.
As in Long, Slow, Distance. Same thing when I ran. Nice and easy, keep going for hours, stay light on the pedals...
Oh, this is soooooo easy....
sleeping :p
I'm mainly an endurance kind of person. I can usually get in a groove and ride all day if I want.
I'm not the best climber but I love descending -- bring on the speed. I don't mind a tough climb if I get rewarded with a fun descent on the other side.
Hey KSH...what part of Texas are you in? I am in the Dallas area. Do you ride the Hotter n Hell 100? How about the Waco Centry?
I have been riding for several months. It appears I am meant for endurance. I too am like the turtle, sloooow but steady. I would love the speed and I do continue to increase, but I guess that will come with time, training, and strength. I am getting better at the hills, but they still kick my behind. I can take a few, but if there is too many, I am spent quickly. I may have to accept that I am 50 and may not be a speedy hill climbing demon...LOL! I love to ride and sight-see. So maybe the endurance for distance is my thing.
No one would ever say I'm built. :rolleyes: ... But my body likes to do LSD, the old Long Slow Distance term from my running days. That's mainly because my body doesn't do any distances Fast! :)
I guess I would have to say that I am an endurance type. My problem is that I have done no riding in a place that is really flat. I can maintain 17-19 mph during the few places/times I have been on a real flat, but it's never been more than 15-20 minutes. Most of my riding is at an average of just under or at 15 when I'm by myself or with my husband. This includes rollers and small climbs. If you add in bigger hills, my average goes down to about 14 or 13.5. There are some good climbs and hills around where I live. The highest grade I've gone up is 20 %, in Vermont. It was short, though. I've done a few 15 % ones, too. Most of the time on big hills, I'm going around 6-8 mph. On shorter or less steep climbs that I am familiar with, I might get up to 12. I hate descending, I feel like I'm going to crash every time, especially if it's curvy! My fastest has been at 32. My depth perception sucks and I know this has something to do with the feeling I get going down a hill. I feel the same way when I drive in an unfamiliar spot.
I can hold my own on hills but not as fast as the women that are much lighter. Even though I love the challenge of a long steep hill. I love decents and have been known to pedel faster to get up more speed. Can hold my own at a distance did a ride today of almost 70 miles with an average of around 15. I did better on the first half of the ride with and average over 18. But on the way back a strong wind picked up and got dropped back to 12-14mph most of the way, didn't help I did most of it solo. What I love the most is speed, I try to hang with the fast pack of men as long as I can.
I guess I consider myself an all around cyclist at least I try to be.
Me? I don't think I'm built for any of it. Okay, I'm talking mountain biking here, but it's all a struggle -- climbs, sprints, technical stuff, you name it.Quote:
Originally Posted by bikerchick68
Then again, I've just been riding for two years, and I'm starting to notice that I'm getting much faster at downhills. It's possible that I'll eventually find that I'm built for downhills, because as I ride more, taking obstacles at speed is getting less scary and far more exhilirating. I was amazed to ride with some friends a few weeks ago, friends I hadn't ridden with since last year, and see that I can keep up with them, and in places even feel comfortable riding faster than them.
Endurance. 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 100 miles. I'll go and go at a decent pace but no sprints, please, and rollers, not hills. I love to pass people, it's like hunting without all the blood and guts. Hunt them down, pick 'em off, keep them from catching up again. I love to fly down hill. Dirt, road, whatever.
I guess I'm a climber although having said that I certainly don't go flying up them! But I get into a pace that I can hold and just keep on climbing. I lost about 15lbs about a year or so ago and I found that has really made a difference. 5'1" and 100lbs - makes a lot less to haul up some hill.
I live in the Dallas area too. I just got my bike in October 2004, and I bought it so I could do triathlon's.Quote:
Originally Posted by BikingAt50
I have a sprint tri July 30th... and then I am doing the swimming portion of a 1/2 Ironman Sept. 11th... after that, the only bike rally I am doing is October 1st in Corpus Christi (I grew up there).
Have you checked out the ride with the Plano Bicycle Association, or the Greater Dallas Bicyclists? I ride with those groups Wed/Sat/Sun... tons of fun!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KSH
We ride White Rock Lake almost daily. We try to ride the White Rock Trail which is 14 total and around the lake which is 10, plus the ride from home and back. It's a good ride. We have some good hills coming and going from our neighborhood. :( My schedule is so crazy, it' shard to schedule our rides, When I get home, I rush to vhange clothes and go! Sometimes, we get caught in the dark on the way home. So, I'm trying to start earlier and ride faster! LOL!
You must be in very good shape to do the tri's. Good luck...maybe we will pass each other somewhere :)
I just did the STP last weekend and you sound like you're in way better shape than I am. The first 100 miles are not very hilly, it starts out pretty flat and then around mile 40 there is one large-ish hill that you actually have to gear down for, followed by gradual long 1-2% inclines and some rolling hills. The second 100 miles is certainly hillier, there are a handful of short steeper hills and then the last 50 miles are rolling hills all the way to Portland.Quote:
Originally Posted by betagirl
Considering our topography here in the Pacific NW is fairly bumpy, this ride probably does follow the smoothest possible path from Seattle to Portland. It's certainly not as flat as some people made it sound, but it's certainly not a hill ride.
I'm still trying to work that one out. :) On the group ride, I'm always the last up the hill, but I'm getting better at powering over rollers. The guys on that ride praise my ability to accelerate for a burst of speed, but on most of my other rides my acceleration is definitely my downfall! Power is the area I train the most right now, and I'm working on my sprint too. Because I'm always the last up the longer climbs, I don't consider myself a climber, but the race I just won was the longest hill climb I'd ever done to that point! So it made me wonder if I'm a climber who's just being outclassed by all these guys with a superior power-to-weight ratio! (Then, looking at betagirl's stats, I'm ashamed to think that! My personal "time trial" course is a 1.5 mile ~8% grade, and I'm lucky to be doing 9 mph up that thing! Sigh.)
I dunno. I do think I'm built to race though. The motivation of competing gets me all kinds of fired up. :) I'll keep trying different courses and as I see how I fare on them, I'll learn better what kind of riding suits me best!
LOL... I can sooooooooooooo relate to this... I had no idea I was so competitive til I hopped back on a bike - so competitive that I have not entered anything more than fun rides with my youngest children - because I want to do good times when I enter an actual race. So doing heaps of riding and training towards my first real races around October... a 50km road race and a 20km TTQuote:
Originally Posted by alison_in_oh
I really enjoy my training TT rides best - looking forward to the "real" thing
Thanks for the tip Dianyla. I love it up there, much more picturesque than the Midwest.
Built for?
DH says sex. hahahahahaha
really, I think I'm a dirt Diva. love the trees and winding single track. love being the only girl on the ride. :) but only because then I'm the fastest girl. hahahaha
i'm still too inconsistent to be built for "one" thing....unless that just means I'm just generally a good rider. heh.
of course, I am talking mountain bike here. on the road I feel like I"m quite pathetic. it's a fabulous training tool, but I would never think of being competitive on the road!!
here, though, there's no such thing as flats. I keep trying to figure out a good way to get in an hour long spin with no climbing effort. If I drove about an hour west I think I'd find a few sections that way...otherwise it's a hill in every direction and a hill to get home. :rolleyes:
ah, but the singletrack! ah!!
tho I really do have to stop noticing the unusual and large mushrooms this year! very distracting! hahahahah
Namaste,
~T~
Too funny! I make sure to be careful bending over when DH is around or I get rammed from behind. :eek: (He's such a goat, but a cute one!)Quote:
Originally Posted by LBTC
I'm built for endurance. While not a speed demon over the long haul I can go long distances and come up with explosive speed when needed. I just love passing the guys going up the hills in a headwind.
BTW, you guys mentioned Hotter N Hell, well, we were going to go the full hundred miles this year (already got our hotel resevervations) however, I'll probably be lucky to do the 50 after this surgery. If I can only do the 25 though, I'll still be there! We ought to have a Team Estrogen get together at HHH.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KkAllez
Lucky to get a hotel room at the HHH. We love to stay at the YWCA downtown. It is $10 a night. They call it indoor camping. Last year it was packed! They let you use the pool, showers, locked and guarded bike storage, and low cost massages afterwards. It is near the convention center, so it is in a good location. Save your money and stock up on socks, shirts and other bike related gear. The show is great and they have wonderful prices! I am new to riding and will do the 25 or 50. My hubby does the 100. We were from that area and love to see how the city supports the ride. Everone gets into it! If anyone from TE is going, we should plan a quick meeting. I would loveto put faces to the names. :cool:
Oh that would be great! I called the very first of the year and got reservations at the Radisson. Only at the time I thought it was the hotel right that at the convention center at the start of the race. Wrong! I don't care though, cause last year we had to stay at Laughlin, OK because everything was booked in Wichita. At least now we are in the same city.Quote:
Originally Posted by BikingAt50
But yeah, it would be fantastic for me to meet some of you in person!
Build-wise, I'm ALL lower body - wide hips & big legs. My strength is in endurance riding - I can keep going and going and maintain basically the same pace the whole way.