so what are YOU built for?

[bikerchick68]

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?

[Lynne]

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!

[bcipam]

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!

[caligurl]

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!

[RoadRaven]

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

[betagirl]

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

[bounceswoosh]

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?

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.

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.

[singletrackmind]

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.

[cruziegirl]

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.

[alison_in_oh]

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!

[RoadRaven]

I dunno. I do think I'm built to race though. The motivation of competing gets me all kinds of fired up.

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 TT

I really enjoy my training TT rides best - looking forward to the "real" thing

[betagirl]

Thanks for the tip Dianyla. I love it up there, much more picturesque than the Midwest.

[LBTC]

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.

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~

[KkAllez]

DH says sex.

Too funny! I make sure to be careful bending over when DH is around or I get rammed from behind. (He's such a goat, but a cute one!)

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.