if it happened in one day?) from cyclo-cross to road season. Thanks to our mind's ability to forget pain and discomfort, I rediscovered that switching from cross to road bike while increasing ride time can cause untoward side effects such as butt pain, neck and shoulder pain and boredom.Quickly i went to work in finding solutions.
I lowered the air pressure of the road tires from 7 bar (100psi) to 5-5
1/2 bar (70-80psi). Now i can sit on the bike and my body is cushioned!To get rid of the boredom, I incorporated group rides to my training program. My few riding partners are not always available due to the dreaded three-letter word "job", so these group rides work well - they are always held the same time and day of the week. The group i joined last week rode for 3 hours at 30-32kph. Since many of these guys prefer to speak dutch, it also gives me an opportunity to stumble through dutch-only conversations in hopes of one day actually learning the language. I am still in search of a dutch course that fits into my training/racing schedule. But until then, at least I can get 3 hr dutch lessons two times a week from these guys!
Here are a few photos from my last ride with them. They are mostly retired guys ranging in age from 50 to 85. You can tell that they would be labeled as "old school" both from their choice of clothing and bike accessories such as the knee-high wool socks or the water bottle cage tool holder. Oh, and check out the weird handlebar (stuur in dutch) in the middle photo.
6 comments:
sounds like fun and interesting!
i see the knee socks over the tights!
and in front of the knee sock guy there's a guy with one of those cool puffy black hats.
the cool puffy black had is worn by the 74 year old "leader" of the gang. He keeps the pace under 32kph. If anyone goes to the front to marginally lift the pace, he curses (in dutch so it's not too bad considering their curse words include pannenkoek - which means pancake!) at the unsuspecting victim. At the last ride, an 86 yr old guy jumped off the front on a highway overpass and got reamed by black hat guy. Pretty funny. When he came back to the group, I mimicked what black hat guy said to him, and he responded telling me that he just felt good and wanted to test the legs!
Wow I'll stay vegan now for sure....just to be that fit at his youthful age, amazing by USA standards!
Tell that 86 year old I have a 84 year Mom that would keep up with him, if he's not married! OK does he play golf? haha
D:)S:)
Hey...could you ship me over a few old Belgian guys to ride with? Its about my speed and vibe (tell them though I'm under 40 I ride a lugged steel frame)
LJ
you may want to read my newest post before asking for some old belgian guys to be shipped your way. haha.
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