Overtaking roadies?

[Jamesh]

There is nothing like passing roadies on a leather saddled, alloy rimed cyclo-cross bike, wearing Aldi cycling kit They don't know which part to scowl at first!!!

Tbh when I go over the hill to Ikley or Otley Mecca's of cycling I do feel a little under dressed!

Cheers James

[Spinners]

In the future Dytopia, when Mogg is Dictator (I mean PM)...

I actually shuddered after reading that...

Me too. Fancy not using spell-check!

Dytopia is scary enough. It's a horrible future world ruled by orange faced buffoons with dyed hair...

Oh, hang-on

[whoof]

I would say the best way to overtake 'roadies' is to make sure that they have a number pinned to their back and you also have one.

[gxaustin]

It's bad enough having to contend with the criticisms of motorised road users without people creating factions within cycling to insult and discriminate against each other. My club has a more or less equal number of men and women, has on road and off road sections, welcomes Ebike riders (who benefit from them) and runs group rides at paces between 10mph and about 17mph (we are not racers). Our rides vary from about 15 miles to over 100m and some of us go further. Some have hybrids, mtbs, classic road bikes, some cheap bikes and some very fancy and expensive bikes according to means and preference. Most of us wear lycra because it is comfy, dries out quickly and you don't have to pay the earth for kit. We don't discriminate between abilities or preferences because we are all the same - cyclists sharing a common love of cycling in all its forms. And we respect each other for our similarities not trivial differences.
If somebody wants to boast about his cycling prowess at the expense of others then I suggest keeping it to their friends at the cafe stop and not publishing it on this forum.
I speak as someone whom the OP would probably have scoffed at a few years ago but who has increased his fitness a bit thanks to the non-judgemental friends I've made in my club.

[De Sisti]

I feel sorry for the OP and his shallow, pitiful life that makes him want to catergorise and make fun of
other cyclists. He comes across as derisive and scornful and would benefit from analysing his life to
perhaps appreciate others who are not like him.

[mattsccm]

Smugly. Whilst thumbing your metaphorical nose at all the grumpy so and so's who can't take a joke or want to think that we are all the same.

[paddler]

Years ago I sold my bike and put the money towards my wedding. A few years later I came across this cheap raleigh bike that was too small for me, but would be a standbye if the car broke down. I took it out for a ride to try it out and overtook a couple of roadies. I was so pleased, I thought I must be good and promptly joined a racing club. The truth was, the roadies had just finished a time trial and were dawdling along trying to recover from their efforts. I did not realise this until later of course.

They were testers not roadies.

Go on then. What's a tester?

[tatanab]

Go on then. What's a tester?

Tester is/was a derogatory name for competitive riders who rode only time trials instead of mixing their riding with road races and track etc. Derogatory because the whole term was usually "thick tester" implying that you needed no intelligence to be able to ride hard on your own whereas you did to read what was happening in road races, track etc. It was a fairly prevalent term in the late 70s, not so often heard these days, and probably no longer derogatory since I've not heard "thick" used in many years. Of course most of us rode all types of competitive events, not restricting ourselves to time trialling.

Edit to add - in the 70s and early 80s I used to ride about 35 time trials a year, from 10 miles to 12 hours but mostly 25 miles; plus a dozen track meetings and maybe the same in road races. I was always an also ran, no good at anything, just making up the field and enjoying myself.

[661-Pete]

I'm the guy who was towing a 45ton truck behind me, which was towing a double decker bus full of weight watchers members, that was towing a steam train with 20 coal filled coaches and that was in the middle of pulling the Titanic from the Atlantic.

I've got that beat.

I'm the only guy who's ever cycled across the event horizon of a Black Hole, going the wrong way, and survived!

Everything overtakes me.

Now, nether garment conflagration duly extinguished, I have to confess: ditto.

[paddler]

Go on then. What's a tester?

Tester is/was a derogatory name for competitive riders who rode only time trials instead of mixing their riding with road races and track etc. Derogatory because the whole term was usually "thick tester" implying that you needed no intelligence to be able to ride hard on your own whereas you did to read what was happening in road races, track etc. It was a fairly prevalent term in the late 70s, not so often heard these days, and probably no longer derogatory since I've not heard "thick" used in many years. Of course most of us rode all types of competitive events, not restricting ourselves to time trialling.

Edit to add - in the 70s and early 80s I used to ride about 35 time trials a year, from 10 miles to 12 hours but mostly 25 miles; plus a dozen track meetings and maybe the same in road races. I was always an also ran, no good at anything, just making up the field and enjoying myself.

Thanks, never been involved with clubs or competition so all that stuff is new to me. Sometimes see what I assume to be time trialers on the A149 ( I think it is) between Cromer and Holt of a summer evening.

[JakobW]

Interesting - I'd not realised that 'tester' had at one point had a negative connotation.

[Graham]

Last summer I gradually caught up with a group of fit, young riders, wearing club colours. They were ambling along in a relaxed manner.

As I overtook, I called out " Do you wanna race ? ". ( From an old bloke on a touring bike. )

Within a few seconds they had formed up, shot past and disappeared off into the distance.

I lasted about twenty seconds as a wheel-sucker. . . .

It was a bit of petty entertainment for all

[drossall]

Interesting - I'd not realised that 'tester' had at one point had a negative connotation.

It was probably a hangover from the BLRC/RTTC stuff when the cycling world was really divided.

Mind you, this thread appears to be living proof that cyclists are only happy when divided. I've seen no reason to take offence at the original post. It's all a bit of fun. And here people are insulting each other left, right and centre. Think I'll just go and ride my bike...

[gbnz]

I feel sorry for the OP and his shallow, pitiful life that makes him want to catergorise and make fun of
other cyclists. He comes across as derisive and scornful and would benefit from analysing his life to
perhaps appreciate others who are not like him.

Thanks, I really value your advice which isn't at all derisive or scornful

It is true that being a disabled, gay cyclist, on a heavy old touring bike, who works with excluded communities, I struggle to appreciate others who are not like me (NB. Such as why a physically able cyclist, on a superlight weight road bike, can't keep up with me )

Anyway, I'm sure I could help you out by outlining the basis of a rhetorical question and irony. I'm sure that it'd help you out in your shallow, pitiful life, in which you seem to be so derisive and scornful to the likes of me who are different from you Oops, more irony , hope it's not too confusing

[Cyril Haearn]

This thread is humour and fun with a bit of seriousness, quite harmless, some special cycling language that outsiders would not understand, Plus One!