Ever been suprised whilst in a race / training?

[333]

I was thinking about this the other day, have you ever been out for a training ride or in a time trial / road race and you believe you are having a good day, training or racing at what you thought was a high level of fitness comparatively and an unknown rider has breezed by or dropped you like you were standing still?

I'm sure some of you have some stories around this, like you were hitting your well known local hill climb hard and someone you've never seen before completely destroyed you as they flew by.

Its got to be an outing where you've been pushing very hard on the course not expecting company let alone to be surpassed, not a Z2 endurance run, so have you ever been suprised?

 

[snorri]

I was surprised one day when I caught up and overtook again a guy I had just overtaken a minute or two earlier. The cheeky rascal had taken a shortcut when he was out of my sight and went round a big roundabout anti-clockwise.

 

[User6179]

Only time I was ever surprised is when I went out with local club oldies division and they ripped my legs off going up a hill , 2-3 miles of pure torture

 

[jdtate101]

Was doing a TT up near Coventry not so long back and thought I was flying when this guy comes steaming past me as if I'm standing still, turns out it was Matt Bottrill, and he started 3 mins behind me and we still had over 3 miles left to go!!!!

I did a 23...... he did an 18!!!!!

 

[333]

lol the oldies, you never know what you are going to get with them. I was out in the Alps this year with a couple of mates one of which has a lot of experience over there with many years of racing / training, we went out for a "flatter" day (wasen't really that flat) and one of us got dropped, so the experienced mate tells me to carry on whilst he drops back to help the guy get back up, anyway infront of me was an old looking guy spinning up this climb on a road bike like he was out for his daily fruit shop or something, my mate (who knows the area really well shouted "dont overtake him!!!"), anyway I thought bugger that and try to reel the guy in and I'm gaining on him but I could swear he kept opening up on the power just a fraction to keep diminishing my gains, so I apply more power and gain but then my gaining stops again and I have to try even harder as I feel committed lol, to cut a long story short I almost blew apart by the top of the climb and then he opens it up big time and leaves me for dead on the flat never to be seen again.

He must have been in his 60's, all the while saying "bonjour!" to the people he was passing whilst I was gasping / coughing up a lung by the top of the climb. My mate finally catches up and said he's glad I didn't overtake him as he's well known around here and would have easily have dispatched me, I said yeah I backed off and let him go.....

 

[User6179]

lol the oldies, you never know what you are going to get with them. I was out in the Alps this year with a couple of mates one of which has a lot of experience over there with many years of racing / training, we went out for a "flatter" day (wasen't really that flat) and one of us got dropped, so the experienced mate tells me to carry on whilst he drops back to help the guy get back up, anyway infront of me was an old looking guy spinning up this climb on a road bike like he was out for his daily fruit shop or something, my mate (who knows the area really well shouted "dont overtake him!!!"), anyway I thought bugger that and try to reel the guy in and I'm gaining on him but I could swear he kept opening up on the power just a fraction to keep diminishing my gains, so I apply more power and gain but then my gaining stops again and I have to try even harder as I feel committed lol, to cut a long story short I almost blew apart by the top of the climb and then he opens it up big time and leaves me for dead on the flat never to be seen again.

He must have been in his 60's, all the while saying "bonjour!" to the people he was passing whilst I was gasping / coughing up a lung by the top of the climb. My mate finally catches up and said he's glad I didn't overtake him as he's well known around here and would have easily have dispatched me, I said yeah I backed off and let him go.....

One of the old boys from the club taught me to slow down if some ones behind catching up and let them overtake then maintain 5 yards behind them and watch them squirm , amazed at the amount of cyclists who will go like mad to overtake you then 1 mile later stop to look at their phone or take a drink or something .

 

[jongooligan]

Six of us out training on road bikes just got to the first bend on Crawleyside when a bloke with a beard on an MTB, wearing boots and a check shirt breezes past us.

Fair enough, we had about 60 miles in our legs at that point and he looked about 20 years younger than the youngest of us but it was humiliating none the less.

 

[G3CWI]

what you thought was a high level of fitness comparatively and an unknown rider has breezed by or dropped you like you were standing still?

All the time. They are usually wearing sandals and a rucksack and riding a mountain bike.

 

[gbb]

People often ask if 16 mph average is respectable, which of course it is.
I don't cycle too much now, but when I was fit. 17 to 18 mph average was the norm. Even at 16mph, I didn't get overtaken often on my 40/50 mile rides.
I remember working up a local incline (I won't call it a hill) on a fitness ride...and this guy, commuting I suspect, was suddenly beside me, he slowed, we chatted for a couple hundred yards...and off he went up the remainder of the hill and out of sight.....like it was nothing
You think you're fit (and you are)...then someone comes along and spoils it all

These days, I think i'm likely to get overtaken by hybrids