SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
I was having a conversation with an old boy I'm friendly with, and the conversation somehow got on to the younger generation being lazy and unwilling to go anywhere under their own power. Out of the blue, he casually mentions that around 1954 him and a mate, then still both teenagers, rode SS Fixed bikes on a day trip totalling.....216 miles. 108 miles each way, a bit over 6 hours for the outbound trip and 8 hours to get back. I put the A and B points in a route planner and it came back as 106 miles e/w, so I'm inclined to believe it isn't BS. When I asked him what he was riding he equally casually says a lightweight racing frame with 52/13 - as it was the biggest gearing he could find!. Even today with bikes having 20 or more ratios to choose from, I reckon even the most dedicated riders would baulk at doing that distance in a single day, let alone on a SS bike with a gearing of over 100 inches! He did say though the following day his thighs had swollen and he had trouble getting his trousers on when he got up so he ended up going to the doctor's.