Thursday, February 8, 2024, 8:55:10AM EST
Yesterday I did my first long outdoor road ride only my recently gifted Trek 5500 OCLV 120 2003 carbon-fiber frame bike with 23c tires. (Thanks again, K). It’s the same bike that Lance Armstrong (for better or worse) used to do all the stuff he did. Drugs or no, this 2nd gen carbon 8.8 kilo bike was definitely a factor.
O. M. G.
I absolutely could not believe how fast the beautiful sunset on the lake landscape passed by as I pedaled at an easy intensity. It triggered all kinds of memories of my early road riding and triathlon days. Mostly I remembered how much I love speed.
As I thought more about it I remembered all my other favorite things to do when I was younger, downhill skiing, mountain biking on fast trails and descents, sledding and tubing, water skiing, criteiums. I was obsessed with being able to do what bike messengers do (although I never did). Later in my 30s I owned a motorcycle, a V-Star (fat-boy knock off). It was always the sensation of speed that I loved.
It wasn’t enough to just go fast. It was something about the combination of going fast and having amazing things to look at. That’s why I loved the Moab White Rim trail so much. Racing mountain goats and looking over the Green and Colorado rivers from several hundred meters off the side of a cliff makes it something few other trails can offer.
As I look back at my obsession with bikepacking in December I realized that the last loaded test bikepacking ride I went on was the one that really had me questioning it. It was while climbing up a road I probably shouldn’t have been on in the first place, at a time of night that I probably shouldn’t have been biking, 3 meters off the shoulder in the mud, high-grass, and pollution. The bike wheels could handle it no problem. But it was heavy and sluggish and—most of all—slow. Climbing that hill on the road during the day would have been a cinch on this carbon bike. The total amount of time on that dangerous stretch of traffic considerably less. I realize now it might actually be safer to bike heavily trafficked roads (when I have to) on a faster road bike than it ever will be with a weighted bikepacking or touring setup. While it is true that I can trudge along some distance off the shoulder in whatever terrain exists there, it certainly is not fun by any definition. It is slow. It hurts. And you cannot look around because you have to constantly look at the broken beer bottle you might otherwise ride over. Riding in that fashion was always a test, one that proved without a doubt that I want nothing to do with anything ever close to touring on a heavy bike on trafficked roads at all. I thought the solution was to travel great distances to get to bikepacking areas and only ride gravel+ terrain. But I realize now there are more road options that I realized then.
First of all, regular road riding almost always involves a loop of some kind. This is the idea behind 24-hours-of-Booty in Charlotte. In an area that dense with population roadies have created the Booty loop to get their ride on. It’s a relatively short lap, but the traffic is reasonable, the scenery good, and—most of all—cyclists are most likely to run into others who can can group up with, which brings me to the second realization.
Even though most roadies are insufferable, arrogant assholes (myself included), it is much easier to group-up with roadies than anyone else. Plus, I don’t have to talk to them or like them much to ride with them. I can just join one of the two or three weekly group rides and enjoy the safety of the pack in numbers. I have yet to join a group ride in this area, but that is next on the list. Most roadies wimp out pretty early when the weather is even slightly inclement, mostly because they would rather not wear anything but their tight, thin Lycra and ride their favorite overpriced bike instead of their “junker” for training. And, of course, they live on the indoor trainer in the “off” months, which is actually another reason to ride road because if and when you do meet people worth riding with you can easily find them online as well to ride with in Zwift. I have really enjoyed riding in Zwift these last several weeks. The level of training possible is far superior to anything outside even though it isn’t nearly as fun.
Statistically, it is much easier to meet a roadie group than anything else. For example, riding my normal 52k DCH loop I regularly ran into other pelotons, sometimes two of them on the same ride. Even though I was on my gravel bike I could join them for a while. It was always nice. It is a lot like randomly following someone in Zwift for a while, which I really enjoy. That kind of serendipity does not happen when doing solo bikepacking on the weekends. (Bears have never been reported to attack a group of three or more, by the way).
Bike messengers are the next easiest to ride with. They are are real community as well. They regularly do things together including bike polo. It is much harder to get to them unless you live right next to them, however. This is not unlike the bikepacking community. If you live in Brevard, sure, you have all kinds of people to meet and ride with. But I don’t and probably never will now that we know we are going to move closer to Charlotte. Perhaps then it will be time to get a fixie. Culturally, I’m much more of a bike messenger than I am a roadie even though I do like focusing on training and performance in ways most bike messengers would never admit to their friends.