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DonDaddyD
Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Posts: 4143
Location: The middle distance
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 Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 10:40 am |
There is a second male puberty they didn't teach me at school.
It's true! There is! It happens when men (Greg's, ITB, Attica,Christophe hehe etc) and women (I dare not mention names) reach a certain age. For men this 'second coming' is symbolised by their hair developing a silver-grey type color. The muscles in their legs swell, the veins increase in size to carry more oxygen and subsequently their stamina and strength increases exponentially. They also have the ability to breath through their skin.
OK the point, twice this week and many times previously I've come across a Men of advancing years out sprint, out power and out pace me on the bike. I've seen them maintain the same high cadence and speed whether up or down down hill and very rarely do they miss the lights sequence. Then while stopped at the lights as I'm gazing in awe they barely offer me a glance as though I'm beneath their contempt.
Yes I understand that old guys on bikes have been cycling since the days when bikes came with a larger front wheel than back. I understand that this means that they have ridden an impossible amount of miles too a point that their DNA has now altered to optimise their bodies for cycling. Do cyclist get stronger as they older or something?
Seriously though, they're old, why are they so awesome?
Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights as you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game |
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will3
Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 1125
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 10:43 am |
I see the new job has already morphed into postiing on BR all day....
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MonkeyMonster
Joined: 10 Aug 2009
Posts: 882
Location: Olympia--> SCR Racetrack <-- Angel
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DonDaddyD
Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Posts: 4143
Location: The middle distance
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 10:44 am |
| will3 wrote: | | I see the new job has already morphed into postiing on BR all day.... |
Who says I'm at work or even in the office, you presumptuous fart?
Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights as you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game |
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will3
Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 1125
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 10:46 am |
| DonDaddyD wrote: | | will3 wrote: | | I see the new job has already morphed into postiing on BR all day.... |
Who says I'm at work? |
You've pulled a sickie already?  
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DonDaddyD
Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Posts: 4143
Location: The middle distance
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JonGinge
Joined: 04 Jan 2008
Posts: 1786
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Gussio
Joined: 17 May 2007
Posts: 816
Location: Richmond, London
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 10:54 am |
| Quote: | | Do cyclist get stronger as they older or something? |
Long years of training can increase the proportion of slow twich muscles in the legs. The slow muscles are more efficient at using oxygen to generate more fuel for continuous, extended muscle contractions over a long time. They fire more slowly than fast twitch fibres and can go for a long time before they fatigue. The way I understand it is that slow twitch fibres are great at helping athletes run marathons and bicycle for hours.
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WGWarburton
Joined: 11 Sep 2008
Posts: 536
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 10:54 am |
| DonDaddyD wrote: | | OK the point, twice this week and many times previously I've come across a Men of advancing years out sprint, out power and out pace me on the bike. I've seen them maintain the same high cadence and speed whether up or down down hill and very rarely do they miss the lights sequence. Then while stopped at the lights as I'm gazing in awe they barely offer me a glance as though I'm beneath their contempt. |
I think of these guys as "Grizzled Old Roadies".
| Quote: |
Seriously though, they're old, why are they so awesome? |
Natural selection? Experience? Who knows.... 
Cheers,
W.
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StuAff
Joined: 15 May 2008
Posts: 514
Location: Portsmouth
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 11:15 am |
DDD,plenty of people would count you as old (sorry, it's true!). You're ageing at the same rate as everyone else. And I know plenty of forty & fiftysomething people who'd do the same to you....
Dahon Cadenza '07 (big fast folder)
Dahon Jetstream XP '04 (little fast folder)
Viner Magnifica '08 (doesn't fold. Is fast) |
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will3
Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 1125
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 11:16 am |
| DonDaddyD wrote: | | will3 wrote: | | DonDaddyD wrote: | | will3 wrote: | | I see the new job has already morphed into postiing on BR all day.... |
Who says I'm at work? |
You've pulled a sickie already? |
Yes, well if I was (and no I'm not sick) at least you're all not payingfor it with your taxes...  |
On a technical point: most people who "pull a sickie" are not actually sick 
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will3
Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 1125
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 11:16 am |
| DonDaddyD wrote: | | will3 wrote: | | DonDaddyD wrote: | | will3 wrote: | | I see the new job has already morphed into postiing on BR all day.... |
Who says I'm at work? |
You've pulled a sickie already? |
Yes, well if I was (and no I'm not sick) at least you're all not payingfor it with your taxes... |
On a technical point: most people who "pull a sickie" are not actually sick
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Jay dubbleU
Joined: 18 Sep 2008
Posts: 1203
Location: Armpit of the known universe
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DonDaddyD
Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Posts: 4143
Location: The middle distance
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 12:01 pm |
| JonGinge wrote: | What's the 'old' threshold, DDD?
Yeah, they've been consistently training their aerobic system for years and, so long as you don't take too much time off, it accumulates...*. Also, weekly beer consumption tails off a bit as you mature (I have some way to go on that score)
* up to a physical limit and I'm talking recreational riders not elite/pro racing types where training/resting is all they do. |
Old is anyone who can remember 1950/60s
| Quote: | | DDD,plenty of people would count you as old (sorry, it's true!). You're ageing at the same rate as everyone else. And I know plenty of forty & fiftysomething people who'd do the same to you.... |
I have it on good authority that I look young, what with only having to shave once every five days.. and still never actually managing to grow a side burn 
I'm the epitome of youth, me! In some languages my name translate to Peter Pan....
Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights as you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game |
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StuAff
Joined: 15 May 2008
Posts: 514
Location: Portsmouth
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 12:05 pm |
| DonDaddyD wrote: | | JonGinge wrote: | What's the 'old' threshold, DDD?
Yeah, they've been consistently training their aerobic system for years and, so long as you don't take too much time off, it accumulates...*. Also, weekly beer consumption tails off a bit as you mature (I have some way to go on that score)
* up to a physical limit and I'm talking recreational riders not elite/pro racing types where training/resting is all they do. |
Old is anyone who can remember 1950/60s
| Quote: | | DDD,plenty of people would count you as old (sorry, it's true!). You're ageing at the same rate as everyone else. And I know plenty of forty & fiftysomething people who'd do the same to you.... |
I have it on good authority that I look young, what with only having to shave once every five days.. and still never actually managing to grow a side burn
I'm the epitome of youth, me! In some languages my name translate to Peter Pan.... |
Enjoy it while it lasts, clock's ticking
Dahon Cadenza '07 (big fast folder)
Dahon Jetstream XP '04 (little fast folder)
Viner Magnifica '08 (doesn't fold. Is fast) |
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DesWeller
Joined: 05 May 2008
Posts: 279
Location: Frocester Hill
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 12:13 pm |
If you have one of those mobiles with a loudspeaker, you can deploy a recording of an air raid siren at the crucial overtaking moment and watch them scurry into the nearest underground station, looking fearfully skyward for the next wave of Heinkels/Soviet nuclear warheads*.
*Delete according to era of formative years
- - -
FCN 4 - BeOne Storm 1.0 (hairy legged roadie)
FCN 8 - The Winter Beast (panniered hybrid)
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WGWarburton
Joined: 11 Sep 2008
Posts: 536
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 12:40 pm |
| Jay dubbleU wrote: |
Actually some of us are grizzled old mountain bikers |
I've never seen one of those... I probably lead a sheltered life, but the guys I see (they're all men) are all in (what I take to be) club kit on road bikes- either contemporary road kit or classic British/Italian steel lightweights.
I'd peg them at sixty-plus, too- so their formative years would predate the development of Mountain Bikes. I daresay some of them have spent time off-road, though I generally don't, so havn't seen them there. Mostly they cruise the open road, mercilessly humiliating the soft, weak products of our decadent modern society....(ie me).
Cheers,
W.
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vorsprung
Joined: 29 Jan 2007
Posts: 490
Location: Devon-Somerset border
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Posted Thu Nov 5, 2009 1:08 pm |
It's ok they slow up again when they get to 80
I know this because I caught the Somerset Road Clubs Olympian on a climb last year
He was at the 1948 Olympics
"They left me behind" he grumbled. Once we got to the top he shot away on the descent of course
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Jay dubbleU
Joined: 18 Sep 2008
Posts: 1203
Location: Armpit of the known universe
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CdrJake
Joined: 25 Sep 2009
Posts: 134
Location: Dartmouth/Portsmouth
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