you can't win unless you know it's a race: cat 6 triumphs against unwitting opponents

life's small victories

roadie on a training ride: don't care if you've been out for four hours this morning, OWNED U

middle-aged lady on a hybrid: omg broke you OFF, waaaaaaaaaht, quit now

twitchy dude w/ortlieb panniers w/yr majestic raggett mane flowing in the wind: man u gotta time the lights if you don't wanna get ~shamed~ like that in front of all this college girls

kid on a bmx: oh ffs HOLD YR LINE---just for that i'm gonna put like 10 minutes into you

gotta be a BIKE. PATH. HEROOOOO!
got stars in his eyes, etc

totally man, i am late for school, clock is ticking

I regularly beat this one guy with a recumbant that also features an electric motor and a bunch of lead acid batteries.

always make a point on the way home of crushing anyone who a) shuffles in front at the lights, b) runs a red.

Haha. I do this racing stuff, but only if they're riding a road bike frame. I love to beat fixie fuxors esp. I get disappointed if there's not enough ride to catch up, like this morning when I saw two pull into the road leading up to campus. I ride alongside the bike trail, though, so it's kind of boring to pass someone and then their path starts to meander a couple minutes later. I was riding with a friend a couple weeks ago and annoying training bike dudes were yelling on the trail, "Passing on your right! Passing on your right!" Which is a weird side to pass on - and there are a lot of pedestrians. I kept saying to my friend, "I'm faster than them. I can catch up. I could blow them away," and she was saying, "Simmer down, simmer down."

Quasi-example of this was biking from downtown to my house early in the morning. It's about a 15 mile ride, and I came up behind this Italian bike trainer dude in bike shorts and all that, and I'm on a bike that costs probably a tenth of his, and I'm not passing him just to be polite, or just for the company or whatever, but really bored.

Bike dudes, I say to them, if you're not going to really train, what's with all the $$$ gear?

Anyway, it's just silly stuff I think on my bike.

great thread!

"i've looked at life from both sides now"
Joni Mitchell

it's funny how big of a target you become by going "roadie".

now i have commuters breaking sweat to keep up with me while i'm spinning out on warm ups or cool downs. one of the best guys i ride with will sometimes ride intentionally slow, like <15mph for an hour or two which I imagine must be incredibly hard considering his fitness, and giving heaps of confidence to errand runners huffing and puffing past.

but for those with a sadistic side, there is nothing better than stringing some poor rider along with false hopes until you get to any semblance of an incline and then just incinerating them with a quick blast up the hill.

^see also young Fabian's attack on Tom Boonen on sunday.

although this can backfire. i was warming up for a quick 25 mile after work ride about 3 months ago and as i slow for a red light, i hear knobbies and heavy breathing behind me. as we approach the limit line, this single speed MTB dude passes me and begins the obligatory trackstand and throws me a head nod. i really have no time for this guy so i just smirk and hope the light turns fast enough so i don't have to see him anymore.

the next 4 miles is a slight descent to the ocean through the park and i really can open it up when i want to. so i pick it up to about 20mph (32km) and start pushing it, but i can still hear knobbies. so i calmly/patiently pick it up to 24mph (39km) because that's probably hard to do on knobbies but no, at this point, Bro actually tried to pull up and pass me. Oh Hell Nah!

Now I'm pissed but I can't let it show. A big descent is looming so I lay the hammer down. 27mph (43km) into the descent where I routinely hit 35mph (56km) in the tuck. He's still there. Next up is a little bump that I'm POSITIVE there's no way he can hang if I'm push my momentum at 20mph (32km) up the bump to the last descent but no dice. Dude is on my ass. I end up stop caring and just doing my thing and after we get to the beach he goes "hey bud, nice riding" and I just hung my head... defeated.

I think I even whined to cutty later that night about how much of a draft envelope my big ass creates.

big target indeed, ~roadie~

conversely getting owned by a chick on rollerblades 4 a block and a half :/

^errand runner huffer

There was no one to even try and smoke on the way to work. However, the first curvy descent was car free so I could use all the road and pretend I was victorious on the climb up gold way and soloing to victory.

drivin 2day

I used to live in Knoxville, which has some very steep inclines that I had to climb in order to get home or to work - tall hills that challenge you whichever way you go. These built my climbing muscles. I've been able to be more competitive since changing my gear ratio. I got something that's fast that doesn't break my knees, and having a stripped down bike and never thinking about changing gears I think helps in my fictional races. Your fixie dude might have had a crazy ratio! (@ Shasta)

lol "climb up gold way"

attacked on mild incline, then rode the entire wacky races peloton off my wheel on the way home - cancellaraesque if i do say

Was out on saturday with the slower cycling group from my old department at the university (most of the faster cyclists are in training for the the upcoming pittsburgh marathon and don't want to spoil their regime by getting on a bike). Saturday was such a lovely day for smoking freds on shiny carbon bikes.

Particularly please was one guy on a shiny new black and gold Cannondale Carbon Carbon 6, who nearly ran a friend off the road as we pulled up to a traffic light which I never jump as it involves two tight right turns under a bridge. Light goes green and I do the two turns then the third which leads to a short but steepish climb up to the Eliza furnace trail. Fred seems to be struggling on this so I shift up step on the pedals and pass him in a clatter of shopping baskets banging on steel frame.

Last weekend was equally nice and there was hardly anyone out, this weekend was thick with inappropriately worn spandex.

i'm probably the least in shape and newest on a bike on this thread, but i passed some asshole tourists on electric bikes up a steep hill and felt pretty good about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9j6f5eTkFU

a cavendish-esque performance in the sprint to the pub this evening!

navarro'd an old geezer in a club jersey up a cat 6 climb and just as we were cresting my lungs had a mechanical and he dropped me, old bastard

p.sure I got the nod from ilx user krakow too at the bottom of milngavie just before the roundabout - but I didn't have my prescription specs on so can't be certain

still smarting here

dop that wheelsucker imho

I was riding my fixie up a hill on the way home today. It's only about 800 metres long and a very mild gradient, and for the first half I could hear a guy on a flat-bar roadie/hybrid sticking to my tail. I kept pushing, imperceptibly upping the pace, so that by the top I was pretty out of breath - and I turned round to see the fucker 150 metres at least behind me. Satisfying.

never look back

(look under your armpit)

Hah! I had to look back as I needed to cross two lanes of traffic to turn right. Anyway he was too far back to tell :)

The technique is: roll up behind them, catch your breath while sitting on the wheel for a few seconds, spin past breezily with a smile and a 'hello', stay in the saddle and imperceptibly up the pace so it looks like you're not making any particular effort, don't look back but continue to signal hazards like pot holes / drain covers as if you think they're still on your wheel when you know they're 100 yards behind.

On the Retrovelo in town yesterday, old geezer in a club jersey riding a mountain bike wildly underestimates my speed (I get this on the Retrovelo a lot) passes but slows down significiantly before he finishes the pass, doesn't look and nearly sends me flying. I say in German something amounting to "hey, if you're gonna pass, fuckin' PASS ME." He, offended, hollers "get a real bike" and guns it. It is ON. I stay exactly 10 meters behind him, exerting little effort, then as he slows down and, sweating and red-faced, turns to savor his victory. His expression of smugness turns to shock as I zoom by him a half-second later, smiling and not winded. He shakes his fist at me, then nearly gets killed in a roundabout.

I love the Retrovelo.

^^^totally awesome^^^

hahahaha

Dumb question, but "cat 6" means tooling around in racing gear even though you may or may not actually ever compete in an official race, right? I'm guessing purely on context. What is the official origin of it?

I always thought of this as "Lancing"; I can't remember if I heard that somewhere or not.

cat 6 = not an actual racer

spandex not required

dude on a folding bike tried to race me across the williamsburg bridge yesterday

dude in full spandex on a folding bike fucking smoked me and some friends and then gave us dirty look on w side hwy while we were just casually riding around aimlessly

passed by some bro on a giant mtb last friday; threw 'easy ride' concept out the window in order to assert superiority. so much for HR zone 2!

the key is to always let these guys get a little advantage on you and then when it's the most strenuous (windy, hilly) just hammer, hammer and hammer. you won't see them again.

Does anyone else "struggle" to clip in or similar to ensure they get to follow fellow cyclists at traffic lights etc? When it's me vs someone who looks a bit tasty I really hate being ahead, especially if there's a headwind. Not that I draft them (usually), I just want to weigh up their skillz before obliterating them.

On that note, I totally owned a penny farthing on the way home last night o_O

not a chance, even with my fixie i know i'm quicker off the line than 99% of other people.

unless they're all "struggling" to clip in 'cause they think i look "tasty". unlikely.

opportunities for this seem to have been a bit scarce of late. had the tables turned on me the other week tho - 125km down and on home stretch, i'd gone hunger-flat and got passed, then dropped by some dude on a flat-bar with panniers! shameful, bro.

daaamn I straight up smoked about 10 undergrads in a row, what with their rusty chains and seats way too low.

dude in the fancy tights, and optic vomit jacket avec backpack: you seem nice enough sayin hi as you pass me w/ intensity. however you are wearing goggles, and its in the high 30s. i think we need to race this one out. or pistols. your choice.

http://www.good.is/post/cat-6-competitive-commuting-turns-bike-rides-into-races/

Hott.

imagine runway modeling, in freeze frame
at the stoplight that's what they call vogueing

I'd post a trackstanding photo from the fix at this point, but I'm at work.

Did you do a trackstand for minutes at the lights? If not it's 1-1 at best.
― Mark C, Tuesday, May 24, 2011 9:27 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

nope, i had to clip in, so he def had the advantage on the early start

Bump.

Sorry I crushed you going up that long hill, but those pistons tattooed on your calves might as well be bulls-eyes.

That was so I could find this via the iPhone app.

Nipped down the shops, sans helmet & chamois shorts but avec gloves & Rapha handbag, for bottle of wine tonight. There's a 3/4 mile stretch of straight riverside cyclepath. Roadie dude in luminous gillet with arm warmers & 3/4 bibs is 1/4 mile ahead of me as I come off the bridge onto the path. I've just been to physio & told Friday is a rest day, no cycling. This guy is really hunching, elbows on his bars like he's time trialing or something but he's doing 18mph tops. I'm not allowed to come out of the saddle or into the drops because of my shoulder, but I've got to beat him because gillets are unacceptable, which means a 2-mile diversion. I catch him after 1.5 and leave him trailing way behind by the time i swing back to get to the supermarket. I'm sweatier than I expected by the end of it, but I deserve that bottle of wine.

I've become such a cycling twat.

gillets are unacceptable

?

i thought that was a kind of fish

xp was piston tattoo guy wearing a Ritte kit by any chance? They got a dude like that down here who is fast as balls on the track.

no, this was a bigger chap in street clothes in SF.

/gillets are unacceptable/

?

Yeah, where I live & work gillets are almost universally an accessory for a particular type of debauched junior Tory-boy student rah. I have real difficulty seeing them as a cycling essential!

is this some weird britisher term for vest?

Also known as a body-warmer over here. Gillet is a French term I think. Sleeveless thingamajig.

Might help if I could spell it.

http://www.rapha.cc/gilet/

Lightweight sleeveless top put on when it rains - a kind of early spring / autumn piece of clothing that you carry around and whip out when needed

Or a Gideon Osborne fan signifier.

oh, a vest. i don't wear mine too much, but there was a period in 2000 when a windstopper gilet was PRO

padded down gilets are definitely a thing in the UK among young men who will grow up to own land/wear sports jackets/follow the rugby world cup. cycling gilets are a totally different thing though.

piston bro vs gilet twat: fite

I own a gilet got from REI's bargain bin and I have to say it is the least used piece of cycling kit I have. This is probably because the change period between wanting a short sleeve jersey to wanting a windproof long sleeve is about a week long round here.

follow the rugby world cup

otm

they are somewhat useful here as temps change a lot during the day, and also 30 minute descents and such.

i dont often wear jackets when riding, they are too warm, often flappy, and take up lots of pocket space. typically i'll use armwarmers, and if i need more throw on a windproof vest.

what does usage panel say about sleeveless jersey people

I have this in grey - http://www.rapha.cc/wind-jacket/ - it is a godsend given that I live right by a very windy indeed stretch of estuary cycle path. Amazingly light.

robbie mcewen gets a pass on sleeveless, otherwise no dice

http://www.blahblahfreddie.com/wp_sys/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/the_peloton_041.jpg

lol actually he's just tucked the sleeves in i think

ha ha, I've got a rapha gilet and it's great (sample sale of course), perfect for taking the chill off on a late summer evening.

Aaanyway, this morning, waiting to cross the A4 just up from the Hogarth, heavy traffic. I'm at the front of the Asl and stood waiting (it's a long wait on those lights). Lady cyclist comes up and pulls up a metre directly in front of me (it's a 2 lane road, but filters to one). WTF but OK, maybe you're quick....... pedals like a demon over the 4 lane road, not a bad pace...... gets over and as soon as it gets dangerous to pass, slows down to around 10 mph. So I'm bimbling along until 4 cars pass before I can safely pull out and cruise easily away with hardly a glance.

Seriously though, if you're going to roadblock me, have the chops to carry it off.

i don't have any sleeveless jerseys, but i have a bunch of old team jerseys that are cutoff. i don't care how jortsy it looks, i'll wear them cause it gets hot as fuck here, like over 100 deg hot.

Sleeveless jersey is absolutely fine. It's just the gilet - worn over a sleeved base layer or jersey or arm warmers, which gives off the landed-gentry-twat vibe. Give it a name other than gilet and I'd be OK with it, too, I think.

No work today, wife at work, kid at nursery, flat in turmoil due to builders, rain forecast all weekend: did a 50-mile ride today. Put my gilet on when I stopped for lunch so I didn't get cold. Didn't see Nick.

Planning to head out in 35 minutes. Internet tells me it's raining heavily. Can't hear it against the bedroom window though. Humph.

Just looked out the window. 3/5 blue sky. The BBC are shit at weather.

The same thing in London: mostly blue sky, but the met office website insists it's pouring with rain. This kind of unpredictability makes a gilet your best friend.

My gilet travelled yesterday, but remained firmly in the carradice. Was a beautiful day for cycling in London yesterday, knobheads in vans apart. Actually, did have a few nice drivers letting me turn right to get me out of brutal streams of traffic, thanks drivers, thrivers.

Despite the forecast I've had blue skies for pretty much every mile of the 38 I've done this morning.

Am okay with gilets but must insist on pronouncing it 'gillit'.

I was late and trying to speed in to school as quickly as possible this morning, when a dude in Birkenstocks on a comfort bike passed me like it was nothing

fuck a giblet, it's 80F in SF. hotter than LA right now. gonna ride today after clocking out early.

I will be riding molto tranquilo today so guaranteed which means open season for the Cat6ers.

coffee shop ride today and on our run along the jail trail, normally good for some paceline riding. A tail wind broke everyone apart and I found myself on the wheel of a pretty blonde triathlete* who towed me up to some early escapees, I then hopped wheel to wheel and "won". Strave PB and onto the first page of strava riders and second place in the fatties category. This is truly the essence of Cat 6ing.

*Everyone wants the wheel of the pretty blonde triathlete in the coffee shop ride, some might say its because no one wants to ride in front of someone riding on unstable tri-bars, there may be other reasons but I couldn't possibly comment.

literally impossible

Is it cat6ing when I ride 15 yards behind some guy seemingly desperate to distance me, or just passive aggressive assholedom? I feel kinda bad now but it amused at the time.

well technically you were both cat6ing, so it's a push imo

It depends if you follow him all the way home and then outsprint him up his driveway

ha

Running errands on Market Street when I'm surprised to see a guy I already passed come up on my left. Oops, nope, different guy, much faster. Riding fixed with clipless pedals. I push a little harder, he keeps accelerating, I reach for my downtube and get a few more gear inches. We're side by side when we approach a stopped cab, with a curb on either side. I slow down, he's nervier and finds the gap on the left. Cab pulls away, I'm now in his draft and considering if and when to come around him (dangerous because of streetcar tracks) when I realize I'm about to pass my destination on the left and pull over. Probably for the best, I don't think he was working as hard as I was and riding that fast on that section of Market is fucking idiotic anyway.

He wasn't unwitting, but I got completely smoked by a middle-aged recumbent bro. I could tell he wasn't even trying hard!

It doesn't really count as cat 6ing as we were riding together and had, 10 minutes previously, done an across the road sprint. However I think I pulled off my finest bit of race craft yesterday evening, made all the sweeter my besting Dr Pinarello 'my buddy works at SRAM look at my SRAM Red, Qarq and ZIPP' Dogma.

I gapped my buddies at a stop sign, didn't really go that fast until I saw them over my shoulder so did a 1.5km breakaway until a little hill. They almost brought me back on the hill but I used my knowledge of the hill to spin up as it flattened out towards the top and pegging it down the descent and up the next hill. Cancellara besting Boonen on the Kapelmuur it wasn't but it felt like it.

Best of all at the top of the last hill I pulled left to do a couple of laps of the park but they tapped out and called for the pub.