So a faculty buddy here at USC has been selected to go to Duathlon worlds this fall. He's a an incredibly fit 38 year old, which may be obvious by that invitation! We ride together on our commutes into work here, and we pull off a pretty nice pace... but any time he wants to, he ramps it up and leaves me like i'm a snail.
He rides a vintage, lugged steel bike (Made in New Zealand, where he's from).... and he also has a plastic Felt for race day.
Recently he has hooked up to train with a pretty elite group of competitive riders out in the Conejo valley. They all are kind of dumbstruck when he out paces them in the paceline, ridin his steel trainer (they're all on their carbon flyweights). I just HAD to forward along his comment here from today's morning training session: ...
"My second ride with these guys and already I\u2019m \u201cThat kiwi\u201d. The Classic Comment of the day \u2013 guy pulls up beside me and says \u201cneat bike...how do those shifters work, are they the new electronic ones?\u201d....snigger snigger....I pointed at the cables (they come straight out of the levers!). Then he asks if there\u2019s any reason I have so few gears. He\u2019d not ever had a bike with fewer than 10. Nice. Told him I was saving weight."
Rich Pinder
Sherman Oaks, CA