Smug Satisfaction ! Retro Revenge !

[monty dog]

A few years ago I had a really beaten-up Gios Compact that I ran as a fixed gear - I'd turn up on the fast club rides and we'd go off around the Surrey Hills, most riding their race bikes. Typically, the group was mainly E/1/2 road riders training pretty hard for racing - typically we'd ride Coombe Bottom, Crocknorth Lane, Pebblecoombe, Leith Hill and maybe Whitedown. I'd take pleasure in being first to the top of every hill.

 

[john]

Nice 'kill' stories, esp the one on the RSW

Sadly no kill stories here but in the summer I occasionally take one of my retro road irons out on the local training rides. Most are confused by my lack of crabon tubs on any of my bikes anyhow (because you need deep section carbon when you're doing a sportive). About the only comment I recall was how 'big' one of them looked. Sadly I still get dropped on the old steel sometimes, just like I do when I'm on the newer ti.

 

[Jonny69]

A few years ago I had a really beaten-up Gios Compact that I ran as a fixed gear - I'd turn up on the fast club rides and we'd go off around the Surrey Hills, most riding their race bikes. Typically, the group was mainly E/1/2 road riders training pretty hard for racing - typically we'd ride Coombe Bottom, Crocknorth Lane, Pebblecoombe, Leith Hill and maybe Whitedown. I'd take pleasure in being first to the top of every hill.

As counter-intuitive as it sounds, fixed gear bikes are actually pretty good for getting up hills on! It's just a shame they're such a handful to come back down on :shock:

Maybe it's time for me to invent a cable clutch for freewheels

 

[sensi]

if you are not far away from richmond park go there and have some fun with all that lycra boys & girls. been there with my girlfriend last summer and we past at least few people who looked like participants in tour de f or giro d'i! i think it is just a bizzare show off nowadays- you have to have at least £1k worth of stuff or you are not trendy

 

[lae]

I was riding a retro in the summer, and just got to the top of some pretty nasty hills in the Purbecks, when two roadies overtook me and suggested I might want a "bike that's younger than you mate hurr hurr". I'm afraid I was in such a bad mood from the hills that I just told them to f*ck off!

 

[Banashapan]

A few years ago I had a really beaten-up Gios Compact that I ran as a fixed gear - I'd turn up on the fast club rides and we'd go off around the Surrey Hills, most riding their race bikes. Typically, the group was mainly E/1/2 road riders training pretty hard for racing - typically we'd ride Coombe Bottom, Crocknorth Lane, Pebblecoombe, Leith Hill and maybe Whitedown. I'd take pleasure in being first to the top of every hill.

As counter-intuitive as it sounds, fixed gear bikes are actually pretty good for getting up hills on! It's just a shame they're such a handful to come back down on :shock:

Maybe it's time for me to invent a cable clutch for freewheels

I've been heading out recently on my local club rides...not with the elite group but im out riding my 50s fixed gear... Always first to the top of hills.... And always get passed on the downhills! keeping the brake feathered and a bit of resistance through thee cranks t keep it under control!

Always get the comments of 'you must be fit', and 'that looks uncomfortable to ride'. If only they knew how nice it is to ride vintage. oh, and i take pride in not wearing spandex when crapping on ppl with their plastic bikes

 

[Woz]

I was riding a retro in the summer, and just got to the top of some pretty nasty hills in the Purbecks, when two roadies overtook me and suggested I might want a "bike that's younger than you mate hurr hurr". I'm afraid I was in such a bad mood from the hills that I just told them to f*ck off!

I had a real laugh at this. Quality, straight to the point and position clear!

 

[Woz]

I'll add this, although not totally in the vain of the OP. I managed to keep up with a bunch or roadies (I was a roadie BITD) on a knackered old MTB. Needless to say, I was not popular drafting them and doing my turn at that front. I got all sorts of comments so at the following large diameter round-about I decided to ride over it and get a good 8 wheel lengths ahead to make a point. Then I got the bonk and was wasted.

 

[Goldie]

I do love pacing bikes twenty or thirty years younger than mine, and I'm lucky because the roads I usually ride on round north Cheshire are classic club run territory, so I get to tag along with clubs quite often.

I've only got one proper retro revenge story though, and I was on my Reynolds 501 framed MTB on which I was bombing along a lane near Altrincham one day last summer. I was meeting the missus at B&Q so I was going at a decent lick, but by no means flat out. I realised I was catching two lads on pricey looking Scott and CB Cape Wrath MTBs up. I backed off for a bit, but I was clearly going faster so I nipped past on a short uphill. None of this would be worth mentioning, except my two year old daughter Cait was on the co-pilot's seat, singing baa baa black sheep as we steamed by. The sounds of heavy breathing and furious pedalling came from behind me and the lad on the Scott went bombing by at a pace which, though very impressive, turned out to be unsustainable 100 yards down the road, as we passed him again...

More importantly, we made it to B&Q in time to meet our lass too.

 

[S1m0nR]

Great story - it's super that you had a co-pilot, too! That really rubs it in, especially since you're also carrying a passenger...