Never judge a rider by their appearance!

[Dirty $anchez]

How about getting smoked by the fairer sex?

A friend wanted to ride with our group. When he found out that the wives were going, he said he was going to bring his son on the Weeride. He ended up not bringing his son and then my wife smoked him up and down the trail. Good thing he left junior home!

Almost everyone has been "chicked", that or their lying.

[zrm]

The only people I judge by what they're wearing is the people who I don't like what they're wearing.

[GnarBrahWyo]

I have noticed the big dudes can go downhill with the most wreckless abandon. Old man strength is advantageous in mountain biking too haha.

[mudhen]

I'm sneaky slow....

mudhen

[DirtyHank]

How about getting smoked by the fairer sex?

A friend wanted to ride with our group. When he found out that the wives were going, he said he was going to bring his son on the Weeride. He ended up not bringing his son and then my wife smoked him up and down the trail. Good thing he left junior home!

On a group ride, a older gentleman I was riding with was heard to say "You know you're having a bad day when a girl in a Barbie Helmet passes you up". I have to laugh everytime I think about it..



Hank

[moofish]

I went on a 65Km road ride on my MTB recently and was passed by lots of old men old women really fit kids on $10000 road bikes and finally by a guy with only one leg. I also learnt that some chicks have huge butts because they have massive thigh muscles. I learnt not to judge any riders skills by their looks. No matter how good you are there is always someone around to make you look ridiculous. For me thats quite easy.(the amputee was a paralympian I found out later)

[skiahh]

Sounds about like me most of the time when I hit the trail!

I'm often the guy you're talking about. Well, not on the climbs -- at 6' and 245#, I climb about like I look like I would. But not many can keep up with me on the downhill side of things.

OFGGDH!! (Old Fat Guys Going Downhill!!)

I quickly figured out that mountain biking is like racquet ball. Don't mess with the old guy that looks out of shape. They will wax you up and down the court (or trail).

I learned that lesson years ago!! They've figured out how to play a technical game, making you run your ass off while they stay planted in center court. If you can turn the tables on them, though, they're easy prey!

[huffster]

Respect your elders...they know where all the best trails are!!!

[Pete Otis Towns]

I think we've all had it handed to us by someone who doesn't look the part. Last year I met with my usaul riding partners who brought one of their friends to ride with us. She was in her early 50's and riding a late 80's rock hopper with an elastomer fork. I figured I would be waiting a lot for her at the turns. I figured wrong. It turns out she's a hard core tri athlete and while she never passed me on the uphill she was on my wheel the entire time. i tried my best to shake her but couldn't, and nearly killed myself trying.

We have since become friends, she now has a bad ass bike and continues to make me suffer every time we ride.

[GnarBrahWyo]

It's good to have your ego bruised every once in a while

[emu26]

OP, you are correct, never judge a book by its cover. Apparently this guy was a national champion
This mountainbiker is alleged to have assaulted another mountainbiker - YouTube

[Ailuropoda]

Ha ha. 49. 235 pounds and not all of it is muscle I'm afraid. I have very expensive bikes but wear cargo pants and four-year-old brown Shimano SPD shoes (bought five pairs). I'm not particularly fast and the younger guys on cheaper bikes pass me often but I'm not that slow and have my moments.

I seem to have good endurance and twenty mile rides don't wear me out like five mile rides did when I first started. I'm not competing, don't race, and generally ride alone. With that being said I have risen to the occasion and smoked some of my younger friends who don't believe I ride almost every day.

[Ailuropoda]

I pulled over to let a beautiful, fit, serious-looking young woman on a very nice bike go by. "You're not bad for a girl," I said as she passed.

She stopped, looked me in the eye and replied, "And you're not too bad for an old, fat guy."

True love. She went to dinner with me but unfortunately was from out of town.

[RaptorTC]

The old guys have just had more time to train! Well, at least that's how I justify it when they blow right on by me and crush my times in TT's.

[jeffw-13]

Last group ride I went on was dominated by a guy on a single speed dirt jump bike with flat pedals and downhill tires. He out climbed and out rode everyone! Very impressed, I was.

[Excuse4Fun]

This is an awesome. Here I am at 35 years old just now getting into MBR and I'm thinking, "Well I guess I will probably get made fun of because I'm gonna be older than all of the other riders."
Thanks for the pics and lifting my spirits up. The way you guys make it look I don't think I'll ever be to old to ride.

[Trail Ninja]

Respect your elders...they know where all the best trails are!!!

That's because we built them.

[guggas]

I have a close friend that I introduced to Mountain biking about 12 years ago, and who is still one of my best riding buddies. For the first few years I was always faster than him. But the tables have turned in recent years, as hard as I try i havnt been able to out ride him lately. I have a pretty new FS race bike with evey component of my build carefully thought out, and I ride at least 3 times a week, I have clipless pedals/ shoes ect and have spent thousands of dollars over the years on cycling equipment. I'm in pretty decent shape as well, but my friend shames me when we ride. He still has his original HT that he that he bought second hand after our first few rides together, he has very heavy wheels/tires and uses heavy duty thorn proof tubes in both his tires that weigh well over a pound each. The other day he showed up to a ride without water and wearing flipflops, and rode with his keyring(that must weigh several pounds clipped to his beltloop) and I still couldnt keep up with him on a 10-mile xc loop.

[MTBeing]

I am an over 50 year old amputee. I think some riders think I should be struggling more than I do. When I use to ride with a 74 year old hombre, the 2 of us would get a lot of comments (all very positive). btw, I am not fast or slow...just steady.

A couple years ago I met a guy named Hank at the trailhead and ended up riding with him. He was built just like Family Guy and could absolutely shred! I for sure judged him incorrectly .

We had an amputee podium in a race last weekend. Guy looked younger, maybe 30s but everyone standing nearby me muttered how neat it was to see that. That said, I'm always getting dusted by some 'dope-smoking, hippie single' speeder. I say this with the utmost respect.

[hitechredneck]

Beware of old man strength.

[norton55]

Great thread! I'm 57, ride a Knolly Endorphine, and the secret to hammering at an old age is this..... drink good beer and it's mind over matter when climbing or attacking a wicked section.

Kudos to all of us white haired grizzled folks.

[GnarBrahWyo]

I have a good story myself: For about 3 years my closest riding buddy has always kicked my butt riding. He had the natural biking physique, 5'9 or so, 150lbs and was very athletic,skinny and strong. Just a real strong rider in general. When we would ride, he would always talk sh*t to me for taking longer than him to get to trail junctions or tops of hills etc. It almost became not fun riding with him because of that. So this last summer I hit the trails hard. I decided to double my normal riding distance and take half the breaks I normally did. I would do 20-30 mile rides on the weekends and 10-15 on weeknights after work.

This same summer my buddy got into grad school out east. So in July I wanted to do one last trail ride with him. On our ride he started out strong than me (like usual) but about ten miles into the ride he starting bonking and I passed him. The remainder of the ride I was able to smoke him. It bruised his ego when I arrived back at the truck a solid 4 minutes before him. Keep in mind I weigh about 40 more pounds than him too. He was a good sport about it and congratulated me. It was kind of poetic justice that I out-rode him on his last day in Wyoming.

Now... if I could only pass my other riding buddies who are faster than me!

[nemebean]

For me? XC running shoe: $45, Nike gym shorts: $30, Ratty old t-shirt: $10, Bike $3400.

Old running shoes that would otherwise be in the trash: $0, Random pair of shorts: $30, Random t-shirt: $?? (some were even free!), Bike $600 (plus about half that again in repairs ).

That said, I am as slow as I look. I think the only time I've ever passed anyone on a trail was a group of 4 or 5, and I kid you not, I get 100 yards down the trail and my chain breaks.

I haven't run into too many members of the fairer sex on rides around here, but I did get "chicked" for the first time this summer. Not an unpleasant experience to be honest.

[Tystevens]

This is an awesome. Here I am at 35 years old just now getting into MBR and I'm thinking, "Well I guess I will probably get made fun of because I'm gonna be older than all of the other riders."
Thanks for the pics and lifting my spirits up. The way you guys make it look I don't think I'll ever be to old to ride.

Well, depends where you ride. On the "regular" trails around here, I feel like I'm about the median age at 37. Particularly in the evenings after usual work hours, I may actually put myself in the young crowd.

At bike parks, lift-served stuff or freeride stuff, I'm definitely in the top 10% agewise. Although there are a couple gray haired late 40-something guys I've seen at Canyons resort a few times ripping it up as well or better than most of the kids. They do have the look of former professional extreme athletes, though -- can't really explain it, but you bump into those types a lot in Park City, Utah; they seem to go there to retire.

[Mountain Cycle Shawn]

I'm a lot slower than I appear.

Well, that's not good, because you look like a turtle.