I don’t think the Brompton was invented for racing, but, it doesn’t stop the Brompton World championships from taking place.
Almost as soon as bikes were invented, people were racing Penny Farthing around country parks, much to the bemusement of many (and fury of motorists who had to stick to 7mph speed limits). There is a competitive instinctive in many cyclists, which can be hard to quell. Even if you are commuting to town, you can find yourself subconsciously racing old grannies. (see: commuter racing)
The ever popular cyclo-sportives are a curious mix of leisure riding / touring / unofficial road race / time trial. It is the kind of ride where there is sufficient ambiguity to allow you to decide whether or not you want to boast about your time, depending on how you do. Some people are laid back and can nicely enjoy the ride, others will get worked up and write letters to Cycling Weekly complaining that they saw a rider in the ‘Surrey hills 50Km Charity Sportive’ were getting a push up a hill.
Of course, getting a push up a hill in a cyclo-sportive is hardly shocking news. All the best pros, look for ways to save a bit of energy. Check this clever way of picking up bottles from a team car (sticky bottles – youtube). But, all that pales into insignificance when you consider riders like Maurice Garin who were caught cheating in early editions of the Tour de France in which he caught a train for half the stage. I thought that sounded pretty enterprising really, at least he wasn’t relying on the more popular forms of cheating around at the time like amphetamines, cocaine and getting very drunk on champagne. Though, I don’t think the Tour of Britain ever had anyone trying to get their quicker by using British Rail.
Now, as a hardened time triallist, who travels the country looking for fast dual carriageway courses (preferably starting at the top of hill and finishing at the bottom) so I can boast about beating my ‘personal bests’ I’m hardly the person to give a lecture on non-competitive cycling. I’m the kind of cyclist who took off his speedometer on town bike, so I wouldn’t keep trying to set personal bests for racing the 2.5 mile ride into town through 14 sets of traffic lights and innumerable traffic calming schemes.
There is nothing wrong in being competitive if that is what you want to do. If you have no interest in cycling faster than other people, you should count yourself lucky as you will be able to enjoy cycling much more.
And if you are a super-competitive cyclist, but, also super-slow, that is fine too. What would cyclists talk about, if we didn’t have a long list of reasons / excuses for not being in the top 100 in this years Etape du Tour?
If all else fails, bring your best carbon fibre road bike on a winter training rides, and when everyone else is ambling along, jump out of the group and sprint for some town sign, you can then lay claim to being fastest rider on a winter club ride, and we all know that has far more prestigious than winning the Premier Calendar.
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