How competative are you with cycling?

Twenty years ago I was probably pretty competitive (and was competing) but now, at 61, it’d be a pretty sad state of affairs if I was still like that. Some old duffer, mostly on a rigid singlespeed competitive??
I’m by no means the slowest rider around but I don’t care that I’ll never be the fastest either. It’s actually quite a liberating space to occupy…

I’m just very thankful that I’m still fit enough to be able to enjoy riding bikes well enough for it to be satisfying to me. Being an ex trials rider I get as much (or, actually, far more) satisfaction from cleaning a tricky section as from being fastest up a climb or down a descent.

I’m not a competitive cyclist at all really, Races are for racing, group rides are for working together and maintaining a pace that everyone can live with so you ALL have a good time IMO. Nobody want’s to go for a Sunday pootle with some merciless racing snake who’s only real goal is to drops everyone or have a pop at some KOMs and turn a ride into a race.

I do log rides on Strava but only so I can see how I’m getting on or where I’ve been, But I neither want or hold any KOMs, I like to keep an eye out for the ‘PR’ logo against a ride as it suggests I’m getting fitter…

A bit of competition from time to time is healthy, but to apply it to every aspect of your life indicates deeper issues IMO and can serve to suck the enjoyment out of otherwise quite fun activities.

Extremely when I’ve a race number pinned on or training.

However group rides are groups rides and the emphasis is on fun, so the power meter stays at home.

Very… but within obvious limitations.

I was at Swinley on Sat and did a couple of laps of the new blue while waiting for mates to turn up… i was trying bloody hard… Some guy set off just after me and caught me on gate 5…. but i kept him just behind till gate 12….. i then couldn’t stay with him, but bloody hell i pushed hard to try to….

Sunday i did some XC stuff and was uber competitive chasing anyone and everyone down i could see… sadly… people are just way way off the pace unless tehy’re quite serious.

The one thing i have stopped though is timing myself on rides… It destroys the feeling of fun, pleasure and exploration just for the hell of it.

I guess my answer would be ‘fairly’ competitive, but not in a racy way (although I do keep thinking about entering some 4X or Enduro events that have ‘oldies’ categories).

I do try to beat myself (I’m another ‘PR’ Strava watcher) and will push when riding with others on occasion, but also I’m now old enough to know when I’m well beaten and its time to sit up and enjoy the view.

The one thing that does get my competitive nature going is not a speed thing but a skills thing. When I see other riders hitting or clearing stuff I haven’t ridden I struggle to mentally let it lie until I have ridden it myself or fallen off trying. Still manage to keep some perspective though and so far haven’t done anything silly that’s totally being my current skill set.

I’m pretty competitive, but only if I know the other people are like minded and up for a bit of a battle. It’s pointless otherwise 🙂

nope not in the slightest, I ride at my pace sometimes slow sometimes fast depending on my mood, got rid of the gps and enjoy my riding much more now. Used the race yer self feature once and thrashed myself by nearly 45 mins, did I enjoy the ride nope it was horrible and not why I ride, to be “on it” 100% of the time is being just a bit blinkered.

I hate strava with a vengeance.
Yes, I am competitive but I realised strava was taking the joy out of cycling for me. Too many people thinking strava is cycling.

Thrashed yourself for 45 mins? Sounds great 🙂 For me, a proper fast ride where you come back knackered is one of the best feelings 🙂

I can be… I put quite a lit of pressure on myself to ride stuff. If I see someone else cleaning something that I’m struggling with I’m not very good at letting it lie. I’ll keep trying until I do it / clean it or crash. I also like to see improvements in my riding, be it getting up a climb faster, linking more stuff together etc.

If I’m in the mood, I’ll pick my pace up when following others up or down. I’m probabr more competitive on a downhill or a fun bit of singletrack. As I ride on my Tod most of the time, its difficur to be too competitive.

I used to compete in other several sports (at a good-high level) and am very competitive in nature – to the point of hating whoever i was playing against. I didn’t like the competitive me (i transformed into an instant barstord), so i stopped. When cycling i’m only in competition with myself and that seems to work. I don’t race bikes anymore, and am unlikley to do so again – even for fun, because i know the old me would return.

richmtbguru – Member

I don’t think you realise how passionate I am about my riding, I’m willing to risk my life to get to the best times possible,
😯

my god are you being serious? i have never heard anything so stupid in all my life!

And wow there certainly is an abundance of competition on STW.
I will stick to my lovely steady rides 8)

But cannot wait to at least do a bit of downhill racing this year,including the Steel City Downhill to start my season off with a bang!

I’ve been told by a lot of my clients in the past how fast I am.

“In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

“And in the kingdom of the bland,
It’s 9 o’clock on ITV.”

Not competitive at all. If I want to race, I run. If I want to enjoy myself I ride a bike. That said, I have more QOMs on strava than I expected to get when I signed up “just to measure my progress”.

Very competitive, with myself nowadays.

Not very. I mess around with Strava but it’s just a bit of fun. I race a fair bit but I can’t say I compete 😉 Race mates but not the rest of the field really. Mountain biking’s too important to me to turn it into just another competition.

Not. I save my competitivness for this place.

I’m really really non competitive. Sometimes I wish I was, then I could have an excuse to get up early and ride really fast with competitive type guys. As it stands, I just like riding bikes. I have good enough bikes.

If I can keep up with my regular riding buddy I’m fine, as he is ten years younger than me and been riding a hell of a lot longer 😀

In techy section I tend to lead the way but in the fast smooth sections I let him get lead the way.
My brother on the other hand 3 years younger any down hill I get out of his way as after he spending 12 months in Whistler riding the bike park runs on his daily commute home, I know I’ll just get in his way LOL

Some of these posts go some way to explaining the Monday morning ‘miserable roadie/MTBer’ threads.
It seems the simple act of riding a bike has turned into a stat finding mission with a healthy dose of snide competition thrown in. I find it easy to separate;
Riding/rides
Training
Racing
When riding or training I don’t care who or what passes me, as it’s my time.

I haven’t got a competitive bone in my body. I have nothing to prove, either to myself or anyone else.

richmtbguru – Member
I don’t think you realise how passionate I am about my riding, I’m willing to risk my life to get to the best times possible,

my god are you being serious? i have never heard anything so stupid in all my life!
And wow there certainly is an abundance of competition on STW.
I will stick to my lovely steady rides
But cannot wait to at least do a bit of downhill racing this year,including the Steel City Downhill to start my season off with a bang!
POSTED 15 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

I’ve been riding bikes from a very early age in fact they say I was in the biking position on my 20 week scan!! 😀
But seriously though, it’s not stupid at all! Although I was told that I was by the french locals while out guiding, I dont think they’d seen riders going down things i was doing 10 years ago on a fully rigid! 😮 Im just very passionate about my riding,, when you’ve been in the industry all your life you get a competitive streak, it’s what makes us champions, I think maybe people who aren’t competitive have a lazy streak to them, I’ve always been hungry for wanting to achieve nothing but the best, If it wasn’t with mountain biking then it would be with rowing, but that’s another story! 😆

I hate strava with a vengeance.
Yes, I am competitive but I realised strava was taking the joy out of cycling for me. Too many people thinking strava is cycling.

Bad workman and tools? Nobody made you do it…

Competition is my kryptonite.

Get me out with friends, we’re having a good time, some encouraging banter being thrown around, i’m feeling good, not meaning to be up myself, i can be very good on a bike. Whether it be climbing or descending on the MTB or pulling a particular line/run/trick on my BMX.

Throw in competition, whether it be a race or that richmtbguru type of character getting their rubbish vibes everywhere, i become a complete nervous wreck.

I think it’s the amount of pressure i put on myself in a competitive setting since in my head, i should be coming top 3.

I also hate going to all the effort of getting worked up, trying really hard and failing.

Good riding simply does not happen for me when i try, i really can’t just switch on riding well.

im not much, have a couple of mates i regularly cycle with and we try the odd sprint at certain points, and occasionally we will try up a hill too, but it doesnt matter who wins.
for the record, i ‘usually’ win a sprint, and either of my mates ‘always’ wins up any hill.

I am way more competitive than anyone on this thread 😉

On really competitive with meself. I think after a certain age *cough* you know what you can and can’t do and the challenge is to maintain one’s abilities without killing oneself.

If someone else is faster good for them if someone else is slower maybe they’re having a bad day who knows who cares

I don’t see myself as competitive. I just like riding my bike and finding new places to ride. I’ve zero interest in races, Strava and other GPS pish of that ilk. It’s fine when a mate tells me how much climbing we’ve done in a ride but that’s pretty much the extent of my interest.

However, I’ll happily push myself on big rides and embrace the hike a bike ethos of a carry for a ridge line trail, bike views or a lovely technical descent which will push my skills and encourage me to get better. Riding with my wife and friends, watching my daughter learn to ride, having a laugh with my mates on bikes, finding new trails – all of those things have meaning in a way that a position on a leader board will never give me. 😀

Not as competitive as i am when i’m running, and NOWHERE near as competitive as Mulletus Maximus! 🙂 .

Well it seems that the majority on this forum are competitive indeed.

I might start being like this if it improves my riding somewhat.

Steel City being the start.

I’m the least competitive person here….

I’m definitely more contemplative than competitive..

Having said that I prefer to finish every ride feeling that I gave it everything I had..

I like a challenge, and do enter some local XC races (and the odd caper further afield – Kielder 100) but my fitness level is to cycling what boxing gloves are to a concert pianist (30 years of smoking – quit 2 years back) so I respectfully tend to challenge myself, and courteously get out of the way when getting lapped sometime mid-race! Racing for me allows me a chance of riding somewhere different as fast as I can manage, with a bunch of like-minded folks. I’d like to make the time to train more, but I’m enjoying my kids growing up too much to worry about it!