1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Last night, my wife and I went to Warrington Movie Theater to see the one-night showing of DemandFilms' MAMIL. It's a documentary about cyclists, specifically middle-aged cyclists and how they are kind of driving the industry. MAMIL, for those who may not have heard it before, is a term that was coined around 2010 and means Middle Aged Men In Lycra. The doc was pretty entertaining. But that's not what this is about. Of course, since it was a random Wednesday night, most of the people in the lobby beforehand were cyclists, and most, if not all of them were middle-aged dudes who came in groups. While we were walking in, one group of guys ahead of us were talking and one guy in particular was dominating the conversation, telling everyone else about his recent cycling trip. He was relating the story of one challenging ride. He said (and was showing everyone his Strava file) how the ride started with a long climb right out of the driveway that gained 700 feet in the first five miles. One guy in the group asked what the grade was, and this guy said, "Oh, it was 10-12%. You know, some sections were less and some were more. But it was about 10-12% overall." I just looked at my wife and mouthed "bullshit." Then I pulled out my phone and calculated the actual grade. For 700 feet over 5 miles, it's actually averages 2.6% grade.
I figured this guy was either pulling a cyclist's version of a fish story, or he was really terrible at ninth grade trig back in the day. It also made me wonder how often he tells his buddies he "Everested" while riding along the beach in Jersey.
I figured this guy was either pulling a cyclist's version of a fish story, or he was really terrible at ninth grade trig back in the day. It also made me wonder how often he tells his buddies he "Everested" while riding along the beach in Jersey.