So, I'm out on my '74 Paramount today, feeling good enough to bite off an 80 miler. I run into a couple of guys on bikes. We ride together for about 10 hilly miles. One of them, riding a recent Cannondale, says "Man, you should get a new bike. As fast as you are on that thing, you would really be flying on a modern machine!" (paraphrased)
So, coasting down hills their bikes are not faster than mine. Certainly, riding up hills their bikes are not faster than mine. They both looked to have lower body fat than me (not that I'm a chubbette). Yet, they don't see that the difference in performance in the bike takes a distant back seat to the condition of the rider. I know that we had a discussion on the list awhile back where people discussed the advantages of riding modern bikes in competition, and I don't doubt that. I've ridden modern machines. They're fast.
But Lance would have lapped us riding a Varsity.
Steve Barner, Bolton, Vermont