Racing Head to Head

One of my cycling friends introduced me to a website for tracking rides and performance (strava.com.) I already use bikejournal.com for this. But, this new site lets you upload your GPS info and has some other neat features. Since most people don't do the exact same rides as others (or at the same time), it's hard to compare performance as you could in a head to head race. Strava lets you divide your route into segments that other people cross on their rides. Then you can compare the same parts of your rides with others.

Lenore was laughing at me the other day. There is a segment on my usual ride that I started paying attention to. To begin with my performance on this bit was about in the middle of a 250ish person pack. One of my pals was in second place. So, I decided to see what I could do to come up in the standings. I did pretty good one day (put me up to maybe 14th or something.) Then I noticed there was a “girl” ahead of me in the standings. I decided I needed to fix that.

Well, Yesterday I pushed hard. My speed was 27.4 mph for a third of a mile with a rise of 30 feet and I tied for sixth place with the “girl.” Lenore chided me for my jubilation. I did a little checking on my female nemesis. It appears she does do a lot of racing and stuff. But, I also found that she is 59 years old. That was quite amusing for Lenore and she said that 59 years old is hardly a girl. I said if she is doing better than or just as good as me, she's a girl, not an old woman. Note: I have since beaten "the girl." I pushed my time on this segment to 39 seconds, average speed 30.7.