Old tech.......New tech.......

......does it really matter? Well, apparently not.

I had the opportunity yesterday to go back through some old newsletters from Chico Velo the other day. 27 years worth of newsletters. Fun stuff.

One point of interest to me were the time trial times from two courses here in town. One was the Forest Ranch Time Trial - an 11.5 mile climb, pretty gradual, not too steep('bout 1800-2000 feet or so)....but it wears on ya after awhile. The second was the River Road Time Trial - a 10-mile flat time trial. And the interesting note is this: The times back then were, overall, faster than they are now. What do I mean by "back then"? We're talking 25 years ago. I'm not saying that everyone who rode back then was beating an Aren Timmel up a hill(but there were some - like Grant Boswell). No no - What I do mean is that, for the most part, the riders were faster - on average - than the riders nowadays.......locally, that is.

Consider this - a bike "back then" was about 22 pounds. If you had a sub-20 pound bike(real.....not just imaginary!), that was a rarity indeed. Today, I can walk in to a local cycling shop, and if I have the necessary funds, I can walk out with a 15.5 pound state-of-the-art carbon wonder bike............and still not beat my best time up to Forest Ranch from 1983! 22 pound steel Benotto was my bike from those days. And the Forest Ranch Time Trial start - for you locals - was not Bruce Road like it is now.......nope......it was El Monte! When you consider that, the times become even more amazing because it was a slightly longer course.

What does all this mean??? Does it mean, "It's the rider, not the bike"? Or "They trained harder and more consistently back then"? Or "There was more competition in this area during that time frame"? Or the one I REALLY don't like - "Oh, well, the explanation for that is this - the average age of the rider back then was 22-24........now it's 40+"! No, I hate that explanation.

Looking through all those years of newsletters, seeing all the results, seeing all the names and calendar of rides and so forth, I can tell you this: The riders "back then" rode. It wasn't training, there were no heart rate monitors, no power meters, nobody knew carbon or titanium in cycling, and a training schedule was writing down what you did AFTER you did it - it was a training log. They rode. That is what they did. It was fun - it wasn't work - they were having a good time. The Ishi 160?? Sure, let's do it this weekend - sounds like fun!!(The Ishi 160 is a 160 mile local ride that goes from Chico, then north on Hwy. 99 to Red Bluff.......up Hwy. 36 towards Mt. Lassen......then.....egads!!!!......down Hwy. 32 back to Chico!). How do you train for the Wildflower Century?? By riding the Century route. Simple. But it was fun too - which included sight-seeing, swimming hole visits, lunch breaks - and most of all, long days in the saddle. Looking at those old calendars, there were rides every single day. Riders just rode.