Meeting Cyclists on the Trail

During my time on the trail I've met allot of people that share the same passion of cycling or even more, like me. It's great to chat with someone that has the same interests. The last encounter was a guy on his Foldable Greenspeed Trike. 

Last Wednesday's ride I met Charlie from Indianapolis Indiana. On my way back from Loveland, Charlie caught up with me at Camp Dennison. We were just six miles away from our vehicles. I tailed Charlie for about a mile or so, doing around 20 to 24 mph. Once we passed Milford I asked him if he liked his Trek 1200, which was about 12 years old. I still have my Trek 1000 road bike from the early 90's, the one's with the down tube shifters. He said, "yes" and we struck up a conversation on cycling and the condition of the trail.

Oh, by the way he told me that he bought his Trek from a very wealthy person that was moving to Florida. The price $20! And it had only been ridden a couple of times. Some people have all the luck.

Charlie's job takes him to Cincinnati twice a week and he tries to get on the bike trail around 7:30 PM. He commented that the Little Miami Bike Trail was a very nice one compared to the ones he rides in Indiana. He does some serious milage on his bike, riding from Newtown to Morrow (about a 50 mile round trip and averaging around 20 mph). Charlie looks to be late 40 to 50 years old, but fit as a fiddle. 

He was making me work on my Strada trying to keep up with him. Granted my Strada is fitted for touring and not equipped to keep up with a conditioned guy on a road bike. I often noticed that I had to work a little harder on my Strada than on my lowracer Baron doing the same speed. I guess I'll have to upgrade to some racing wheels in order to get some extra speed on my Strada.