Do you ever cruise....

rolf_f

or is it flat out all the way?

Not just for commuting but any cycling. I pass people on the way in to work, bimbling along gently and happily. They probably get in 5 minutes after I would but without any sweat and probably don't even need to change so, all in, maybe their way is actually faster to the desk. I am pretty much always going as fast as I can - if I am going slowly it is because I am knackered or ascending one of Yorkshires answers to Mont Ventoux. I just don't seem able to amble along.

Often, I decide to take it easy on the way home but it never really works out that way - I wish it could but it doesn't.

Is it just me?

bluesacs

All the time.

Wouldn't want to be seen to be trying or looking like the wallies with their elbows out, crouched over their handle bars, head bobbing up and down like a porn star.

barry_kellett99

Sometimes I try hard to slow down a little, especially after a couple of days of hard commuting but I find it really difficult.
I have a longish commute and I like to push it relatively hard to save a little time.
Plus its a fairly busy route I ride on most of the time and I find I feel safer If I am going flat out rather than pootling along, but thats bound to be a false sense of security.


My quiet road home route is much longer but I tend to cruise more on it and feel more chilled out, but it takes about 30 minutes more.

roger_merriman

depends on road/area, and bike some bikes encourage one over the other.

Cafewanda

Nope. Not just you. Even when I'm knackered on a Friday night journey home, there are particular stretches where I'll automatically 'sprint' then run out of juice :roll:

Am trying to pootle, but not very successful at it right now.

Rich158

Only on Clapham Common

It depends upon my mood, some days just call for a realatively gentle pootle, others an all out blast

_Brun_

I cruise up to red lights in primary, which really annoys motorists who obviously need the 30 stationary seconds to compose and send a vital text message.

Sailorchick

I only commute 3.5 miles but always get to work a sweaty mess. I just can't cycle slowly and am always trying to go faster.

il_principe

Only when I have to - so when I'm out riding with the missus, or with ITB - he's an awful one for pootling, pootles everywhere*. :roll:

*I hear he likes cruising as well.

always_tyred

I hammer along after I've warmed up a bit. I take it quite sedately right in the city centre - I'll let others do their cycle courier impressions - I like to be conservative there.

cjcp

Lots. My hands are on the tops of the bars much of time.

Unless the wife says "you need to be home on time tonight" and I'm late. In which case, it's balls out. Safely, of course.

Cafewanda

Sailorchick wrote:

I only commute 3.5 miles but always get to work a sweaty mess. I just can't cycle slowly and am always trying to go faster.

Wot she said, as an addition to what I wrote earlier. Got it down to 27 mins this morning :shock: 5.5 miles.

lastant

Went back to Peterborough for the weekend a couple of weeks ago and took my bike along to save taxis etc. the other end from Kings Cross. It had been a long week so thought I'd leisurely travel back to the house after getting off the train...

...dear god, traffic moves much faster outside of London! Definitely felt much safer going full pelt on the roads there than cruising along with traffice belting past!

Wallace1492

Usually try and take it easy, but never works.

My problem is I tend not to cool down for a while, but due to building layout, get a shower straight away, before cooling down. Has been a few times after getting changed when shirt gets rather wet, as core has not cooled down enough, and is still expelling water.

Today, being last day before holiday, I managed to take it easy, and was not a sweaty mess!!

bluesacs

Cafewanda wrote:

Sailorchick wrote:

I only commute 3.5 miles but always get to work a sweaty mess. I just can't cycle slowly and am always trying to go faster.

Wot she said, as an addition to what I wrote earlier. Got it down to 27 mins this morning :shock: 5.5 miles.

oh right, so you are pootling.

Roastie

cjcp wrote:

Lots. My hands are on the tops of the bars much of time.

Unless the wife says "you need to be home on time tonight" and I'm late. In which case, it's balls out. Safely, of course.

Of course, what he fails to mention is that his pootle is usually around 25mph!

Roastie

Time and place for everything.

I usually pootle around on weekend when out and about with the missus or if I've just popping into town to hang out. Usually only on the commute or intentional training sessions where I ride properly hard.

gabriel959

It takes me around 15 minutes for 5 miles!

I have a FCN of 2 so need to keep up guys!

Gazzaputt

Depends on your definition of flat out. My cruise could interpreted I'm sure by others as flat out.

Dudu

Rolf F wrote:

or is it flat out all the way?

Not just for commuting but any cycling.

Depends on the reason for the ride.

Commute = some sort of deadline, but clean clothes to put on when I get there. About 90% of flat-out going to work, 100% on the way home.
Audax = relaxed time limit and long distance. 70% of flat out, or less if it's a really long one or the Dynamo.
Club run = whatever the rest are doing.
Tour = steady, about 60%.

And then there are the times you just feel like riding eyes-out for the hell of it. Or slowly.

jjojjas

90% of the time I cruise.
Used to push it when I was younger, now I ride flat bars sitting up, so I cruidse everywhere...unless I'm late 8)
Jas

rolf_f

Gazzaputt wrote:

Depends on your definition of flat out. My cruise could interpreted I'm sure by others as flat out.

What I'm thinking is not absolute speed but what you are comfortable with. Obviously, my average speed is slower on a 5 hour ride than my run in to work but, even on the former, I am still riding as fast as I can taking into account the number of miles still to do.

On my route in to work, today I managed 17mph on my MTB over 7 miles. On my long ride on Sunday, on an old 501 tourer, I reckon I spent 5.75 hours pedalling 83 miles - about 14 mph so not so much less. On that run, I was always working as hard as I could given a knowledge of how many miles I had still to do. I never once lifted off and cruised though, on the other hand, I did have rest stops.

prawny

I ride a fast cruise at all times, apart from uphill where I slow to a crawl and generally have a pootle.

I need to keep the average up though to keep the wife happy, as long as I'm faster than the train I can do what I like.

Normal ave is just over 18mph in 17.5 on the way home

Kieran_Burns

I dunno what you describe my commute speed as: I just sort of HAVE a speed and stick to it without meaning to.

I tend to (ahem) cruise at something between 16 and 18 mph (slightly higher recently) and that's the speed i do.

There are a couple of stretches that lend themselves to higher speeds (>25mph) but again, I'm not up over the pedals doing a fat Manx Missile impersonation, it's just easy to get to these speeds on these bits

It's a comfortable speed which gets my heartrate up and burns calories while getting me to work in good time. Isn't that what all this is about?

jjojjas

I mean cruise at 10 - 12 mph
Jas

prawny

jjojjas wrote:

I mean cruise at 10 - 12 mph
Jas

That's an uphill pootle - get a grip man!

Agent57

It's odd, really. I walk to the shops, and "slow cycling" is akin to walking. I don't jog everywhere, and certainly don't run. But when I'm on my bike, I always "run" (for me, that's 17-19mph in general).

I don't know why. If I'm happy to walk the 2 miles into town, taking half an hour, why do I feel the need to get there as quickly as I can when I'm on my bike?

Cafewanda

bluesacs wrote:

Cafewanda wrote:

Sailorchick wrote:

I only commute 3.5 miles but always get to work a sweaty mess. I just can't cycle slowly and am always trying to go faster.

Wot she said, as an addition to what I wrote earlier. Got it down to 27 mins this morning :shock: 5.5 miles.

oh right, so you are pootling.

:P

jjojjas

prawny wrote:

jjojjas wrote:

I mean cruise at 10 - 12 mph
Jas

That's an uphill pootle - get a grip man!

Yeah, well...I go up hill every day on the way to work
I come home at 32mph.....

Kieran_Burns

jjojjas wrote:

prawny wrote:

jjojjas wrote:

I mean cruise at 10 - 12 mph
Jas

That's an uphill pootle - get a grip man!

Yeah, well...I go up hill every day on the way to work
I come home at 32mph.....

bit of a cop out - getting a lift home

jjojjas

No. It really is a big hill and I live in the valley at the bottom of it