Red traffic lights......enemy of personal best avg mph ?
JimmyK
Posts: 712
Today was a great day for cycling, I hopped on my wheels and went out for a half century. On the entire journey, I got through 2 sets of traffic lights that were green and didnt have to stop, the other gazillion I approached were red and dammit I had to stop so often that it just got infuriating :x . For each complete stoppage, I lost .1 from my average speed that I had to recover. I know that on another day when I got favourable mostly green lights along the way, a 19.5 mph average was well within my reach, today I only got an average of 18.5 mph and was well brassed off .
Maybe on Sunday afternoons the traffic lights dont change as often as they do on a weekday in the afternoon and that PB of 19.5 mph avg will be reached, PB over a half century is currently 19.4 mph avg.
Im rapidly starting to detest red lights though !!
Jimmy
Maybe on Sunday afternoons the traffic lights dont change as often as they do on a weekday in the afternoon and that PB of 19.5 mph avg will be reached, PB over a half century is currently 19.4 mph avg.
Im rapidly starting to detest red lights though !!
Jimmy
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Just go through them? Check for traffic obviously.
Seriously, don't get too hung up on average speed.Shazam !!0 -
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DomPro wrote:Just go through them? Check for traffic obviously.
Seriously, don't get too hung up on average speed.
When you see a red light you have to stop.... Cyclists don't have rights to go through red lights.
I see lots of traffic light jumpers, they never get anywhere quicker though.0 -
Just ride out into the country. I have to pass through about 6 sets of lights on 50-60 mile rides, and they're all within 5 miles of my house.0
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Just go through them? Check for traffic obviously.
Would you jump a red in your car? Why is this any different on a bike? I believe it's illegal to jump a red light irrespective of your method of transport.0 -
bobtbuilder wrote:Just go through them? Check for traffic obviously.
Would you jump a red in your car? Why is this any different on a bike? I believe it's illegal to jump a red light irrespective of your method of transport.
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This thread is off topic, nothing to do with training because
1) RLJ discussions are tedious
2) average speed for rides is a meaningless indicator of performance and utterly useless for training purposes
3) the OP could just go to a velodrome or find a short loop with no traffic lights if he was seriously interested in average speed0 -
In terms of measuring training, this is why I love having a powermeter, it doesn't matter if there's a headwind, red lights, hills, whatever
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Traffic lights make for great interval training sessions! If you’re working on upping the mph, find a route out in the countryside where there are no lights…0
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still, interval sessions without traffic lights are better.0
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If you have loads of sets of traffic lights on your route then some will be red some will be green.So it's allways going to effect your ave.speed(if thats important to you)on any given day.Some days it's windy.There's lots of variables which could make a 2mph swing from day to day.If your training then it's the effort your putting in that counts more than the ave.speed
But i guess the best way is to come to a halt very quickly.Instead of trying to stay clipped in&creeping forward as you try to balance&then accelerate quickly away.TT photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/steverob/0 -
freehub wrote:I see lots of traffic light jumpers, they never get anywhere quicker though.
Of course they would.0 -
NapoleonD wrote:In terms of measuring training, this is why I love having a powermeter, it doesn't matter if there's a headwind, red lights, hills, whatever
Yes it does, I was loosing about 4w (on the average reading) at some traffic lights tonight.
For some reason if I've stopped it takes about 10 seconds for the powertap computer to stop.0 -
Airborne Warrior wrote:freehub wrote:I see lots of traffic light jumpers, they never get anywhere quicker though.
Of course they would.
They don't appear to in Manchester.0 -
I use a Garmin and unlike my old computer which stopped when I stopped the Garmin just keeps working and lowering my average speed.It does give you something to fight against though and ride for if you want to keep it high.
I am now thinking of starting my data recording for my rides a couple of miles from my house when I get clear of all traffic and lights.0 -
Wappygixer wrote:I use a Garmin and unlike my old computer which stopped when I stopped the Garmin just keeps working and lowering my average speed.It does give you something to fight against though and ride for if you want to keep it high.
I am now thinking of starting my data recording for my rides a couple of miles from my house when I get clear of all traffic and lights.
If I use my Garmin rather than the Powertap I tend to start/stop when I'm away from the traffic.0 -
Just pick a training run that doesn't involve stopping for red lights, and see the route to/from as being a warm up/cool down, then your average speed won't be affected by red lights.
After all if you were doing a time trial over a set course your time wouldn't be left to the vagaries of traffic light sequencing....'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze....0 -
Wappygixer wrote:I use a Garmin and unlike my old computer which stopped when I stopped the Garmin just keeps working and lowering my average speed.It does give you something to fight against though and ride for if you want to keep it high.
I am now thinking of starting my data recording for my rides a couple of miles from my house when I get clear of all traffic and lights.
Which garmin is that? Mine is the entry level edge 205, and has auto start/stop, which you can set to a minimum speed down to 0 mph.
Average speed might not be the ultimate indicator of training but a power tap is outside my budget and so far average speed increases as I get fitter so overall I think it's a decent enough indicator.0 -
People get pissed off if you talk about speed. But today the wind was strong and I was doing 18mph into it which I thought was quite good, the speed certainly indicated good performance for me.0
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLzGj10fg2g
Can't say red lights are the enemies of these guys.
Or oncoming traffic for that matter.Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.0 -
Nutters.0
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I know I am going to burn in hell for this, but I* always jump if safe to do so.
Check first, make sure it's safe, slow down if you need to, then just carry on and smile.
Sorry if this offends anyone :twisted: But I do zero harm to anyone or anything since I am far more intelligent, adaptable and posess infinite better situational awareness than three lights on a stick.
Amazingly I have had motorists getting really angry, though I have no idea why since it has not affected them or yheir journey in any way whatsoever. I put the aggression down to lack of perceptual ability and sexual frustration.
*For legal reasons, the term "I" is nobody in particular, enjoying riding his/her fictional bike in a fictional world of privately-owned and maintained roads, since failure to comply with traffic light signals is a fineable offense... £30 or £60 I think?
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I just reset the clock on certain stretches of road/hills which have no lights. It gives you a better indication of fitness to know how you perform over the same stretch of road/hill than an entire ride where there are an immesurable ammount of variables. If you do that, it will reset your maximum speed too (depending on your computer) so you can tell what sort of wind conditions you have by looking at your maximum. So if you have a day where you absolutely smash your time to pieces and your max speed is 5mph higher than usual, you know it's not an increase in fitness, you simply have a tailwind.0
