Just smashed my personal best to pieces... BUT

Bhima

Just did my 10.27mile commute in 28:34, a personal best, beating my old one by 3 minutes.

My best time for a 10 miler (Time trial) is 25:30, but considering i'm doing this commute in traffic and all that, the time is pretty good.

But there's a problem - the conditions were too good! Slight tailwind, virtually no traffic, half-full rucksack, only 1 red light out of 15 possible, etc.

It's going to be virtually impossible to beat now! :? Even if I got this dream scenario again, i'd have a hard time repeating the time with a heavier rucksack!

Anyone else set an impossibly hard time to beat? What am I going to do on my commutes now? There's no point in trying to beat my personal best anymore!

My life is over! :roll:

whyamihere

Just ride faster.

Bhima

Didn't think of that. :roll:

Not that simple - I was on the limit the whole time! You should have seen the faces of the people at my destination as I walked in all sweaty and sucking on my water bottle for dear life. :shock:

freehub

How do you manage to get 25:30 in a 10mile TT, you seemed abit slower than me and the people who I ride with think I've improved amazingly. My best for a 10mile TT was 25:41, I'll get down to 23 next year.

I don't know about impossible times, I did a PB for out of TT rides and did 21 miles @ 21.4mph average, it was very hard, I know that if I keep training I will deffenitly beat that, also doing loops is best if your commute was kind of in one direction.

Every couple of months I'll take a week or two off the bike doing proper rides, just doing my short commutes and I come back faster just from that.

bikesr4riding

Nice work on the PB.

I know exactly what you mean about the varied conditions. Sometimes you can feel as though you've smashed your PB but for those damn lights back at that main junction.

Maintaining any kind of consistency on a commute is nigh on impossible, so I'd take it as a true PB and try to beat it the best you can without twisting the rules in future rides.

I'll always stop at a red light, and pedestrian crossings and take these as circumstantial when timing the ride, likewise when I get a tail wind, or find a good long draft on a bus for example I take it in the same way, swings and roundabouts. What I don't do however is change the way I ride, so I won't suddenly start jumping red lights to attain a PB, it simply isn't worth the risk.

Like any official race that covers the same distance and course as the previous month/year, you can't account for the wind, rain, traffic etc. I suppose if you keep working on your fitness, over time you'll get faster.

Good luck with that PB.

shoulder_of_orion

I have the same problem.

I set my PB on a friday evening during the june heatwave, no wind, 30º+ and 2 pints of beer inside me.

I set 34'41 for my 11.4 miles and my next best is fully 2mins outside at 36"46 set yesterday. Most of my commutes are at or around the 40min mark.

I have 7 traffic lights on Embankment alone (about one fifth of the total distance) - the lights make a massive difference as each one on embankment stops for around a minute at rush hour (some are longer at over 2mins). I have no memory from my PB time other than one moment of absolutely nailing it with awesomeness (that may be due to the beer).

But actually that is just one leg of my commute and the true PB is set on the round trip. My roundtrip PB is actually 75'04 which was 37'19 in and 37'45 out. Try working on your roundtrip PB which is actually your true PB. You may have more climbs on one leg or a prevailing wind.

In any case, it's the thought of getting scalped ("the horror!") that really keeps me going and I'm sure I'll beat that home leg PB one day....

Bhima

Err.... I just got home now.

I've just been in another tailwind! :shock:

How lucky is that!

Almost got blown off my bike doing a roundabout though, as I changed direction slightly.

Wasn't even trying tonight, as it was raining a little and getting dark, but I did it in around 31 minutes. :? Just goes to show how little time you save when TTing it compared to just rolling along!

freehub wrote:

How do you manage to get 25:30 in a 10mile TT, you seemed abit slower than me and the people who I ride with think I've improved amazingly. My best for a 10mile TT was 25:41, I'll get down to 23 next year.

Because i've been practicing! To be honest, you can't really judge someone's flat TT ability on 60+ mile hilly rides, can you? Totally different dicipline.