average speeds etc...

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

An 18mph average for a 30m solo ride is good going.

Yep, excellent progress.

pianoleo

NGale,

I've been running one of these for about 5 months:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BICYCLE-HANDLEB ... B001SZZK1A

Given my bars are a bit narrower in the middle than at the ends, it's been known to work its way towards the middle of the bars and droop (probably my fault for not tightening the cable ties sufficiently - I bought a pack of 50 from a 99p shop), but it's never fallen off, never felt loose and has always held the iPhone securely. The actual phone holder is easy to unclip and take away with you, but not without meaning to!

Just a few thoughts about Cyclemeter:

Even with stop detection on, it's not terribly quick at realising you've stopped (or started again), so the Avg speeds are often not quite right. Given it uses GPS, it drains your battery fairly quickly. As to the calorie estimation, it's WAY off, at least compared to what my Cateye V3 tells me (it's generally about 20% higher than what my Cateye calculates from my heart rate). Obviously a HRM never gives an accurate calorie count either...

Anyway, apart from those points, Cyclemeter's brilliant - I used to use it all the time.

jimmypippa

mudcow007 wrote:

i like the idea of racing my self, that sounds a winner via a garmin

i dont think i have any particular reasons for wanting to go fast...i think i just do, plus i dont like being over taken by kids on bmx's (what are thier FCN's?)

i think part of the issue around here is lack of other cyclists any that i do see are either:

A. a scally wag on a stolen GT

B. olderly chap wearing cord trousers

C. elderly women with shopping in the basket on the front of the bike

D. guy with one of them kiddy trailors attached to the back of the bike

Watch out for "B".

Some of them are hard as nails.

Butterd2

itboffin wrote:

Butterd2 wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

By a garmin and put in virtual partner mode, race yourself from the day before

+1, did this at the weekend and kicked my ars* by 4mins over my 49 mile loop.

Not sure whether this is a really clever motivational tool or if I am just sad but I was imagining myself on the road (100ft ahead, 50 feet ahead etc...) as I made the "catch and pass" up Ide Hill?

Ah but did you do the "look" as you passed yourself? :roll:

Nah, I played it cool, checked my watch adjusted my jersey pretended it wasn't hurting......

Fixxxer87

If you want to go faster, and improve your fitness (added bonus!), you can do what I did:

Buy a fixie!

They come with the advantages of road bikes - thin tyres, drop bars (if you don't buy a hipster model) and they have more efficient drivechains than road bikes on like-for-like gearing (having a tight chain instead of one flapping about).

On the downside, you lose the gearing but I don't see that as a disadvantage: It forces you to MTFU and just chew up hills, and going downhill, provided you have a reasonable gear, spin your legs. That repetition of intensive cycling followed by spinning is the same technique that spinning classes use.

Since buying my fixie in June last year, my 30 - 35 minute commute changed to 20 minutes (on a fair summer day) and my fitness has substantially improved. My average speed is now 18 - 20mph whilst on the move - I haven't measured the mtb speed in a while, but I'm reasonably certain that it's slower - even with the explanded gears.

Plus you get a great sense of satisfaction scalping roadies with their shaved legs whilst having 19 less gears than them. And chicks love a man who can trackstand.

thelawnet

rjsterry wrote:

I too suffer from laziness - if there's no-one to chase, I can be 5-10minutes slower on my commute. Doesn't seem to be such an issue on the few weekend rides I get to do though.

Round here there's rarely anyone to chase.

My normal steed is a Kona Ute, which is I think pretty much 20kg, with 700x47 Continetal City Contact tyres.

I take my son (30kg) to his climbing club (7 miles) and I average around 13.8mph over that distance. Three hills, though minimum elevation is 78 feet and max 142 feet, so not much to speak of.

It's fun to chase down the rare hi-viz clad commuter while carrying a child, but they are pretty few and far between. So usually I just go hard on the short stretch of dual carriageway, where I can touch 25mph on the flat, trying to keep up with cars between the lights. Given that my average speed is under 14mph, it's easy for me to say I need a faster lighter bike (obviously not for carrying kids on), but the thing is unless I get a hunched-over road bike, it's not likely to be significantly faster, and the fact that I *can* do 25mph albeit for short bursts just means I should improve my fitness rather than moan about needing a new bike. And also the difference in speed between me on my own and me with my son is actually very small - going from 20kg to 50kg really only slows me down about 1mph (laps of Box Hill however would not be much fun).

jeremyrundle

Re: Waddlie............

If that's true, how come your name rhymes with "trundle", eh?


As a child I was bullied in school for five years, children still are, the worst was name calling, it may appear a joke, it isnt.

Pigtail

Hi Guys

thanks very much for the words of encouragement. I think I've made most of the reasonable gains available and it will just be a case of keeping working at it now. I don't know if this will work - but here are the two runs. I was wrong in saying it was over 30 miles - it's only 29.33.

7th November

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/d20e/e2e1/4cc3/c699/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20101107-0751.kml

5th March


http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/d20e/e2e1/4cc3/c699/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20110305-0732.kml

cheers

James

jeremyrundle

My speed shows on my computer, I assume it is right, however, for five years before taking up cycling I have spent every day up to two hourts a day on both a cross-trainer and rowing machine, and lost a great deal of weight, it makes a difference.

meanredspider

Fixxxer87 wrote:

If you want to go faster, and improve your fitness (added bonus!), you can do what I did:

Buy a fixie!

They come with the advantages of road bikes - thin tyres, drop bars (if you don't buy a hipster model) and they have more efficient drivechains than road bikes on like-for-like gearing (having a tight chain instead of one flapping about).

On the downside, you lose the gearing but I don't see that as a disadvantage: It forces you to MTFU and just chew up hills,

A fix would be total nonsense on my commute - if I was lucky I'd only be in something close to a workable gear 1/3 of the time.

If I targetted 90rpm at 20mph, at the top end speed of my ride I'd need to be spinning my legs close to 200rpm and at the bottom end, up the steepest bits, something like 40rpm. How can that make you more efficient? Since power is a function of rpm, almost by definition you are losing power.

I don't doubt there are situations where a fixie makes sense, but a long hilly commute certainly isn't one.

rolf_f

meanredspider wrote:

Fixxxer87 wrote:

If you want to go faster, and improve your fitness (added bonus!), you can do what I did:

Buy a fixie!

They come with the advantages of road bikes - thin tyres, drop bars (if you don't buy a hipster model) and they have more efficient drivechains than road bikes on like-for-like gearing (having a tight chain instead of one flapping about).

On the downside, you lose the gearing but I don't see that as a disadvantage: It forces you to MTFU and just chew up hills,

A fix would be total nonsense on my commute - if I was lucky I'd only be in something close to a workable gear 1/3 of the time.

If I targetted 90rpm at 20mph, at the top end speed of my ride I'd need to be spinning my legs close to 200rpm and at the bottom end, up the steepest bits, something like 40rpm. How can that make you more efficient? Since power is a function of rpm, almost by definition you are losing power.

I don't doubt there are situations where a fixie makes sense, but a long hilly commute certainly isn't one.

+1. Fixies are basically toys for most of us. Anywhere that isn't largely flat, with largely low winds is going to be terrible for fixies. On my route I'd be in completely the wrong gear 90% of the time if I was on a fixie. It isn't a case of 'chewing up hills' - the hills would be chewing up your knees! OK, the drivechain efficiency is certainly a factor as is the weight (or lack of it) but the much vaunted reliability issue doesn't wash in my experience.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather like a fixie. But with no options out of my village that come close to flat (aside from the canal) I can't see when I'd use it.