Just telling you as the wife thinks im a geek!

GT_Dave

Hi All,
After owning my Giant Defy for all of a couple of weeks I have just tacked my first "big" ride!

Ive done a couple of 10 milers averaging about 30 mins and a couple of 15 milers averaging about an hour but tonight I smashed 22 miles in just under two hours. (Might not sound too quick but I live in Richmond, North Yorks which is basically a series of massive hills!)

The first 5 miles are a steady climb from 150 to 1100 Feet followed by a 3 mile downhill section where I hit 43 MPH! I decided to move my hands from the bottom of the bars to the top which caused a bit of a tankslapper and I absolutely crapped my pants so a lesson was learned there!

I had an amazing time and really enjoyed every second, ive been a MTB rider for a few years and never really considered a road bike but im so glad I did, 1000 calories burned and I already feel fitter.

I need to change the tyres as its fitted with slicks and although no probs so far the total lack of any form of visible tread terrifies me!

Anyway, just thought I would let you all know as the missus is looking a bit bored with my cycling tales

Dave

balthazar

Well done. You're going fast and more importantly enjoying it.

Keep the Slick tyres!. Tread patterns are only decorative for road tyres, and worse, may slightly reduce grip and increase rolling resistance. Slick are best everywhere, wet or dry.

iPete

1. Download strava and 2. Don't fit treaded tyres! Oh and 3 top work.

jibberjim

Treaded tyres reduce grip on roads, the only reason car tyres have a tread is because it's possible to aquaplane them, it's impossible to aquaplane a bike. On even a pretty rough road a slick tyre is better, only on sand or mud will you want a tread, and then you'll want knobbly bits.

alihisgreat

haha get an android phone and start talking to here about the following:

- Unlocking the bootloader
- Accessing root
- Flashing ROMs


Then she will think you're a geek.

At the moment she's just pretending that she doesn't love the fact you've become a proper cyclist (MTBs don't count haha) and are going to shed some lbs and shave your legs.

andy46

Good going I know the area and it is very hilly!

graeme_s-2

Welcome to the roadie world, enjoy.

Also, read this and then keep your slicks.

http://sheldonbrown.com/tyres.html#tread

GT_Dave

Cheers all, tyres are staying on then, I will keep you updated on my progress and thanks for the support ;-)

sandyballs

Started with a Giant Defy 3 years ago, now have a Giant TCR Advanced with full SRAM Red. Get ready for a great time ugrading.

ForumNewbie

GT_Dave wrote:

Ive done a couple of 10 milers averaging about 30 mins and a couple of 15 milers averaging about an hour but tonight I smashed 22 miles in just under two hours. (Might not sound too quick but I live in Richmond, North Yorks which is basically a series of massive hills!)


Dave

Hi GT_Dave, I'm a bit confused when you say smashed 22 miles in just under 2 hours (about 11 mph), whereas you have done 10 milers in 30 mins (20 mph). The latter is very fast, especially if hilly, whereas 11 mph is very slow in comparison, even for a hilly 22 mile ride. Am I missing something?

ALaPlage

Graeme_S wrote:

Welcome to the roadie world, enjoy.

Also, read this and then keep your slicks.

http://sheldonbrown.com/tyres.html#tread

First well done to the OP and enjoy. It only gets more addictive .

As to Graeme S. loved the article link but as I read it out to my other half to share this interesting science of tyres she started to glaze over and said "I thought cycling was supposed to be cool NOT nerdy!" :shock:

GT_Dave

ForumNewbie wrote:

GT_Dave wrote:

Ive done a couple of 10 milers averaging about 30 mins and a couple of 15 milers averaging about an hour but tonight I smashed 22 miles in just under two hours. (Might not sound too quick but I live in Richmond, North Yorks which is basically a series of massive hills!)


Dave

Hi GT_Dave, I'm a bit confused when you say smashed 22 miles in just under 2 hours (about 11 mph), whereas you have done 10 milers in 30 mins (20 mph). The latter is very fast, especially if hilly, whereas 11 mph is very slow in comparison, even for a hilly 22 mile ride. Am I missing something?

No mate you're quite right, not sure where I got my figures from there, last night was the first time I have used my cycle computer! I will ride my other routes again to try and get a more accurate figure. The 10 and 15 mile routes are much flatter than my big route but my average is definitely only about 13mph so the Math is all wrong!

Sorry about the confusion, I wasn't intentionally trying to blag you all, I was obviously far too excited to be typing ;-)

GT_Dave

[/quote]The latter is very fast, especially if hilly, whereas 11 mph is very slow in comparison, even for a hilly 22 mile ride. Am I missing something?[/quote]

Im gutted that this is classed as slow! I have only been at it a couple of weeks though so hopefully this will improve!

Just out of interest what is classed as a decent average for an enthusiastic amateur for say flat going and then hilly terrain?

I was kind of hoping for a 15 mph average but I have no idea??

Rigged

As a solo rider then 14-18mph is probably 'average', but I bet if you asked everyone on here you'd get lots of very different answers!

alihisgreat

GT_Dave wrote:

The latter is very fast, especially if hilly, whereas 11 mph is very slow in comparison, even for a hilly 22 mile ride. Am I missing something?

Im gutted that this is classed as slow! I have only been at it a couple of weeks though so hopefully this will improve!

Just out of interest what is classed as a decent average for an enthusiastic amateur for say flat going and then hilly terrain?

I was kind of hoping for a 15 mph average but I have no idea??

How long is a piece of string? There are so many variables that average speeds quoted are not really that useful (eg. http://www.fitwerx.com/why-do-we-bike-slower-in-the-cold-weather)

According to Strava my average speed calculated by rough aggregate of distance and exact aggregate of time is ~16.5mph

In flat (but windy!) Cambridgeshire.

I tend to ride 40miles at a steady pace of 15-16.5mph average (targeting strava segments for my main efforts)

I also ride 20-30miles at a fast pace of 16.5-18mph average - riding hard for the whole ride.

and I'm probably the average new rider?

Started out in January after ~16 weeks of doing nothing apart from being ill and having an operation in the 8th week... could barely ride 10 miles.. and now i'm doing ~125miles a week.

Averages don't mean too much to me though as I'm enjoying riding so much at the moment. How fit you feel is more important than the numbers for most people, because you have to be able to ride at an enjoyable pace, over satisfying distances (i.e. not struggling and suffering enough to put you off riding more). but apart from that any extra speed is just a bonus.

ForumNewbie

GT_Dave wrote:

The latter is very fast, especially if hilly, whereas 11 mph is very slow in comparison, even for a hilly 22 mile ride. Am I missing something?

Im gutted that this is classed as slow! I have only been at it a couple of weeks though so hopefully this will improve!

Just out of interest what is classed as a decent average for an enthusiastic amateur for say flat going and then hilly terrain?

I was kind of hoping for a 15 mph average but I have no idea??

Hi again GT_Dave. Sorry, all I meant was 11mph seemed very slow in comparison to your 10 miles at 20mph - but as you have said, there was a mix-up in your figures. I am in my 50s and been cycling for quite a few years now and am gradually getting my averages up to around 14 mph on hilly terrain - partially because I have bought a faster lightweight bike. Saying that, I am falling into the trap of always looking at my computer/GPS to try and up my average speed rather just going out and enjoying myself. I'm sure your average speed will increase the more you cycle, but don't get too paranoid about it - just enjoy riding.