First sub-20 min lap round Richmond Park

chadders81

I know most of you will scoff at this because you can get round in about 17 mins. But this has been a millstone round my neck for several weeks.

Perfect conditions for it this morning and I smashed it. Anywhere between 19.25 and 19.40 according to Strava.

As I weight about 105kg at the moment, I'm fairly pleased with that.

Realised the trick is to ride as far as you can up Sawyers in the big ring and MTFU.

Looking for the sub-40 two lap and then sub-60 three lap now.

pitchshifter

Congrats. If you can do sub 20 you can do sub 60

Wish I could get up early enough for a lap of the park before work.

dhope

'Most' cannot do 17 I sure as hell can't.

Good work

Greg T

Getting a sub 20 min lap time is no mean feat. Especially with traffic to contend with and in my case, the fact that I'm not that fast . . . .

il_principe

Congrats, always nice to smash through a barrier! Especially early in the morning:

Lower air density results in lower aerodynamic drag on a cyclist, so that cyclist will go faster for a given effort. How much faster? Let’s take an example of a cyclist that can ride a 10-mile bike loop in 28:30 or about 21mph on a day when the temperature is 80 deg F. This same cyclist rides this same 10-mile loop again on a day when the temperature is 50 deg F. The change in air density alone causes the time to increase to 29:00 and average speed drops to 20.7mph. Unfortunately for this colder weather rider, the losses don’t stop there, as increased tire rolling resistance will further reduce speeds.

you can expect to see tire rolling resistance increase approximately 6% for every 10 degree F reduction in outside temperature. Now let’s get back to our rider who’s already been reduced to 20.7mph because of increased air density on the colder day. Adjusting for the increased rolling resistance this rider will average less than 20.5mph and see the time increase to 29:18! This poor rider is going to go home thinking he/she needs to train more when the reality is the outdoor temperature alone caused the 50 second increase in time and 0.5mph reduction in average speed.

A drop in average speed from 21 to say 20.5 doesn't sound like much, but it adds a fair chunk of time over even 1 lap.

Now for the 19 min. You will get faster. I've been lapping RP since about 2004 or so and it took me until this year to be able to regularly break under 17mins.

veronese68

Well done, I was pleased with myself for doing 21.25 the other afternoon. I was surprised as there was lots of traffic so I didn't really push it that hard.

the_fuggler

Sub-20 sounds good to me. I'd be very, very pleased with that. I'm considering having a go at some point soon. It's only an hour away on the train. Could ride back afterwards too.

notsoblue

Nice work! I managed 18:50 last October, but haven't managed to get back into form since then.

okgo

Well done, its a big milestone.

I'm possibly going to go out and try and do a 15 later. Can't be arsed with 3 though

chadders81

okgo wrote:

Well done, its a big milestone.

I'm possibly going to go out and try and do a 15 later. Can't be arsed with 3 though

Just read your racing blog. Really good stuff.

What pace would I need to be looking at to race Cat 4? My plan is to train as a fat bastard all year and then lose weight while keeping the muscle on in the gym over the winter so that I look like Andre Greipel by March.

il_principe

Chadders81 wrote:

okgo wrote:

Well done, its a big milestone.

I'm possibly going to go out and try and do a 15 later. Can't be arsed with 3 though

Just read your racing blog. Really good stuff.

What pace would I need to be looking at to race Cat 4? My plan is to train as a fat bastard all year and then lose weight while keeping the muscle on in the gym over the winter so that I look like Andre Greipel by March.

Stay out of the gym, train through winter outdoors or on the Turbo.

okgo

If you can do 3 laps under and hour you'll be fine, but it will be the interval stuff that is tough. So make sure you do some of that too. And at your weight the flatter courses will be best (Hillingdon for example).

Don't worry too much about the muscle (unless you want to for looks) cycling requires very little actual muscle, if you're a big bloke, as I was, then you'll naturally find your place (with regards to muscle bulk) if you keep riding.

chadders81

Cheers - you a Kingston Wheelers member?

They seem to be fairly well set up to learn how to race with in a bunch from what I've read and appear to do regular park rides to help with pace/road etiquette.

I think I'll try and get along for a ride soonish.

okgo

Yep.

And yes its good for that, we do a skills day in Autmun. Get yourself down there, plenty of members here!

jonny_trousers

Congrats Chadders! Seems like PBs are being smashed left, right and centre since last Sunday. I wonder why

cjcp

Cracking effort. I was cock-a-hoop the first time I went under 20 mins.

Your times will start to fall from here.

chadders81

Thanks guys. My girlfriend doesn't seem impressed. I made the mistake of telling her how fast David Millar did it.

Here's the proof anyway.

http://app.strava.com/rides/14641743

rick_chasey

Chadders81 wrote:

Thanks guys. My girlfriend doesn't seem impressed. I made the mistake of telling her how fast David Millar did it.

Here's the proof anyway.

http://app.strava.com/rides/14641743

Girlfriends are never impressed when it comes to speed or laptimes.

bigmat

Rick Chasey wrote:

Chadders81 wrote:

Thanks guys. My girlfriend doesn't seem impressed. I made the mistake of telling her how fast David Millar did it.

Here's the proof anyway.

http://app.strava.com/rides/14641743

Girlfriends are never impressed when it comes to speed or laptimes.

My wife was chatting to one of the other mum's from a mum and baby group and it turns out her bloke knew who I was from Strava - she was impressed by that!

rick_chasey

BigMat wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Chadders81 wrote:

Thanks guys. My girlfriend doesn't seem impressed. I made the mistake of telling her how fast David Millar did it.

Here's the proof anyway.

http://app.strava.com/rides/14641743

Girlfriends are never impressed when it comes to speed or laptimes.

My wife was chatting to one of the other mum's from a mum and baby group and it turns out her bloke knew who I was from Strava - she was impressed by that!

Impressed? My GF would be very concerned...

okgo

Rick Chasey wrote:

Chadders81 wrote:

Thanks guys. My girlfriend doesn't seem impressed. I made the mistake of telling her how fast David Millar did it.

Here's the proof anyway.

http://app.strava.com/rides/14641743

Girlfriends are never impressed when it comes to speed or laptimes.

Until you come home with a voucher for your efforts that is

bigmat

okgo wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Chadders81 wrote:

Thanks guys. My girlfriend doesn't seem impressed. I made the mistake of telling her how fast David Millar did it.

Here's the proof anyway.

http://app.strava.com/rides/14641743

Girlfriends are never impressed when it comes to speed or laptimes.

Until you come home with a voucher for your efforts that is

Still need to work out what to spend mine on...

okgo

You get a ton?

If so, I bought a Kask Mojito

aeon

big congrats to the OP! i'll add my name to the list of people who haven't come near a sub-20 yet, 21.30 is my best. where did you start from?

BigMat wrote:

My wife was chatting to one of the other mum's from a mum and baby group and it turns out her bloke knew who I was from Strava - she was impressed by that!

my wife was chatting to one of the other dads from a similar group and he asked whether i had a new bike, because i'd done a few laps on the way into work and it wasn't my usual route... stravatastic.

chadders81

aeon wrote:

big congrats to the OP! i'll add my name to the list of people who haven't come near a sub-20 yet, 21.30 is my best. where did you start from?

Anti-clockwise from Roehampton

jonny_trousers

I've never cycled Richmond Park. Just for perspective's sake, how many miles are we talking and what average mph to beat the 20?

the_fuggler

Roughly 6.7 miles / 20.2mph. Something of that order.

chadders81

There's one long drag of about 1.5-2% and a couple of sharp climbs but plenty of places where you can hit 30 no problems.

It's the wind and traffic that can make it hard. Plenty of deer there so drivers quite often slow down for a look.

Wrath Rob

Spurred on by this thread I did a fast lap on the way home. Was held up at the start but posted a 18:06 (avg 22.5mph). Would have easily been under 18 without the delay at the start.

Thanks for the inspiration!

vermin

Well done chaps.

beams87

Il Principe wrote:

Congrats, always nice to smash through a barrier! Especially early in the morning:

Lower air density results in lower aerodynamic drag on a cyclist, so that cyclist will go faster for a given effort. How much faster? Let’s take an example of a cyclist that can ride a 10-mile bike loop in 28:30 or about 21mph on a day when the temperature is 80 deg F. This same cyclist rides this same 10-mile loop again on a day when the temperature is 50 deg F. The change in air density alone causes the time to increase to 29:00 and average speed drops to 20.7mph. Unfortunately for this colder weather rider, the losses don’t stop there, as increased tire rolling resistance will further reduce speeds.

you can expect to see tire rolling resistance increase approximately 6% for every 10 degree F reduction in outside temperature. Now let’s get back to our rider who’s already been reduced to 20.7mph because of increased air density on the colder day. Adjusting for the increased rolling resistance this rider will average less than 20.5mph and see the time increase to 29:18! This poor rider is going to go home thinking he/she needs to train more when the reality is the outdoor temperature alone caused the 50 second increase in time and 0.5mph reduction in average speed.

A drop in average speed from 21 to say 20.5 doesn't sound like much, but it adds a fair chunk of time over even 1 lap.

Now for the 19 min. You will get faster. I've been lapping RP since about 2004 or so and it took me until this year to be able to regularly break under 17mins.

If you're riding that Dogma I am not surprised you are breaking sub - 17 on the reg! That is a mean bike sir!! Good work!