Does it always hurt so much more in the morning?!

corriebee1

So i had a look at my Strava rankings yesterday whilst at work, and got a little disconsolate as I thought i was going much faster than I actually was, and I was certainly putting in the effort. My Strava rankings were in the bottom half for most segments

Left the office last night to do the 8 miles back to the car, and smashed it! Even managed to take 3rd of 120 riders on one of the Strava segments (I've been riding for about 3 or 4 weeks and still using trainers and carrying a rucksack full of gear). On the rest of the segments home I'm placing top 10%'ish.

Why am i so much slower in the morning?!

(Of course, when I went hammer and tongs this morning, buoyed by my previous evenings exploits, i got to the office and discovered Strava had switched itself off in my pocket after 4 seconds!)

iPete

Have you checked? http://www.xcweather.co.uk/

Perhaps it's the bodies way of saying don't go to work?

pangolin

Yeah I bet it's wind. Are you heading NE in the morning and SW in the evening?

Gizmo_

I have the same thing. Never under 48 mins on the way in, usually 43-45 mins on the way home.

Traffic is a factor in that for me though.

cyclingprop

Other way around for me.

sketchley

Gizmo_ wrote:

I have the same thing. Never under 48 mins on the way in, usually 43-45 mins on the way home.

Traffic is a factor in that for me though.

Mines the other way round. Nearly always quicking the morning.

Wind is the answer, I travel NE in morning and SW in the evening.

It really hurts when the wind is coming from the NE in the morning.

Kieran_Burns

Sketchley wrote:

Gizmo_ wrote:

I have the same thing. Never under 48 mins on the way in, usually 43-45 mins on the way home.

Traffic is a factor in that for me though.

Mines the other way round. Nearly always quicking the morning.

Wind is the answer, I travel NE in morning and SW in the evening.

It really hurts when the wind is coming from the NE in the morning.

Doubly so, 'cos we're not used to it.

Still - the ride home feels like you've lost a couple of stone

meanredspider

I'm also expecting the wind has something to do with it

See http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstat ... 13&month=2

For Royston yesterday. Wind from the NE.

Also, there's undoubtedly a factor, especially when cycling more than you're used to that your legs don't want to know first thing. Doing my Ireland end-to-end last summer, the first stint of the day was always the worst. After that they remembered what they were there for and they were fine for the rest of the day.

notsoblue

Takes me a bit longer to get warmed up on the ride in. But as others have said, for a commute its probably more likely to be the wind direction that has an effect.

corriebee1

Yup. I guess that's it. I was thinking I'm still comparatively slow to other riders though, but then I guess they could be riding the segment at different times of the day/year when conditions have been considerably easier. Was super-chuffed with my third place last night. The wife called me to tell me while I was driving home! (I'd saved the ride when i got to the car).

Anyway. I am still full of enthusiasm! Legs feeling a little knackered today, but it's the last commute of the week as I'm in London for meetings tomorrow.

CiB

I'm always faster in the morning going to work than evenings coming home, but the route(s) profiles show that there's more uphill coming back. That's a bigger part than variations in wind speed & direction I'd expect.

cyclingprop

corriebee1 wrote:

Yup. I guess that's it. I was thinking I'm still comparatively slow to other riders though, but then I guess they could be riding the segment at different times of the day/year when conditions have been considerably easier. Was super-chuffed with my third place last night. The wife called me to tell me while I was driving home! (I'd saved the ride when i got to the car).

Anyway. I am still full of enthusiasm! Legs feeling a little knackered today, but it's the last commute of the week as I'm in London for meetings tomorrow.

Which segments do you commute on? Pretty sure between the hive we can sort you slipping down the rankings again

fossyant

Don't expect instant results - you say you've been riding 3-4 weeks ! Not long.

It will take time for your body to adjust, and my guess is it's recovering still in the morning. You do have to get the body used to being up and out on a bike early in the morning. Keep at it and it will come.

veronese68

Definitely hurt more this morning. I suspect that was due to the excess of london Pride last night.

corriebee1

Haha. Ehhhhh. Box Hill?!

I don't want to become a Strava geek, but at this point when pain is regular but improvement is rapid, It's a great motivating tool for guys like me who are used to team sport, but cycle alone.

(I'm up and down the A10 and the Cambridge guided busway at the moment. http://app.strava.com/athletes/1667991 I don't see many serious cyclists on my route so there are lots of easy scalps. I'm quite sure I'd be completely owned by anybody who's a proper cyclists!)

The Rookie

I'm quicker in the morning.....but then although the finish of my ride is at the same altitude near enough as the start, the monring ride has long gradual downhills and short sharp uphills, the other way round coming home.

rolf_f

CiB wrote:

I'm always faster in the morning going to work than evenings coming home, but the route(s) profiles show that there's more uphill coming back. That's a bigger part than variations in wind speed & direction I'd expect.

Up to a point. My shortish route is a 1 mile climb, half of which is fairly steep (a cliff to the Londoners) followed by a gradual descent. At this time of year, low 30s is a good time for the 9.5 miles in and high 30s for the return. With the Easterlies of late (mostly not too harsh but enough to make a difference), the in and outbound times have been hard to distinguish - all in the mid 30s.

I find it interesting that a route that is about 5.5 miles descent and 2.5 miles climb, actually generates so little difference in times.

meanredspider

My route is about 250m climbing on the way in and about 350m on the way back (over 17.5 miles each way). That generates about a 2mph difference in average speed typically regardless of whether it's the MTB in winter (15mph in 13mph back) or the roadie in summer (19mph in 17mph back). There's a bit of saw-tooth effect - hills on the way in tend to be shorter/sharper with a couple of 10%ers.