100 miles this week!
Discussion
Wooo for me.
6 weeks into ownership of bike (2 weeks out due to knee damage from VBall) I've managed to wake up on the 3rd day in a row and think, "yeah, I rekon I can just about get there and back". It took about 4 weeks to manage 2-days back to back due to my legs screaming in bed in the morning, so I'm chuffed that a) the weather has held, and b) I managed to force myself to do it.
That said, I REALLY struggled the last 10Km on the way home today, like freewheeling downhill and 1st on a couple of small climbs. Totally shattered, but worth it
Anyway, I now feel like a lycra warrior. Just need to stop being so slow, I seem to average about 17mph for the hour in and back on a good run. On a bad run, more like 16. Before buying the bike I thought 20mph ave was the target I'd shoot for. I now realise HOW far away that is
- 18 will do me if I can get there. I've no idea how long it will take to find that 1mph. I don't seem to be getting much faster really, just more able to 'do it'. We shall see...
Anyway, that is all. I'm just chuffed with my little leggies & the £30 I've saved in petrol will pay 10% of the way to the new front shocks I need to get the Cerb through the MOT
6 weeks into ownership of bike (2 weeks out due to knee damage from VBall) I've managed to wake up on the 3rd day in a row and think, "yeah, I rekon I can just about get there and back". It took about 4 weeks to manage 2-days back to back due to my legs screaming in bed in the morning, so I'm chuffed that a) the weather has held, and b) I managed to force myself to do it.
That said, I REALLY struggled the last 10Km on the way home today, like freewheeling downhill and 1st on a couple of small climbs. Totally shattered, but worth it
Anyway, I now feel like a lycra warrior. Just need to stop being so slow, I seem to average about 17mph for the hour in and back on a good run. On a bad run, more like 16. Before buying the bike I thought 20mph ave was the target I'd shoot for. I now realise HOW far away that is
- 18 will do me if I can get there. I've no idea how long it will take to find that 1mph. I don't seem to be getting much faster really, just more able to 'do it'. We shall see... Anyway, that is all. I'm just chuffed with my little leggies & the £30 I've saved in petrol will pay 10% of the way to the new front shocks I need to get the Cerb through the MOT
Edited by stuthemong on Wednesday 21st July 21:41
Yeah, I realise 20 is big guns. Reliably keeping to 17 should be a goal, and it would be nice to see 18. That's the next target.
I think I need to improve my posture/position a bit more too. I'm happier on the lower bars for longer distances now. I may lift my saddle even higher to help knee/chest proximty when hunched over. I think the best gains may not be from finding another 10W of power, but reducing my drag on the flat/downhill sections. It's all good fun though, and although I didn't cycle in today, my legs feel pretty OK to be honest - it's amazing how fast the body adapts
& Truckosaurus , I sometimes find that I opt to sprint up a hill suchthat I've seen 40kph at the top of one of the nasty bits, way faster than my 'maintainable' level on the flat - so speedos can help aswell as demoralise
I think I need to improve my posture/position a bit more too. I'm happier on the lower bars for longer distances now. I may lift my saddle even higher to help knee/chest proximty when hunched over. I think the best gains may not be from finding another 10W of power, but reducing my drag on the flat/downhill sections. It's all good fun though, and although I didn't cycle in today, my legs feel pretty OK to be honest - it's amazing how fast the body adapts
& Truckosaurus , I sometimes find that I opt to sprint up a hill suchthat I've seen 40kph at the top of one of the nasty bits, way faster than my 'maintainable' level on the flat - so speedos can help aswell as demoralise
Edited by stuthemong on Thursday 22 July 14:06
16mph?!? Crikey, I need to wind the pace - on my five mile after-work 'fun' loop I'm aiming for a rough average of just 10mph on my MTB on road tyres.
Mind you, that includes traffic lights, and more than 4 miles of uphill sections (and uphill in Brighton means uphill).
That said, I'm hoping to increase pace when the weather cools - the city gets very hot and fume-laden in the summer months.
Mind you, that includes traffic lights, and more than 4 miles of uphill sections (and uphill in Brighton means uphill
).That said, I'm hoping to increase pace when the weather cools - the city gets very hot and fume-laden in the summer months.
I have a 32 mile loop I do regularly. Last Friday afternoon my average speed was 17.0 mph, Sunday night it was 16.4 mph due to head winds and on Tuesday night the average was 16.5 mph again due to head winds. I'll see what average I can achieve this weekend on the same route.
At the moment I'm stuggling to get beyond 17 mph average, however, I'm happy with this average after only 3 months of proper road riding (averaging 90 miles a week). I guess I 'll have to try a bit harder up those hills
At the moment I'm stuggling to get beyond 17 mph average, however, I'm happy with this average after only 3 months of proper road riding (averaging 90 miles a week). I guess I 'll have to try a bit harder up those hills
Dunk76 said:
16mph?!? Crikey, I need to wind the pace - on my five mile after-work 'fun' loop I'm aiming for a rough average of just 10mph on my MTB on road tyres.
Mind you, that includes traffic lights, and more than 4 miles of uphill sections (and uphill in Brighton means uphill).
That said, I'm hoping to increase pace when the weather cools - the city gets very hot and fume-laden in the summer months.
Re. the guy above as well, it's not really fair comparing MTB and road bike times, road bikes are so much faster.Mind you, that includes traffic lights, and more than 4 miles of uphill sections (and uphill in Brighton means uphill
).That said, I'm hoping to increase pace when the weather cools - the city gets very hot and fume-laden in the summer months.
I'm averaging about 17 mph ATM on my singlespeed Langster, I really, really have to work to get much higher!
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