Does anyone commute race style?

[gavintc]

I will also admit to treating almost every ride as a race and certainly when you can see a cyclist ahead - you just have to catch them. I time my commute and know what are good times past certain landmarks, it makes for some fun and makes the commute pass in a blur of sweat and effort.

 

[cyberknight]

As others have said its your position on the bike makes the most difference after your fitness.

15 years ago i had a Raleigh dyna tech which i had specced up with bul lhorn bars and moved the downtube shifters to a mod that had them on the aero bars.
On a drag strip road i could plough along up to 28 mph and i was a part time cyclist as i spent another 10 hours a week on martial arts /gym work.

Nowadays i ride a low spec aluminum road bike with no mods and on the flat it is more like 22 mph, the fact i am close to mid 40`s and get hardly any time to train are just as important as the fact that my bike is not as aero as the old bike.

Stick fabian cancellera on a cheap bike and he would still whip most peoples ass, high spec parts do help but at the end of the day its the engine that matters.

As for commuting i carry plenty of stuff as i have a very rural commute at times when shops are not open and can be 10 miles + away anyway .
I would rather be a few minutes later than have to sit at the side of the road without the potential parts i need, that said i give it the beans as much as i can so when i do get a chance to go out without all the "essentials " the bike feels like it is flying.

 

[brockers]

oh dear oh dear oh dear

get yourself out on a 70mile plus hilly ride with some real serious club cyclists and see how you do. truth is most of them could leave the average cyclist miles behind... if they wanted to.

like you, i thought i was fast... nope, im just average.

go do a time trial if you want to see how fast you really are. my first 10mile TT was 26m45sec. the winner was 21m58sec.

i ain't slow... but i ain't that fast either

Absolutely. I can't remember anybody I know who races at 3rd cat or above, or is a tester (time triallist) banging on about their average speed. You'd probably be met with a shrug or a blank look if you asked them what their average speed is too; it's virtually meaningless to them. They tend to work in terms of intensity (easy, medium, hard, or painful!), and duration in hours. I have no idea what mine is anymore either as I've ditched the computer and heart-rate monitor and ride on feel and for enjoyment, and stopped getting hung-up about average speeds when I realised that at the age of forty I'd be too old to turn pro - however hard I pushed myself! Similarly, I'd say most cyclists who are pretty handy competitively, aren't insecure enough to feel the need to ride £3,000 and upwards rigs with deep-dish rims on their morning commute! They'll be the ones on the worn-out 25 year old race bikes or the blue Ribbles with mudguards shoe-horned in and affixed with gaffa-tape, spinning along in an easy gear.


Slight edit: I miss-read the OP's post and thought the guys on the expensive bikes were commuting. Seems they were just riding sensibly at a certain intensity. My mistake. It's just that I see quite a few guys Assos'd up riding Cervelo's and the like trying to beat everyone into work along the Old Kent Road of a morning, and find it hard to think that they're not poseurs.I guess I had that image in my head as I typed.

 

[GrasB]

Absolutely. I can't remember anybody I know who races at 3rd cat or above, or is a tester (time triallist) banging on about their average speed. You'd probably be met with a shrug or a blank look if you asked them what their average speed is too; it's virtually meaningless to them.

after hard 90miles in the alps & only 6 riders in front of me... cat 1 & 2 riders, all of them climbers. The rest of the group were scattered over the last 7 mile climb, the next sprinter in was 3-4 min down the road. My average was under 15mph.

EDIT: that was the day I stopped caring about mph & started caring about watts. I ordered my PM cranks that night so they'd be delivered to my work address by the time I got back to the UK. Though on the roads around here mph means something as the terrain is flat enough that as long as you do a circular route there's little that should effect your average speed overall.

 

[DrSquirrel]

Slight edit: I miss-read the OP's post and thought the guys on the expensive bikes were commuting. Seems they were just riding sensibly at a certain intensity. My mistake. It's just that I see quite a few guys Assos'd up riding Cervelo's and the like into work along the Old Kent Road of a morning, and find it hard to think that they're not poseurs.

Maybe its more to do with, they spent X amount on something and they're going to get use out of it?

Why I wouldn't ride a TT bike and disc wheel to work (when I get one ), I probably would do it once or twice for shoots and giggles (yes... posing )

 

[brockers]

Lol ! Probably some envy and projection (as the psychoanalysts say) on my part too!

 

[cyberknight]

Why I wouldn't ride a TT bike and disc wheel to work (when I get one ), I probably would do it once or twice for shoots and giggles (yes... posing )

Someone at work comes on an ultegra equipped specialized tt bike and locks it with a cablelock i could chew through with my teeth , good job its in a locked bike shed....

 

[briantrumpet]

Absolutely. I can't remember anybody I know who races at 3rd cat or above, or is a tester (time triallist) banging on about their average speed. You'd probably be met with a shrug or a blank look if you asked them what their average speed is too; it's virtually meaningless to them.

This does amuse me - TTers who go on about their best times, but dismiss all talk of average speeds. It's the same equation (speed = distance/time), they're just quoting a different part of it.

For many riders average speeds are an interesting (and useful) way of gauging their own progress (in exactly the same way that TTers will look at their times). True, there are so many variables (terrain, weather etc.) that comparing one person's average speed to another doesn't tell you much - but it is something that is not without its uses, if taken with a pinch of salt.

 

[BlackPanther]

True, there are so many variables (terrain, weather etc.) that comparing one person's average speed to another doesn't tell you much - but it is something that is not without its uses, if taken with a pinch of salt.

When I first started commuting I knew that if I averaged 15 mph I could do the 11.2 mile commute in 45 mins. I always set off for work 50 mins b4 I'm due in, which gives me a bit of a safety net. As a result of this, I developed a psychological minimum speed of limit 15mph. It does help me to have this lower limit as I find myself putting in more affort to avoid dipping into the 'wuss' zone, and the result is a higher average speed.

BTW my 'wuss' limit only applies on my commute as it is almost all flat........if there were some hills, I dare say it'd be a lot lower!

 

[davehann]

i race my own time every day.

got hit off by a taxi right hook last week. the adrenalin rush got me home a full two minutes quicker than my previous best.

 

[BentMikey]

If you try to go full tilt all the time, the best you'll get to is doing some sort of medium speed all the time, and you'll miss out on those super high speeds that you could get once in a while by mixing up your effort levels a little better.

 

[zigzag]

i go at moderate speed on my way to work as i don't want to get sweaty. usually sprinting from the traffic lights, then going at annoying* pace.
on the way back i usually go quicker and occasionally race, if there is worthy "competitor". my commute is too short and too crowded for a proper race anyway..


*pace where someone behind would like to go faster, but can't be bothered overtaking; or filtering slowly on the inside, holding up cyclists behind (for their own safety!)

 

[palinurus]

I'm with Mikey on this one. Take it easy a few days a week.

Damn! I'd even follow my own advice if I could be arsed to get up early enough. Usually I'm busting a gut to get to work by 8:30. Then when I get there I realize it doesn't matter anyway, no-one gives a stuff- and I can always go home late.

I still do it though.

I also commute on a TT bike sometimes, but only if I'm doing an evening one. I feel like a ****ing fool pootling along in the little ring while wearing a pointy helmet.

The other day I was going up this hill, I thought I was doing pretty good. A couple of guys came past me at what seemed to be about 20 mph. And they were talking. Not that that is particularly relevant, just wanted to get it off my chest. Bastards.

 

[3narf]

I tend to go flat out as much as I can, especially when the traffic is heavy.

I think, though, I've levelled out in terms of the average speed I can manage on my daily commute riding my SS. It takes me about 55 mins in the morning to do 17.5 miles (19mph) and about an hour in the afternoon.

If I want to do it any quicker I think I'll have to get some gears; not lower ones, just higher!

 

[gaz]

London is all short sprints. So i relax at some sections and sprint at the others. Means max speed can be up as high as 36mph but average is usually below 15 due to so many stops.