F R E A K I N ' A W E S O M E . . . .

[Ujamaflip]

Well done Watt-O!

I beat my personal best this week too! On Monday I completed my 29.5km (18.3mile) journey home in 1 hour 2 minutes! Average speed 28.5km/h or 17.7mph.

My journey is almost all countryside with very little traffic and obstructions. The home-ward bound journey is (only very slightly) more downhill than the inward bound journey, which took me 1 hour 14 minutes that day.

A couple of months ago that journey took me about 1 hour 30 minutes. I bought a road bike which is a dream to ride and quite a bit faster than the hybrid, plus I'm a bit fitter and the warmer weather must be helping.

I'm really loving the cycling now Spring has arrived!

 

[Watt-O]

Well done Watt-O!

I beat my personal best this week too! On Monday I completed my 29.5km (18.3mile) journey home in 1 hour 2 minutes! Average speed 28.5km/h or 17.7mph.

My journey is almost all countryside with very little traffic and obstructions. The home-ward bound journey is (only very slightly) more downhill than the inward bound journey, which took me 1 hour 14 minutes that day.

A couple of months ago that journey took me about 1 hour 30 minutes. I bought a road bike which is a dream to ride and quite a bit faster than the hybrid, plus I'm a bit fitter and the warmer weather must be helping.

I'm really loving the cycling now Spring has arrived!

Karlsruhe - looks pretty flat on the map, in a wide valley. I bet I could beat you on my German light weight engineered Focus !

 

[Ujamaflip]

Karlsruhe - looks pretty flat on the map, in a wide valley. I bet I could beat you on my German light weight engineered Focus !

Aye, my route is almost totally flat, I'm sure you could give me a run for my money

I'm just on the northern tip of the black forest, the foothills of the mountains begin about 10km away and build up to the Alps. When I get a bit more adventurous I can take a hilly route to work.

 

[al78]

Why does it not count if you have a tailwind? It should do IMO, it is natural, not artificial assistance.

My fastest commute home from work was 28.5 minutes for 9.5 miles which is bang on a 20 mph average. Don't recall a tailwind, but was going for it and it is a net descent (does that count?) and was a lovely summers evening.

Earlier this week I averaged a little over 17 mph up until the last two miles. When I got to work, my average was 15.5 mph, which gives you some idea of the climbing I have on those last two miles (not just the climbing, but giving way on single track roads and slowing for horse riders).

 

[dodgy]

Why does it not count if you have a tailwind? It should do IMO, it is natural, not artificial assistance.

Seriously? It does count with a tailwind as long as the ride also includes returning to the start position - so altitude gained = altitude lost.

I can't believe I'm having to explain this

 

[gaz]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27306863 my PB posted last week. Plus that was on a thursday and i had already done 6 pretty fast commutes on the previous days.

 

[jimboalee]

Seriously? It does count with a tailwind as long as the ride also includes returning to the start position - so altitude gained = altitude lost.

I can't believe I'm having to explain this

Yup, this is true. OR IS IT???

We can all measure and calculate our 'Coefficient of drag' when we are moving in a forward direction agianst the prevailing airflow, but how is it calculated for when the wind is faster than our roadspeed?

The Cd of a ( Diamond frame ) cyclist is slighty less in reverse....

Is a 'circular route' exactly 50% headwind and 50% tailwind, effecting our roadspeed equally and opposite to cancel each other out? Nope, I thinks.

When there is a strong wind, turbulance and 'funneling' makes differences.


Also, if the route is 'circular' and the 'Altitude gained = Altitude lost' ( therefore resulting in an average gradient of 0% ), why all the fuss about hills?

 

[HaloJ]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27306863 my PB posted last week. Plus that was on a thursday and i had already done 6 pretty fast commutes on the previous days.

Oooooh wow. Do you get commission for just selling a Garmin?

 

[gaz]

Oooooh wow. Do you get commission for just selling a Garmin?

i wish

 

[dodgy]

Jimbo, you do have a penchant for overanalysing

Overall, average speed is more fairly measured when the start and finish are at the same geographic point and altitude. This means that broadly, the rider will have the effects of the wind and climbing/descending cancelled out. Or at least, it's as close as we can get to a fair measurement - much fairer than saying "I just rode one way to work and it's downhill and I had a tailwind - ergo that's my average speed".

 

[jimboalee]

Jimbo, you do have a penchant for overanalysing

Overall, average speed is more fairly measured when the start and finish are at the same geographic point and altitude. This means that broadly, the rider will have the effects of the wind and climbing/descending cancelled out. Or at least, it's as close as we can get to a fair measurement - much fairer than saying "I just rode one way to work and it's downhill and I had a tailwind - ergo that's my average speed".

When you do clock a PB on an open highway, which is a silly thing to do because going for PBs in traffic ALWAYS leads to risk taking and incidents, ( don't say it doesn't, because it does ) how do you know if you have improved physilogically rather than had a lucky day with the weather?

If every day was the same temperature and still as a mill pool, then you can immediately see you are getting fitter and stronger.
But each day is different.
When you have a particularly fast ride to work without running reds and bumping HGVs, what compensations can you apply to compare your efforts with yesterday?

If you haven't any idea of the compensations involed, there is no point in bragging about PBs on the road.
They are meaningless.

 

[gaz]

If you haven't any idea of the compensations involed, there is no point in bragging about PBs on the road.
They are meaningless.

Meaningless in some perspectives. But still puts a smile on my face when i know i had the luck of the lights and got to work quicker than normal

 

[dodgy]

FGS Jimbo, stop treating everying in life like a bleeding spreadsheet! I'm just saying that the fairest way to assess your average speed on the roads is to start and finish at the same point - because it's fairer than riding from point A to point B! Yes I know that the wind can strenthen and weaken or even change direction on a given ride - but it's still the fairest way!

I track all my rides in Sporttracks, and all my rides are circular/out and backs, yet when my mileages start increasing in Spring / Summer I can see a trend developing that clearly shows my average speeds increasing.

Measuring average speed is very useful for spotting trends.