How to go faster?

[jimboalee]

That's good going that !!! Low hit count !!

I still have an old laptop under the bed with a 3 1/2" floppy drive.
Looking back through my Diary disks, they were 1987, 1994 and 2006.

 

[HLaB]

While the impact might be worse, the faster you ride, the less likely you are to have a crash. This is because instead of bumping along at the side of the road with everybody overtaking you (and trying to decide if they can be bothered waiting or are just going to pull in/out across your path), you suddenly get to be part of the traffic flow.

Almost without exception, I have issues in places where I can't go fast (like uphill).

It might be that in going faster, you are exposed to conflicts for shorter periods of time/ there is less time for muppets to squeeze through or perhaps rivers get less fustrated with something that moves faster and behave better but whatever it is I'd agree, personally I feel more confident when I go faster. That feeling of confidence probably puts me in a more dominant position too, which I too find safer.

 

[Norm]

You work in finance so I hope you can work out that even pushing your average up to 17 (an increase of over 25%) is only going to save you about 15 mins (there & back).

Have a shorter shower.

Learn to throw clothes on/off quicker.

Red light jump

Following on from this, my recent commuting experience was (over just shy of 10 miles) that I could go hell for leather, arrive at work after 30 minutes but be unable to talk and in need of 10 minutes cool-down and a shower. Or I could take it easy, get there in around 36 minutes and be pretty much sweat-free.

I ended up at around 35 minutes to get in and 30 to get home again.

 

[snailracer]

It might be that in going faster, you are exposed to conflicts for shorter periods of time/ there is less time for muppets to squeeze through or perhaps rivers get less fustrated with something that moves faster and behave better but whatever it is I'd agree, personally I feel more confident when I go faster. That feeling of confidence probably puts me in a more dominant position too, which I too find safer.

If you take the "faster is safer" argument to it's logical conclusion, you should be safer on a motorbike. But the impression I get is that motorbikes are much more dangerous than bicycles, which is why all the road safety ads are aimed at motorbikes, not bicycles.

 

[jimboalee]

The only time I can think of when a bicycle is at higher risk going slower is when it gets trapped on a level crossing....

 

[Fly]

Following on from this, my recent commuting experience was (over just shy of 10 miles) that I could go hell for leather, arrive at work after 30 minutes but be unable to talk and in need of 10 minutes cool-down and a shower. Or I could take it easy, get there in around 36 minutes and be pretty much sweat-free.

I ended up at around 35 minutes to get in and 30 to get home again.

You just get to the red lights quicker.

 

[HLaB]

If you take the "faster is safer" argument to it's logical conclusion, you should be safer on a motorbike. But the impression I get is that motorbikes are much more dangerous than bicycles, which is why all the road safety ads are aimed at motorbikes, not bicycles.

Agreed but there is faster and 'too fast', 18mph is faster than 12mph

Slightly OT, one of the reasons I've never went for a motorbike, I've seen too many muppets pull out on a push bike; where's there is time to react on a bicycle there might not be on a motorbike, it may happen less often but its not a balance I'd like to try

 

[Roadrunner78]

Coming from a motorcyclist all be it ex motorcyclist since the birth of my daughter under 2 years ago, the scariest thing is seeing a car at a junction with the driver looking at you with the will i wont i pull out look in their eyes. I covered the brakes and backed off just in case. The speed and ability to get out of the way was a plus.

With cycling i do feel like im in the way, more so if im pootling (rare). Cars are more willing to sit behind if your going 20mph+ and turn off to wherever they're going behind me without a overtake then left hook, or the pull along side and right turn. Of course there is always the impatient sods. Speed is a plus for me but im not in london or a busy city. Friday is my slowest journey which is to work at 6pm its the cars that slow me down then.

I dont really have any advice on getting home faster apart from get cranking thats what i do.

 

[taxing]

If it makes you feel any better, it takes me 50 minutes to do 8 miles.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

If it makes you feel any better, it takes me 50 minutes to do 8 miles.

Ah but that's with the drag coefficient factor of the flower on the front

Lose the flower and I'm sure someone on here will produce a scientific equation proving that you would in fact be averaging 27.893mph

 

[leemo]

Thanks for all the comments.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I can up my commute to 9.5 miles without it making too big a difference and I shoudl really just try to shower and change more quickly etc. Safety is paramount but I can still speed up a little. If I've kept the commuting up over the winter I may splurge on a decent road bike as my fair-weather commuter in the summer. With that, more training and a little weight loss to help with all the stop-starts, I should gain 5-10% and the extra mile in commute distance will be cancelled out. So my family gets the semi and having made such a saving on housing it will be easy to justify the road bike

 

[JoysOfSight]

If you take the "faster is safer" argument to it's logical conclusion, you should be safer on a motorbike. But the impression I get is that motorbikes are much more dangerous than bicycles, which is why all the road safety ads are aimed at motorbikes, not bicycles.

To be honest I don't really see how it could be more dangerous to be on a motorbike, for me (I'm open to the possibility that it is, just not sure why).

I'd have a bigger vehicle, much brighter lights, better brakes, and no issues with anyone overtaking and cutting across, because it would be effortless to hold primary at the going speed. You'd also have a much better helmet and armour on.

Also, as I can easily keep up with traffic on about 2/3 of my commute (the other 1/3 being uphill!) I wouldn't be going any faster on the motorbike either.

Maybe the inflated motorcycle death figures come from rural roads only? Beats me.

For a simple illustration of why it is probably safer to be going fast than slow, if you ride a given distance at 20mph instead of 10mph, you'll be on the road for half the time and have less than half the overtakes. The absolute reduction in exposure outweighs the increased damage from a fall, would be my guess.

 

[jimboalee]

To be honest I don't really see how it could be more dangerous to be on a motorbike, for me (I'm open to the possibility that it is, just not sure why).

I'd have a bigger vehicle, much brighter lights, better brakes, and no issues with anyone overtaking and cutting across, because it would be effortless to hold primary at the going speed. You'd also have a much better helmet and armour on.

Also, as I can easily keep up with traffic on about 2/3 of my commute (the other 1/3 being uphill!) I wouldn't be going any faster on the motorbike either.

Maybe the inflated motorcycle death figures come from rural roads only? Beats me.

For a simple illustration of why it is probably safer to be going fast than slow, if you ride a given distance at 20mph instead of 10mph, you'll be on the road for half the time and have less than half the overtakes. The absolute reduction in exposure outweighs the increased damage from a fall, would be my guess.

It only takes two seconds for a car to pull out of a side road, as I found out. When it happens? Is not predictable.

 

[JoysOfSight]

It only takes two seconds for a car to pull out of a side road, as I found out. When it happens? Is not predictable.

Yes, but surely you'd agree it should happen less to something big like a motorbike with those fierce headlights than something as insubstantial as a pedal bike?

There are not as many PTW-ers here as there are in London (by far) but it's still not that unusual for me to pace one for a while if the traffic's thick. We're going at the same speed, and both vulnerable to somebody pulling out (although again, I think it's more likely for me than him). If there is an accident, I bet the guy in leathers and full-face helmet will come off quite nicely compared with someone in spandex, right?

Or, maybe not. Do motorcyclists get hurt by the weight of their own bikes, for example?

 

[Norm]

Whilst few bikers will admit it, a very high proportion of motorbike accidents are single vehicle - where the rider essentially just runs out of ability. This obviously doesn't apply to cyclists.

I can't remember where the stats are posted but I would guess that taking single vehicle accidents out would make motorbikes appear safer, per mile, than cycling.

I know one guy who was injured by the weight of his own bike but that was, again, an accident which he had all on his own.