Well on my last ride in this year, I did it!

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

pes

Well-Known Member
gbb said:
Do you have any hills pes ?
I power up them, then 'recover' by pedalling steady once over the top for a minute or so. You lose a lot of momentum and speed on hills...and therefor time. This way, you keep the speed up. It's a killer at first...but it worked for me.

Yes gbb, there are a few hills. I will take your advice on board and the previous posts about traffic lights and pedalling faster :biggrin:.

Time under my average speed seems to reduce my average speed quicker than the same time spent over it increases it (hope this makes sense).
I know that this is purely psychological but it certainly feels this way.
 

gbb

Squire
Location
Peterborough
pes said:
Yes gbb, there are a few hills. I will take your advice on board and the previous posts about traffic lights and pedalling faster ;).

Time under my average speed seems to reduce my average speed quicker than the same time spent over it increases it (hope this makes sense).
I know that this is purely psychological but it certainly feels this way.

If you dont already attack the hills pes, its bloomin hard work :biggrin:, but it gets easier.
Take typical short hills on my ride. If you stay seated and plod up them, you could be down to 8 - 10 mph for several minutes.
If you hammer up it (and i like to get out of the seat to do this), you top it much faster, maybe 15 - 19 mph, then take it steady over the top, but you'll still be going at 13 - 16 mph for a few minutes, then i've gained so much time and speed.
As you get stronger and do it more, the recovery time you need at the top gets shorter.
On a 30 to 40 mile loop, i'd always average 15 and a bit mph average. Attacking the hills gets my average up to nearly 18mph...but thats over a summers riding. It doesnt happen quick (well not for me anyway :smile:)

Someones signature on here was very true...
'You never stop hurting....you just get faster doing it'.
Hard hard work is the only way.
 

gbb

Squire
Location
Peterborough
Another aid i used to use pes...the computer.

I always try to go outbound against the wind, then have an easier ride back.
My computer shows 'current average speed' as you're riding


On the headwind section, i'd try to keep the 'current average speed' as close as i could to the average i wanted to achieve overall.
If i could go headwind at nearly 15 mph, i knew i wouldnt lose time (indeed i'd gain time) on the homeward route.

This is not so easy to do when you're commuting of course, but the principle's the same.
 

Niall McL

New Member
Location
Glasgow
Just did my first ride back from work with my new computer set up. Pleasantly surprised, an average of 15.6mph over 9.4 miles. Have read the stuff about trying to keep speed up over the hills so watch this space.
 

DJ

Formerly known as djtheglove
I always race against the average time it is completely exhausting! and very hard to improve on!

My average speed on cyclogs is quite low, but that is due to carrying the kids around at the weekends.:rolleyes:
 
Top Bottom