What is the obsession with going faster and faster?

[Crankarm]

I think the desire to go faster and faster and "drop" or "scalp" everybody in sight is merely macho posturing. Which is exactly what I told the little old lady who sped past me on her shopper the other day.

I was scalped by two fat people on a tandem on monday night, late. They turned off the GBW about 1/2 mile further on at Over. Scalpers always do that, creep past me, then turn off shortly after. It's like the feckers who pull out on you only to turn off a few hundred yards up the road. Hate them.

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

I think the desire to go faster and faster and "drop" or "scalp" everybody in sight is merely macho posturing. Which is exactly what I told the little old lady who sped past me on her shopper the other day.

I hate that.

 

[Flyingfox]

...because I can

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

...because I can

Fair enough,that's life,someone said to me I should be happy because I can still cycle.I guess I agree.Envious though,I wish I was fast again.

 

[Teuchter]

I blame cycle computers.

Joking aside, you raise a good point. I've got a cycle computer on only one of my bikes (roadbike). When riding it I do push myself harder (maybe this is a good thing though) and pay far too much attention to the current speed display and the little arrow next to it that tells me whether that speed is above or below my average for that trip. I only really got it because I want to know how long my weekend rides are but it's too easy to become a slave to the average speed.

There's no way I'd fit one to my main commuting bike for that very reason. I'd end up braking to a stop at the last minute on approach to red lights instead of coasting up to them because though it's a less efficient way to ride, it reduces the impact of slowing and stopping on my average moving speed.

 

[snorri]

I was fast in the 80's and 90's

I was never fast, but I am cycling more than I did in the 60s and 70s .

 

[Hacienda71]

I look at my speed on my Garmin but I also equally look at my distance. I think it is all linked to pushing yourself that bit further. Although I am a commuter my motivation for cycling is as a way of keeping fit doing something I enjoy, not because there is no alternative way to get to work. I can see if I am improving over a particular hill or section of my route which I consider to be a sign of my current fitness level.
Before digital computers on bikes I had one of those mechanical milometers attached to the front axle. I still looked at my average speed by working out how far I had cycled and how long it took me.
All that said I will on some days take a much more relaxed approach to my riding, but I will also do that on a weekend ride. It is not always balls out riding.

 

[Moodyman]

I was scalped by two fat people on a tandem on monday night, late. They turned off the GBW about 1/2 mile further on at Over. Scalpers always do that, creep past me, then turn off shortly after. It's like the feckers who pull out on you only to turn off a few hundred yards up the road. Hate them.

Indeed.

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

I blame old age.

Back in the 70s and 80s,I woz younger

Carry on.

I plus one this.

 

[MrGrumpy]

If your not fast your last, simples and anyone else that says different is a big fat loser

 

[Cyclopathic]

Joking aside, you raise a good point. I've got a cycle computer on only one of my bikes (roadbike). When riding it I do push myself harder (maybe this is a good thing though) and pay far too much attention to the current speed display and the little arrow next to it that tells me whether that speed is above or below my average for that trip. I only really got it because I want to know how long my weekend rides are but it's too easy to become a slave to the average speed.

There's no way I'd fit one to my main commuting bike for that very reason. I'd end up braking to a stop at the last minute on approach to red lights instead of coasting up to them because though it's a less efficient way to ride, it reduces the impact of slowing and stopping on my average moving speed.

It is for this very reason that I have thought for a long while that bike computers should have two different sort of averages to calculate. As well as simply dividing speed by distance and getting the average they should calculate the sped at which one travels for the longest periods. We did it in maths at school but I forget which type of average is which so I fully expect some one to fill in the blanks. I remember there was a mean, mode and median type of average and that one of them is the total divided by the number of entries which is effectively what we have now and the one with the most frequently occurring is another.
This might not give such an "accurate" average speed but it would be a lot more representative of the speed we go at for most of the time. Surely it isn't any problem at all to make this an additional feature on computers.

 

[Recycle]

I was scalped by two fat people on a tandem on monday night, late. They turned off the GBW about 1/2 mile further on at Over. Scalpers always do that, creep past me, then turn off shortly after. It's like the feckers who pull out on you only to turn off a few hundred yards up the road. Hate them.

I get scalped at traffic lights. I hate that.
The OP has a point. On days when my legs are fatigued and I take it easy, my commute time is not much different to when I hammer it. I still can't resist hammering it, especially if there is a cyclists ahead or worse, I get overtaken by one (which is happening far too frequently nowadays).

 

[Teuchter]

It is for this very reason that I have thought for a long while that bike computers should have two different sort of averages to calculate. As well as simply dividing speed by distance and getting the average they should calculate the sped at which one travels for the longest periods. We did it in maths at school but I forget which type of average is which so I fully expect some one to fill in the blanks. I remember there was a mean, mode and median type of average and that one of them is the total divided by the number of entries which is effectively what we have now and the one with the most frequently occurring is another.
This might not give such an "accurate" average speed but it would be a lot more representative of the speed we go at for most of the time. Surely it isn't any problem at all to make this an additional feature on computers.

Know what you're getting at. I quickly googled it but at the first mention on wikipedia of Laplace transforms I stopped to save myself from the horror of flashbacks to the advanced mathematics I studied 20 years ago for my engineering degree.

Keep your cycle computers, I'm off back to my hilltop cave now to rub sticks together.

 

[GrasB]

Problem is when people hammer it they tend not to warm up properly. This means they take way too much out of their legs early in the ride & then don't gain much time. This is why I take the first 5 miles nice n' easy, like a recovery ride & then put the hammer down.

 

[AndyRM]

6 pages and no mention of The Rules?

See #10 & #90.