General Cycling Discussion - Riding slowly

Does anyone out there have any advice for riding fairly slowly(around 8-10mph is ideal).

My younger cousins love to ride with me, but are very slow. They don't talk much when we are riding since they are concentrating on pushing themselves.

However, with no conversation to distract me, my brain goes into autopilot mode and I automatically push the pace up to my regular speed(around 22/23mph) which is much to fast for them at the moment.

Any tips for going slowly? I need something to occupy my mind or else I kind of stare off into space and do my own thing.

Try riding in lower gear ratios? Kind of hard to go fast in 39/21 :)

I can try that, but at the moment my mtb is on loan to a family member so i am stuck with the road bikes, both of which have fairly high gears.

I just need to stay occupied with something to keep my brain busy. What do you guys suggest? I guess I could sing while I ride, but I think I would get too many strange looks:D

I was thinking of playing an "I Spy" kind of game with my cousins(they love that kind of stuff). Keep me busy and they would have something to do besides just concentrate on riding.

Get a single speed cruiser with huge tires and run 20 psi.

I ride my fixie when on a pleasure cruise with a slower family member/friend. Might not work for everyone.

It's kind of like balancing a manufacturing assembly line, you want the slowest person up front to set the pace so you don't get ahead of them. Just stay behind them.
Otherwise, mechanically disadvantage yourself:

1. Gear down real low and work on your spin (look at your cadance, not mph on your computer so you don't see your speed).
2. Get a fs mountain bike, put 20psi in your 2.5" knobbies, crank away.
3. Find an old bike with an internally geared hub, fill up both the BB and geared hub with liquid cement right before your ride.
4. Strap an open umbrella to your rack behind your bike.

Ride behind them

If I ever get my singlespeed done, that would be perfect.

Just put tiny gears on there and limit myself.

I think I'm going to try to stay in the lowest gear on my road bike and try and keep a a cadence of around 40-50rpm. And I'll adjust if need be. Till the fixie is done(or I get my mtb back) I'm just going to have to pay more attention.

Thanks guys.

edit: or maybe I could tow a trailer with someone in it...hmmm...

edit: or maybe I could tow a trailer with someone in it...hmmm...

It's easier to just tow a cinder block behind you...

I jog the dog in the lowest gear.

What's your lowest gear on the roadie? Something like 39x21? @ 60 rpm that's like 9 mph, so put it in your lowest gear and spin spin away.....

my lowest gear is 42x21 on both road bikes.

I have slightly larger chainrings than normal.

I ride my fixie when on a pleasure cruise with a slower family member/friend. Might not work for everyone.same here

1. Gear down real low and work on your spin (look at your cadance, not mph on your computer so you don't see your speed).
2. Get a fs mountain bike, put 20psi in your 2.5" knobbies, crank away.I second these suggestions. Maybe it wouldn't even have to be FS, but the fat knobbies with fairly low PSI will certainly increase the drag coefficient.

take off the clipless pedals if you have them. i have a bike which has a set of platform pedals and i just wear regular sneakers when i ride it. slows me down considerably.

I'll do that once I get my mountainbike back(should get it back by next weekend?), until then I'm going to just try and spin a low gear and work on cadence while making sure the little kiddos aren't getting out of hand on the MUP.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

My "career" as "world's slowest cyclist" has been enhanced considerably by fifty years of practice, and stopping frequently at "all you can eat buffets". A wider profile provides the wind resistance that is essential for being truly slow. One speed beach cruisers are the ideal "slow rider's" bike.

Re-adjust the brakes so they are always rubbing against your rims.

Let someone else take them. Seriously. What would probably discourage them from wanting to ride is seeing someone barrel away from them and they can't keep up, then maybe they just get discouraged. It's really great that you want to take the young ones out with you, but if you can't keep your mind on the fact that they're riding with you, better to let someone else take them. Besides, you may be off in the distance, they could be rushing to catch up with you, and something negative could happen to them along the way.

Best to just do your own thing and let them find someone else that can focus on them and not their own ride.

Koffee

When I got my wife back into cycling, I would go out for a long, hard ride first. After my ride I would be prepared for an easy ride with her and wouldn't want to go too far or too hard.

koffe, I have been thinking about that. My aunt could go with them. She is more of a chatty rider, if you know what I mean.

SteveE, thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'm going to stop riding with them for awhile. When they are older and a bit faster I'll start going on rides with them again.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Let someone else take them. Seriously. What would probably discourage them from wanting to ride is seeing someone barrel away from them and they can't keep up, then maybe they just get discouraged. It's really great that you want to take the young ones out with you, but if you can't keep your mind on the fact that they're riding with you, better to let someone else take them. Besides, you may be off in the distance, they could be rushing to catch up with you, and something negative could happen to them along the way.

Best to just do your own thing and let them find someone else that can focus on them and not their own ride.

Koffee

Good advice.
Having ridden with little people., riding with them is fun, stressful, and rewarding, but its not "riding." Its teaching.

So true. My nephews are SLOW. But they are only 5 and 7 years old. I wouldn't hesitate to head out there on a ride with them, and I would never think to just leave them just because I forgot about them. I spent one afternoon with the 7 year old just riding and riding and riding, and then I gave him some great cycling tips. Tomorrow, I'm taking my sister-in-law out for a ride. She smokes and is out of shape, but my thing is to get her into cycling and get her to enjoy it so she can get the rest of the family into riding.

I just know how bad it is to be left behind. I wouldn't do it to someone.

Koffeee

Well come on you'd be slow too if you were on 10" wheels with 2" knobs and singlespeed.

Same thing happens when I ride with my girlfriend. I just think about how pissed she'll be if I take off and leave her and that helps me slow down...

Ride behind the slowest rider, stay in a low gear. There's not much more you can do.

I like the idea of going for a longer, faster ride earlier the same day. I did a solo ride early Sunday, then later went for a short neighborhood ride with the family, and had no trouble keeping things slow on the later ride!

Good advice.
Having ridden with little people., riding with them is fun, stressful, and rewarding, but its not "riding." Its teaching.


And remember it's teaching/learning for all involved, including the adult riding with them.

Circle them. Ride ahead. Turn around. Ride to a point quite distant behind them. Catch up slowly and repeat.

take off the clipless pedals if you have them. i have a bike which has a set of platform pedals and i just wear regular sneakers when i ride it. slows me down considerably.

I have been known to cruise at 20 MPH with regular shoes on speedplays :eek: . does not work well for me. When I ride with the slow group I just put it in a low gear and spin... slow rides are fin... do not forget that!

Does anyone out there have any advice for riding fairly slowly(around 8-10mph is ideal).

My younger cousins love to ride with me, but are very slow. They don't talk much when we are riding since they are concentrating on pushing themselves.

However, with no conversation to distract me, my brain goes into autopilot mode and I automatically push the pace up to my regular speed(around 22/23mph) which is much to fast for them at the moment.

Any tips for going slowly? I need something to occupy my mind or else I kind of stare off into space and do my own thing.

At that speed, I would just run along side of them!

Practice 1 legged pedaling! Unclip one foot!

I did do that to a date once. Boy, was she pissed when I saw her later. I can't believe how cruel I can be.

It's about them. So, concentrate on them. Otherwise the subliminal message is, "You're too boring to be with, so go away until you're older." A bit like some cycling clubs, really - they don't look after newbies because they're to slow. I'm not saying that that is how you feel, but that might be the impressions you give them.

Watch them ride, talk with them, even if they're too out of breath to talk much

Give them tips, change sections of the ride into different skills or activities, so that it's broken up into manageable chunks.

During the breaks, ask them questions about what they've just done and "make" them to think about the answers. If some of the ride is on the road, stop and get them to think about what the best way of dealing with that section is (goes for off-road as well). But make sure you know the correct principles of vehicular cycling yourself.

Look at where you ride beforehand and set up a treasure hunt with odd clues (with us, A.P.E.S Electrical Services became "Where would you find the voltage monkey house?"). Small reward at the end. You can also use it to teach them mapreading. Even young kids can learn to use a compass.

If there's a steep hill somewhere on the route, get them to try using different gears to see which is most efficient. Make a game of beating their best time up it. I'm assuming off-road for this, unless it's a really quiet road.

Off-road, learn what plants and trees are on the route - get them to collect leaves, etc. to take home and identify them from books

Design and print off family badges for achieving a or b or c

For kids, it's always about fun and achievement and the more they have this, the more they'll want to ride and the fitter and faster they'll get.

Sorry if this sounds a bit preachy, but our club's first ever family ride (mums, dads, grandparents and children) was, at 14 miles and 9.1mph average, the shortest and slowest in the club's 104 year history, but probably the most fun. Even if I did have to push one of the mums up the hills

The more you do like this, the more you'll forget about your speed and the more all of you will enjoy it

Make up silly rhymes or songs if your talents lie in that direction - they don't have to be good

It's not about the bike, it's about the fun

And good luck

Good ideas, atbman!

I'd urge you NOT to stop riding with them! If kids in your life have an interest in cycling, now is the time to help teach them the skills they will need, and encourage what could be a lifelong source of fun and exercise.

Follow some of the tips you've seen here, and see what you can do to find something new to do on a ride that isn't go fast. Like mentioned, this isn't just a learning opportunity for them, its a learning opportunity for YOU! :)

I'd suggest getting a different bike for 'family' rides. A cruiser or fixie would be perfect. If you get your mountain bike back, you can easily ride on and off the trail and do little circles and loops to keep moving.

Again, atbman's suggestions are great. Since the kids aren't strong enough to be fast cyclists, work on the other aspects of cycling that are fun. You just might find yourself having a good time!

And of course, if you just aren't sated, you can always hop on your road bike after taking them home and bomb through the neighborhood a few times, to get it out of your system. ;)

peace,
sam

Let someone else take them. Seriously. What would probably discourage them from wanting to ride is seeing someone barrel away from them and they can't keep up, then maybe they just get discouraged. It's really great that you want to take the young ones out with you, but if you can't keep your mind on the fact that they're riding with you, better to let someone else take them. Besides, you may be off in the distance, they could be rushing to catch up with you, and something negative could happen to them along the way.

Best to just do your own thing and let them find someone else that can focus on them and not their own ride.

Koffee

I'd have agree with Koffee here, mate. If you can't control your attention span any better
than this they'd be safer with someone else anyway. Life ain't about how fast you can get
there it's about what you see along the way. SLOW DOWN, MATE, YOU'RE MISSIN' YOUR'S.

well, I have actually solved the problem. I just ride my mtb with the shock set at 90% sag.

Anytime I try to pedal the bike bobs so much that I can only get up to about 15mph if I try really hard.

Plus the kiddos think it's funny:D

We usually play ISpy on the rides. I will say "I Spy a <mailmain's truck, golf club, duck, etc.> and they try to look for it.

Thanks for the tips and advice!

Circle them. Ride ahead. Turn around. Ride to a point quite distant behind them. Catch up slowly and repeat.
That's what I do when I ride with my much-slower sister. I'll do the same hill two or three times while she makes it to the top.

If going fast is all you like about your bike, you are missing some of its other charms. Enjoy the scenery, ride in crazy weaving patterns, think some deep thoughts, make up a poem or song, solve world problems, etc.

dude...I've got an idea...this is grand...you're going to pull me. How does that sound?

dude...I've got an idea...this is grand...you're going to pull me. How does that sound?

LOL, PWRD that may slow me down too much:D