General Cycling Discussion - I post my Max. speed at work.

Since I have been commuting to work via my bike for the past 2 weeks I have been writting my Max. Speed on a piece of paper & taping it to the side of my desk for all to see. It serves many purposes. One of which to be a conversation piece for me & my co-workers. It has created a fairly decent following amonsgt my co-workers when I get in to the office when I commute. The people that know I commute to work on my bike often ask now how fast did I go today & so forth. It is kind of a cool way to lighten up the day.

But now one of my co-workers who is currently on my team, at least until we are done with training, is bragging about how fast she drives on the interstate on the way to work, she is even going as far as doing the same thing I do & writting it on a piece of paper & taping it to the side of her desk.

This co-worker & I do not get along on a personal level all that great, we get through the day while working with one another & thats about it, thankfully.

I do know that her bragging about her high speed driving has generated some concern amongst other employees, because it is dangerous. I also know that she is anti-cyclist, she has openly expressed that more then once & not just to goad me into a confrontation about it, I usually let it go because she is not worth it. But thankfully when I commute to work via my bike I get there early enough I do not have to deal with her while she is driving on the road. I just hope the day never comes when I do have to deal with her on the roads while I am riding & she is driving. In fact I will fear for my life if it ever happens.

When I post my Max. Speed it is the exact speed that my bike computer says. For example on Friday July 22, 2005 the Max. Speed was 47.1 mph, so that is what I posted. This idiot co-worker of mine posted her personal best speed of 83.1 mph. I know the kind of car she drives & know that it does not have a "digital" speedometer. So how in the hell does she know she drove 83.1 mph? I don't think even a digital speedometer breaks down the speed a vehicle travels in increments like that.

Any thoughts, suggestions, questions, comments are certainly welcomed.

Thank you for letting me vent about this.

John

Take her license plate number and name and a photocopy of her 'top speed' to the local cops? Mention that she's a reckless driver, and bragging about it at work, and that they should keep an eye out for her?

Mention it to her supervisors, as she is likely to get into an accident on the way to work because of her dangerous driving habits?

Somewhere there's got to be a 'gallons of gasoline to troops killed' converter, right? Maybe point out that burning the extra gas to go that fast is the reason we're at war? I have the feeling that wouldn't do much...

F it - slash her tires and ask what her max speed on the way home was the next day :D

Take her license plate number and name and a photocopy of her 'top speed' to the local cops? Mention that she's a reckless driver, and bragging about it at work, and that they should keep an eye out for her?

Mention it to her supervisors, as she is likely to get into an accident on the way to work because of her dangerous driving habits?

Somewhere there's got to be a 'gallons of gasoline to troops killed' converter, right? Maybe point out that burning the extra gas to go that fast is the reason we're at war? I have the feeling that wouldn't do much...

F it - slash her tires and ask what her max speed on the way home was the next day :D

Might try the reporting it to the police approach.

Saying something to the supervisors will not do any good. We have the same trainers & coaches right now in our training class of 18 people, & she brags about this to them too. They are less impressed about it compared to when I just casually mention it to the trainers & coaches. Maybe it is because I do not brag but just bring it up in conversation. She leads off with it as a bragging statement.

I did suggest to her if she wants to drive like that one of the area race tracks used to have what was called an open night. Where you could take your own vehicle & race it against others. I'm not sure if they still do but she may want to call & find out. Though I was being very serious & polite about it about it she didn't like hearing that.

The thing is, 83.1 isn't all that outragous on a freeway, depending on the car. I've pegged a speedo at 110 in a Montana winter in a station wagon. Yeah, it's illegal, but it happens.

(FWIW, that was when I was 18, a few years before I went carless, and the car hadn't been on a freeway in awhile. I was blowing carbon out of the cylinders, and I'm 29 now)

It would be nice if you could get her avg speed and see how much of her time was stuck in gridlock. Maybe you could challenge her a little and see what the times/distances are. Say you've got 10miles, and she's got 40. If instead of max speed (really irrelevant anyways, I'm assuming you get it on a downhill) post time. She'll probably lose over and over and over...

I get a kick when someone at work talks about freeway congestion, and how long it took to get home, and I tell them 'Yeah, my commute varies by about a minute depending on the wind... Between 18 and 20 min...' They don't really like that, but time might be a better thing to post...

Sounds to me like she is just trying to get under your skin.....and its working.

Just ignore her completely......will annoy her more than anything.

Easy way to solve this problem if she actually is speeding like that.

1) Find out what route she takes
2) Report it to the police

Around here we have something called the community roadwatch program which you can use to report speeding/agressive driving. File a complaint and have fun.

Or you can just ignore her.

Sounds to me like she is just trying to get under your skin.....and its working.


Good call. I think she is just trying to bust your chops. Sometimes not making anything out of something is the best burn.

I'm impressed with the 47 MPH!!! :beer:

Nah, call the cops. If she really is going that fast, YOU might be lucky you're not in her path, but what if there is someone else out there less fortunate?

The thing is, 83.1 isn't all that outragous on a freeway, depending on the car. I've pegged a speedo at 110 in a Montana winter in a station wagon. Yeah, it's illegal, but it happens.

(FWIW, that was when I was 18, a few years before I went carless, and the car hadn't been on a freeway in awhile. I was blowing carbon out of the cylinders, and I'm 29 now)

It would be nice if you could get her avg speed and see how much of her time was stuck in gridlock. Maybe you could challenge her a little and see what the times/distances are. Say you've got 10miles, and she's got 40. If instead of max speed (really irrelevant anyways, I'm assuming you get it on a downhill) post time. She'll probably lose over and over and over...

I get a kick when someone at work talks about freeway congestion, and how long it took to get home, and I tell them 'Yeah, my commute varies by about a minute depending on the wind... Between 18 and 20 min...' They don't really like that, but time might be a better thing to post...

I know 83.1 is not that big of a deal, I just wanted to know where in the hell does she get the .1 increment. We don't have gridlock or congestion around here. I live in a community of only about 103,000 people total. Our "rush hour", if you want to call it that is only about 10 min. long. In the mornings traffic flows pretty smooth. So asking how long she was in gridlock is not really an option.

Nah, call the cops. If she really is going that fast, YOU might be lucky you're not in her path, but what if there is someone else out there less fortunate?

That will never happen, at least on the way to work. She takes the interstate, which around here is illegal to ride bike on. And even when she is on the regular roadways we are no where near the same route as one another. My concern is when I am riding on the weekends & she is out driving.

I am going to report her to the police & the highway patrol. hopefully they will set up a speed trap along that part of the interstate she drives. I know for a fact if she gets a ticket she will walk in *****ing & moaning about it. At that point I'll just bust out laughing.

I'm impressed with the 47 MPH!!! :beer:

Thank you. The speed was achieved on a down hill of course. So far 47.1 mph is the fastes I have ever gone on my recumbent in the 4+ years I have been riding it. My goal on this hill is to hit 50 mph. Now keep in mind though I am speeding. The speed limit is 35 mph. But over half the motor vehicles that drive this stretch of city street go faster then 50 mph on the down hill. Thankfully it is a 4 lane road.
Does that justify my actions? No, not at all. Though I may be a hippocrite for complaining about my co-workers driving, my speeding only puts me in danger, a danger I am willing to accept. There is not much danger to a motorist if a cyclist collides with a car, just to the cyclist. I respect & accept that danger. Her driving puts everyone else on the road in danger, not just herself.

Thank you. The speed was achieved on a down hill of course. So far 47.1 mph is the fastes I have ever gone on my recumbent in the 4+ years I have been riding it. My goal on this hill is to hit 50 mph. Now keep in mind though I am speeding. The speed limit is 35 mph. But over half the motor vehicles that drive this stretch of city street go faster then 50 mph on the down hill. Thankfully it is a 4 lane road.
Does that justify my actions? No, not at all. Though I may be a hippocrite for complaining about my co-workers driving, my speeding only puts me in danger, a danger I am willing to accept. There is not much danger to a motorist if a cyclist collides with a car, just to the cyclist. I respect & accept that danger. Her driving puts everyone else on the road in danger, not just herself.

You have an amazing talent with rationalization!

You have an amazing talent with rationalization!
Indeed!
Tell us again N. C. - what exactly is the purpose of posting your top bicycle speed at work. Did anybody request this information? Or express the slightest interest?

To quote Buzz Lightyear:

"You're mocking me"

She's poking you with a stick, looking for a reaction. Play the game. Post your speed to the third decimal place. Start making charts. Post totally irrelavent stuff, like number of crank rotations.

Enlist a couple cow-workers to stop by and ohh & ahh at your figures.

Though I may be a hippocrite for complaining about my co-workers driving, my speeding only puts me in danger, a danger I am willing to accept. There is not much danger to a motorist if a cyclist collides with a car, just to the cyclist

I'd prefer not having you jibs splattered all over my vehicle, thank you very much.

She is controlling your emotions which is exactly what she wants to do. Ignore her and she will feel that she is failing, something that she does not want to do!

By the way, how can you be critical of her when you are doing the same thing? You certainly would endanger a motorist if they try to avoid you and have a head on with someone else. Sounds like you both need to alter your driving styles..... :)

To quote Buzz Lightyear:

"You're mocking me"

She's poking you with a stick, looking for a reaction. Play the game. Post your speed to the third decimal place. Start making charts. Post totally irrelavent stuff, like number of crank rotations.

Enlist a couple cow-workers to stop by and ohh & ahh at your figures.

Haha, that's great. Don't make it too in your face, but just suddenly start spouting off like wattage vs speed/cadence with hrm data overlays or something. And start posting speeds to like decimal places. Haha.

Don't make too obvious that you're onto her. haha. Great suggestion.

You should begin to be nice to her, and then ask her out on a date. Then you date her for a while. Then you should ask her to marry you. Then when the big day arrives and you are standing at the front of the church in front of everyone you should annonce that you could not marry a woman that drives so dangerously. Then to throw salt into the wound mention that she is bad in bed a walk, or ride the bike, out of the church.

dude, she is ragging on u. making fun of u. she thinks ur ridiculous posting ur speed as its quite an egotisticle thing to do. doesnt anyone agree? granted i wouldnt copy u to prove a point but eh i doubt ib be ur friend either

Well, it's obvious that this coworker is simply making up her 'Max speed' and writing it down as a way to parody you. I suspect that she, and a group of employees are simply having a little joke at your expense.

Of course, if you posted your average speed for the commute or your total ride time, you'd have something really worth discussing rather than your peak speed down one hill.

start posting your speed in KPH.

Play the game with her.. Flip the script.. It will annoy her.. it's just like a emcee battle.. It pisses them off. :)
Make a chart and what not, and get co-workers to be all "wow" and stuff... man.. that would be so funny to see, cuase she'd try something stupid and then it'd make her look like a fool.

Nah......impress them by showing off your massive hairless calves...

I bet if you used another standard like say, 8" and stuck it to your desk, she wouldn't be able to touch that on her way to work. No, probably wouldn't work. Next day you'd see something like 36D taped to her desk.

Do the ignore thing. Or get her into cycling and change her perspective.

I got a co- worker who is also a cyclist it kind of cool we tell each other how far we go. I do 16 miles a day he does a few less but he is way faster than I am so I guess it all works out. A bike buddy at work is very nice.

One cool thing I was getting a full ration from one another guy. Then I started talking about how many miles in a day and how many miles in a week and he was amazed and stopped the BS. And I don't even go that far.

I bet if you used another standard like say, 8" and stuck it to your desk, she wouldn't be able to touch that on her way to work. No, probably wouldn't work. Next day you'd see something like 36D taped to her desk.
Good idea and why not? Posting such information at work is at least as relevant as posting bicycle speed at work.

Better yet exaggerate, next to the 8", add "5 times/day; 24/7". Maybe your co-worker will change her tune and make nice with you and post odes to your prowess, especially if she determines that your postings are true.

47.1mph? wow..I'd post taht too. ( iffen I had me a desks )

dude, she is ragging on u. making fun of u. she thinks ur ridiculous posting ur speed as its quite an egotisticle thing to do. doesnt anyone agree? granted i wouldnt copy u to prove a point but eh i doubt ib be ur friend either
how old are we?

Originally Posted by toomyus
dude, she is ragging on u. making fun of u. she thinks ur ridiculous posting ur speed as its quite an egotisticle thing to do. doesnt anyone agree? granted i wouldnt copy u to prove a point but eh i doubt ib be ur friend either

how old are we?
I would suspect that WE are all old enough to know better than to post juvenile "I am great messages" at work and not expect to get negative feedback.

Of all the people that speed on the road dont tell me your actually worried about something happening on the road between you and her. I can only guess how many other crazy people on the road are driving that fast and even faster. And why are you concerned about her posting her speed on her desk? I bet others at your work are probably saying similar things about you (posting your speed on your desk).

Just dont worry about her , unless you truly feel she is a really bad driver and really fear for your safety. I think your feelings about the situation are mainly because of your not so good relationship with her.

Originally Posted by toomyus
dude, she is ragging on u. making fun of u. she thinks ur ridiculous posting ur speed as its quite an egotisticle thing to do. doesnt anyone agree? granted i wouldnt copy u to prove a point but eh i doubt ib be ur friend either

I would suspect that WE are all old enough to know better than to post juvenile "I am great messages" at work and not expect to get negative feedback.
I wasnt so much critisizing the fact that it is "egotistical"
I was more commenting on the U's and UR's

she is mocking you...get over it. Since she posted to a tenth she is obvisouly making it up. I bet she drives into work normal everyday just like everyone else...I kind of like her humor.

47 on a commute is an awesome speed...83 in a car is not. If she posted 130+mph...then id be impressed.

I wouldn't say its egotisticle personally, though I wouldn't be surprise and would understand if people saw it that way.

I think some people at times feel threatened by the accomplishments of others or feel left out if they can't relate to it, thus they react in a defensive manner(not always, but seems alot of times) , in your case I think you personally didn't mean to brag in a narcassitic way but just wanted to share your joy and accomplishments with others.

The real matter of whether an action is really egotisticle or not I think is really based on the person doing the action( meaning if that person really meant it in that manner) not really how its interpreted, but whats that saying again, perception is reality. And we are all living in a different reality because we all percieve things differently.

I wouldn't say its egotisticle personally, though I wouldn't be surprise and would understand if people saw it that way.

I think some people at times feel threatened by the accomplishments of others or feel left out if they can't relate to it, thus they react in a defensive manner(not always, but seems alot of times) , in your case I think you personally didn't mean to brag in a narcassitic way but just wanted to share your joy and accomplishments with others.

The real matter of whether an action is really egotisticle or not I think is really based on the person doing the action( meaning if that person really meant it in that manner) not really how its interpreted, but whats that saying again, perception is reality. And we are all living in a different reality because we all percieve things differently.

Going fast downhill on a recumbent when you are a heavy guy is not all that much of an accomplishment unless the decent is a particularly technical one. Better would be to post ones commute time, average speed, weight loss trend, total miles (or hours) ridden each week, etc. These would be statistics that represent genuine personal achievement and might elicit some real support among one's coworkers instead of derision.

You really made yourself an easy target for mockery by publicly posting your maximum speed, which, as has been mentioned, is pretty much only determined by the pitch of the descent. Since you already know what your maximum speed is, the only purpose for posting it is to broadcast it to everyone nearby, whether they care or not. Your specific use of maximum speed can be construed as somewhat boastful, so it doesn't surprise me that someone responded in kind, and it seems you're falling right into the trap. I doubt the figure of 83.1 came from an actual spedometer if you are still wondering about that. I'm pretty sure the .1 is just to mock the precision of your own figure.

Not to mention that most speedometers are not calibrated to be accurate to .1 mph anyway, even if they report it. Most car speedos are accurate within like 3% or so, which for 83 would mean +/- 2.5 mph or so.

She's just trying to get you irritated, and like everyone said, it's working.

Also you have nothing to fear from her on the roads... if anything, she will be more careful around you (if she notices its you) than another cyclist because she has been very vocal about her dislike... How would that look to an accident investigator if all your coworkers say "Yeah, she always said how she'd love to run him over." You have no more to fear from her than any other driver on the road.

I have to agree that it does sound a bit egotistical; but then, a bit of egotism is OK. My screen saver is a jpg of an excel chart showing my total commute mileage, by month. Anyway, as to how you should respond, you said it yourself: "I usually let it go because she is not worth it."

She clearly wants you.
Just do her and get it over with.
Then go find a steeper hill so you can hit 50 mph.
She's after the same thing you are...a challenge.

Enjoy

I agree with several of the others here; top speed while on a downhill only measures how big the downhill is and how fearless (foolhardy?) you are on said downhill. If you're going to put up some stats, put up something that illustrates cycling being good for you. Make two charts. On one, graph out your average speed. On the other, track your resting HR. Pick a spot in your office so that people looking for them can find them, but they're not a billboard for everyone walking by. That way you're not advertising it like a braggart, you're simply using some wall space to keep track of your fitness. Take your HR every morning before you get out of bed, preferably with a HRM or BP cuff, and take the average speed off your bike computer.

Quite frankly, I'm appaled that you have an issue with a co-worker. You seem to be one of those easy-going fellows that everyone likes.

Some people are just weird.

Sounds to me like she is just trying to get under your skin.....and its working.

Just ignore her completely......will annoy her more than anything.


Indeed!
Tell us again N. C. - what exactly is the purpose of posting your top bicycle speed at work. Did anybody request this information? Or express the slightest interest?


To quote Buzz Lightyear:

"You're mocking me"

She's poking you with a stick, looking for a reaction.

Yeah, shes mocking you and I feel the same way she does. Why do you feel the need to post your top speed? Need the attention? Have you used your new fame to encourage your co-workers to also commute by bicycle or are you just using it because you like to feel special? If people are interested in your top speed they'll ask, otherwise take it down. It serves no purpose unless you've somehow been able to convince your co-workers to also commute.

So let me get this straight. You started off bragging about speeding, and so has she.
She's probably just taking the mickey out of you but if she is speeding to excess I hope she get's caught!
But why is she more at fault than you?
When you report her to the police are you going to mention your own disregard for public safety and why do you say "my speeding only puts me in danger"? Have you never known a child or animal to run out onto the road?

If you must prove a point why don't you post things like "Total MPG on route to work 0.000 MPG" or if she's a bit of a bloater "calories burned on route to work 550"