Commuting - How do I become a "soul crusher" on my hybrid?

We have a guy that I call the "Soul Crusher". He rides a hybrid bike in jeans-shorts, a tee shirt and sneakers and passes me like I'm standing still. When he flies by me I use my best Don Cornealus voice and say Sooooooouuuul Crusher....

yeah I want to be that guy cuz I don't have the money to buy an n+1. So how do I get there?

Workout? Pedal more? Pedal harder? WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO IMPROVE THIS ENGINE!?!?

hehe.

I'll bite.

To increase your comfortable "cruising" pace, take a training approach similar to racers. You are essentially looking to increase your base average speed.
First, assess your current condition. If you are not in pretty good shape, concentrate on building base fitness before pushing it too much.

To step things up:
- Become comfortable riding at your anaerobic limit - sustained efforts, spinning (not mashing) in in a strong gear. Learn to like discomfort and find joy in it.
- do intervals at least 1-2 times per week. start with 10 minutes at 80-90% max heart rate with a 4 minute rest, spinning in an easy gear with little effort, repeat 2-5 times depending on overall fitness. Work to a 15 minute interval near max heart rate.
- do at least 2-3 longer rides with terrain per week. start with 30 miles then make these 40-60 miles. In warmer months, get an 80-100 mile weekend ride in at least twice a month.
- stretch
- get plenty of sleep
- eat well

A routine like that will yield a pretty steady increase in average "comfortable" pace.

Good luck!

Ride lots, and learn to spin a big gear...:)

Narrower tires. 25-28c tires. Practice mashing. Put it in a big gear and go as fast as possible. Then when you get around a corner, hide and pant like you're dying.

Bionx:p

epo

I have 24 speeds on my bike.

I usually roll around with 2-6 or 2-7 settings.

Are you guys saying I should bump that up to 2-8, or shift to something like 3-4?

(sorry I have no idea how to write about gears in proper cycling nomenclature)


Narrower tires. 25-28c tires. Practice mashing. Put it in a big gear and go as fast as possible. Then when you get around a corner, hide and pant like you're dying.

I got 28c tires now and I DO pant like I'm dying. I don't understand the phrase "commuting is not a race"

Okay, though the answer will likely be work on the engine (you), what model of bike do you have? Sometimes the frame geometry will work against you no matter how much effort you put into pedaling it...

I have 24 speeds on my bike.

I usually roll around with 2-6 or 2-7 settings.

Are you guys saying I should bump that up to 2-8, or shift to something like 3-4?

(sorry I have no idea how to write about gears in proper cycling nomenclature)



I got 28c tires now and I DO pant like I'm dying. I don't understand the phrase "commuting is not a race"

Sorted.
1. Start attending local club rides, start with the "B" or "C" group. Get more comfortable with your bike and gear selections. Put some miles under you.
2. Start RACING. It sounds like this is what you want to do.

No offense intended, but how old are you?

yeah I want to be that guy cuz I don't have the money to buy an n+1. So how do I get there?

Workout? Pedal more? Pedal harder? WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO IMPROVE THIS ENGINE!?!?

Ride your bike a lot. Each time you do, go faster than you did before.

This probably goes without saying, but make sure that your tires are properly inflated.

Get one of those pointy helmets. If you can't afford one, strap a birthday party hat onto the back of your helmet to make it pointy.

Forget about trying to be the fastest guy on the block - there's only going to becone - which doesn't mean everyone else has to be misirable.
Get FATTER tires. Learn how to do wheelies, big air bunny hops, front wheel stands.
Just going fast gets boring fast. Look for terrain along the bike trail thats a bit more of a challenge.
It isn't the fastest guys that have a smile on their faces - its the guys having the most fun!
Which is why BMX has so much more appeal to the younger crowd than road bikes.

Mr. Bean shows how : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_9Xi1E016s

Narrower tires. 25-28c tires. Practice mashing. Put it in a big gear and go as fast as possible. Then when you get around a corner, hide and pant like you're dying.

Hmmm, I know somebody whos done this before ;)

epo

+1. If you can't lay your hands on this, spend more time climbing hills. Learn to love hills and embrace headwinds.

I have 24 speeds on my bike.

Are you guys saying I should bump that up to 2-8, or shift to something like 3-4?


Yup. When I first started commuting, I often used "1" or the smallest chain ring to go up hills. Over a year later, and my goal is to stay in the 3rd chain ring the entire way, with a sustained average speed higher than the day before. Also, set goals as to which gears you "won't" shift into, to purposely make it harder on yourself.

Do this for several months and you'll be soul crushing a lot of people, but you'll still have those epic cyclists who'll pass you on a fixie. Just takes time.

Oh yeah, make sure you eat carbs the night before you ride. It helps a lot.

-Narrower, higher pressure tires. Lighter performance tires without flat-resistant layers will gerenally have less rolling resistance, but are more likely to get flats.
-Bar-ends or other type of bars that allow multiple hand positions - 'trekking' bars, or clip-on aero bars are good too. Generally you want a more upright climbing or traffic riding position, a middle position, and a more stretched out aerodynamic position. Switching between the positions frequently allows you to avoid fatigue and train longer and more effectively, and an aero position helps you ride more efficiently when you are cruising fast enough that a reduction in aerodynamic drag makes a big difference.
-Learn to spin your pedals at higher RPM.

Yup. When I first started commuting, I often used "1" or the smallest chain ring to go up hills. Over a year later, and my goal is to stay in the 3rd chain ring the entire way, with a sustained average speed higher than the day before. Also, set goals as to which gears you "won't" shift into, to purposely make it harder on yourself.

Do this for several months and you'll be soul crushing a lot of people, but you'll still have those epic cyclists who'll pass you on a fixie. Just takes time.

Oh yeah, make sure you eat carbs the night before you ride. It helps a lot.

Thanks. I'll try the 3rd chainring and see how that goes. My avg rolling speed has gone up by ~4mph since I started tracking my speed.


Sorted.
1. Start attending local club rides, start with the "B" or "C" group. Get more comfortable with your bike and gear selections. Put some miles under you.
2. Start RACING. It sounds like this is what you want to do.

No offense intended, but how old are you?

29. I have links to local bikepolo clubs and I'm fairly close to the Encino velodrome. I'm gonna look into racing when I have more money.


Okay, though the answer will likely be work on the engine (you), what model of bike do you have? Sometimes the frame geometry will work against you no matter how much effort you put into pedaling it...

Bianchi Boardwalk. Currently @ ~14-16mph rolling, top speed ~26mph. I can only sustain this pace for 3 miles though :(

Bianchi Boardwalk. Currently @ ~14-16mph rolling, top speed ~26mph. I can only sustain this pace for 3 miles though :(

Nice bike. Swap your tires out from the 700x32's to something smaller. You may like the Panaracer Stradius Sports @ 700x26 (only $20/piece) - you're rolling speed and top speed will jump tremendously.

Is your top speed downhill?

Your top speed is not limited by your bike - I ran the stoc Bianchi Boardwalk specs into Sheldon Brown's Gear Calculator (http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/), and if you are maxing out at 26 mph, you are maintaining less than 80 RPM at the pedals. If you could train your legs to spin at 100 rpm (a pretty standard target for performance cycling) your top speed would be 35 mph... if you can maintain that for 3 miles then you will wind up in the olympics.

Just keep riding. I only started commuting by bike consistently this summer, 5 miles each way. Downhill to get to work, uphill to get home. I would get passed up pretty often the first month (June) on the uphill ride home, no matter how hard I pushed myself. My commuting bike is the cheapest, crappiest, heaviest (~29lb) steel fixed gear bike ever, with wide 700x40c commuter tires, heavy thorn-resistant tubes, and Mr Tuffy tire liners. Pretty much everything is the exact opposite of what you're supposed to have to go fast.

But I just kept pushing myself, and now I'm that guy who passes almost everyone on the commute. After only 5 months of commuting 50 miles per week plus an occasional longer weekend ride... totally transformed me into being able to sustain a much higher average speed uphill. Didn't do anything special, just kept riding and pushing myself. I'm sure I'm still not in any shape to actually race, but I can't remember the last time I got passed on my commute, and it feels easier every time.

I have 24 speeds on my bike.

I usually roll around with 2-6 or 2-7 settings.

Are you guys saying I should bump that up to 2-8, or shift to something like 3-4?

(sorry I have no idea how to write about gears in proper cycling nomenclature)



I got 28c tires now and I DO pant like I'm dying. I don't understand the phrase "commuting is not a race"

Use the number of teeth, front (chainring) x back (cassette). For example, on my standard road bike set up, I have 53t and 39t chainring up front and 12-25 cassette in back. So, my biggest gear is 53x12, my smallest gear is 39x25, and everything else in the middle. But I can guarantee you, you don't need bigger gears or skinnier tires so much as you need to learn how to spin the pedals faster.

Spin out that 53:11..

Good thread!

I've found my speed increasing steadily with just riding to work every day. It doesn't feel any easier, but I'm now consistently in 3-5 or 2-6 on flat and 3-6/3-7/3-8 downhill, and can stay in 2-3 uphill as long as the hill doesn't last very long (then I'll drop to 1-3 or 1-2). This is a 24-speed Trek FX 7500 hybrid. I don't know the gear ratios. My average speed has gone from about 12.5mph to 15mph over the past few months.

I have found that the key is to pick a few days to really push things, and then take some days off. My schedule is usually Tuesday push it, Wednesday, Thursday comfortable pace, Friday push it, and then take the weekend off. I play in a roller hockey league on Sundays, so my legs get a nice workout - that's why I rest on Monday.

Remember to stretch after riding, and don't push it too hard right away, i.e. let your legs get warmed up first. Eat plenty of protein and limit empty calories (soda, cookies, etc.).

Bike polo is not what I had in mind. Most towns will have a cycling club (usually affiliated with a bike shop) that will have 1-2 organized road rides per week. This is a great place to start.
A velodrome requires a completely different bike, but man, that would get you fit!

yo fool! play the tag game and ride new places!

yeah I want to be that guy cuz I don't have the money to buy an n+1. So how do I get there?

Workout? Pedal more? Pedal harder? WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO IMPROVE THIS ENGINE!?!?

Sleep more - everyone is a soul crusher in their dreams.

Nice bike. Swap your tires out from the 700x32's to something smaller. You may like the Panaracer Stradius Sports @ 700x26 (only $20/piece) - you're rolling speed and top speed will jump tremendously.

Is your top speed downhill?

I'm on 700x28c's right now. Yes I would assume that the 25mph or w/e speed is downhill.


Your top speed is not limited by your bike - I ran the stoc Bianchi Boardwalk specs into Sheldon Brown's Gear Calculator (http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/), and if you are maxing out at 26 mph, you are maintaining less than 80 RPM at the pedals. If you could train your legs to spin at 100 rpm (a pretty standard target for performance cycling) your top speed would be 35 mph... if you can maintain that for 3 miles then you will wind up in the olympics.

Figured as much, which is why I posted this thread :)


According to Cyclemeter...

9/12 = 13.5mph avg, 23.57 max
10/12 = 14.15mph avg, 25.02 max
11/12 = 14.81mph avg, 26.21 max


I need to figure out how to spin my legs faster.

I'm on 700x28c's right now. Yes I would assume that the 25mph or w/e speed is downhill.



Figured as much, which is why I posted this thread :)


According to Cyclemeter...

9/12 = 13.5mph avg, 23.57 max
10/12 = 14.15mph avg, 25.02 max
11/12 = 14.81mph avg, 26.21 max


I need to figure out how to spin my legs faster.

Intervals. Check out the BF Workout Cookbook sticky at the top of the Racing subforum. They are mostly expressed in terms of functional threshold power (FTP) but they can be done with a HRM or even just an old fashioned watch.

+1. If you can't lay your hands on this, spend more time climbing hills. Learn to love hills and embrace headwinds.

Exactly what I was going to recommend. I'm the heaviest guy (265lb) in my group of friends that ride. Some of them are actually very fit and weigh around 160-190. When I ride with them, I have to take my regular pace down at least a few mph to allow them to keep up.

It used to be the other way around - I had a hard time keeping up with them...until I started climbing hills. Not just the typical 100'-300' ones that are on many of our rides, but 1,000'+ climbs within ~3 miles or so.

Exactly what I was going to recommend. I'm the heaviest guy (265lb) in my group of friends that ride. Some of them are actually very fit and weigh around 160-190. When I ride with them, I have to take my regular pace down at least a few mph to allow them to keep up.

It used to be the other way around - I had a hard time keeping up with them...until I started climbing hills. Not just the typical 100'-300' ones that are on many of our rides, but 1,000'+ climbs within ~3 miles or so.

ugh. I hate hills - they own me so bad. I had to stop 3 times last time I took a "beginner" hill climb.

Intervals. Check out the BF Workout Cookbook sticky at the top of the Racing subforum. They are mostly expressed in terms of functional threshold power (FTP) but they can be done with a HRM or even just an old fashioned watch.
This. If you dont want to follow a regimented plan, just add sprints or hard effort hill climbs to your rides. Just riding around wont make you faster.

Make sure your bike is properly adjusted for best fit.
Clipless pedals.

Normally, I should probably ask this in the nutrition forum, but is the best way to get good at hills to just do intervals and keep pushing it? I seem to be able to gear down and climb up most hills around here pretty much indefinitely, but I'm doing 5-6 mph. I was chasing some other bikes a few days ago, and paced them up a moderately short hill, but I was sucking wind at the top, and they just pulled away during the recovery.

This motor sucks. :p

If you could train your legs to spin at 100 rpm (a pretty standard target for performance cycling) your top speed would be 35 mph...

150 if you are a trackie.

It's also Ancient Roadie Wisdom to ride a low-geared FG during the winter do develop spin. Last year, my winter ratio was 42x15. This year, I'm even lower: 39x16. Coming down the overpass by my house, my legs probably look like egg beaters.

ride a low-geared FG

also, rollers. :evil:

...on my hybrid?..
does not suggest that you are in the Low Aerodynamic posture
of a Time Trial Cyclist or Down Hill Skiier.

Might have to swap out those Handlebars Bars for something Less Comfortable..

It's also Ancient Roadie Wisdom to ride a low-geared FG during the winter do develop spin. Last year, my winter ratio was 42x15. This year, I'm even lower: 39x16. Coming down the overpass by my house, my legs probably look like egg beaters.

I ride a Surly Ogre I've converted to fixie, drop bars and panniers (getting ready for the track this spring). I started a bit higher but have slowly dropped my ratio close to yours too at 36 x 15. I really start spinning out at about 22-23 mph, but it still allows me to ride those very gradual climbs (which kill me on a fixie).

I need to figure out how to spin my legs faster.

Take the gear you would normally select to be at a comfortable pace and drop 1 gear (to an easier one). Then spin that gear faster with more revolutions of the pedals at a steady clip.

I started "spinning" today - riding around in 2-6 instead of my usual 2-7 and pedaling faster while trying to maintain the same rate of speed - holy hell my legs got tired so fast.

I think I'll try to alternate days - "spin" 1 day, then try to use tougher gears the next day, repeat.

Hybrid? Try a lighter bike with drop bars. Wind resistance plays a bigger role at faster speeds. Getting in the drops will help.

Hybrid? Try a lighter bike with drop bars. Wind resistance plays a bigger role at faster speeds. Getting in the drops will help.

Getting another bike defeats the purpose of the thread. The objective is to crush the souls of riders with lighter bikes and drop bars while on my hybrid. Thus, "soul crusher".

Pretty sure I crushed a soul today, blew past a fully kitted serious looking dude on a slick CF road bike who was spinning like crazy in his granny gear up a moderate hill I take every day... while standing and mashing on my 46x16 steel FG with fenders and lugging my overloaded messenger bag to work. I literally passed him about 1/3 of the way up the hill like he wasn't moving and didn't ease up at all.

Which goes to reiterate the main point... just keep riding. That hill is easy for me because I've done it several hundred times, doesn't matter what bike or how much weight I'm carrying, it's just easy now. I remember when it sucked, and then when it sucked a little less... it took a long time to not suck. Now I barely notice it.

Getting another bike defeats the purpose of the thread. The objective is to crush the souls of riders with lighter bikes and drop bars while on my hybrid. Thus, "soul crusher".

A careful reading of this post means that you can still get more bikes for training purposes. :thumb: To build on caloso's post, nothing has made me stronger at climbing hills that to put serious miles on my fixed-gear. And somewhat counterintuively, that is the bike that made climbing fun for me, despite having a 71-inch "low" gear.

pretty sure i crushed a soul today, blew past a fully kitted serious looking dude on a slick cf road bike who was spinning like crazy in his granny gear up a moderate hill i take every day... While standing and mashing on my 46x16 steel fg with fenders and lugging my overloaded messenger bag to work. I literally passed him about 1/3 of the way up the hill like he wasn't moving and didn't ease up at all.


this is exactly what i want to do!


A careful reading of this post means that you can still get more bikes for training purposes. :thumb: To build on caloso's post, nothing has made me stronger at climbing hills that to put serious miles on my fixed-gear. And somewhat counterintuively, that is the bike that made climbing fun for me, despite having a 71-inch "low" gear.

This is true...

^ totally true. If you want to get stronger on hills, commute on a fixed gear at 70-75 g". If you want to get better at spinning and increase your endurance, commute on a 60-65 g" fixed gear. My two favorite ratios personally on my FG are 72 g" and 78 g"... with the latter, there are some hills which I can't tackle (yet) but it gives me a better workout and higher average speed so that's what I usually commute with. The lower, I can tackle almost any hill with now, and gives good spinning practice while cruising, so I use it on longer weekend rides mainly.

Big miles. The fastest people I've ridden with, have all ridden 400 or more miles a week. And, it is not all easy miles. Some weeks, most of it is hard. Two were multiple RAAM winners and I'm sure they were doing 700-1000 or more. How hard you train will determine how fast you are. Nutrition & other things help, but nothing replaces hard training. Develop a plan & slowly increase miles & speed.

Ditto on spinning 70 inches on a fixed gear. Spin or die. Fixed gear teaches you to accelerate at hills and climb. I can now ride seated up hills I had to walk up a year ago, and my spin has gone from 60 or 70 rpm to 90 or 100. Looking to get to 120 rpm.