jyl

I will sometimes read where people say their fast group rides at 30+ mph sustained. On TV, I see the peleton moving at 30+ mph for miles on end.

I ask, how the heck?

I can sprint to 30+ mph, in 53/12, out of the saddle, heart busting out of my chest, for like 300 meters on a flat, windless road. I can hammer at about 28-29 mph, seated and hunched deep in the drops, in the same 53/12, for a few blocks on that flat, windless road. None of those efforts lasts more than a brief, gasping, gulping effort. Immediately after, I'm ashen-faced and slumped over the bars.

How can you ride at 30+ mph? Do you? How did you train to do that?

I'm feeling terribly wimpy.

BluesDawg

I don't. Very few do. Those who do are very gifted physically (genetic outliers) and they ride a whole lot more than you or I.

aramis

For regular people, it's a lot easier with a group. I went on a group ride the other day and all the fast guys showed up and pretty much towed the whole group to a 21+ mph average over 47 miles 1900ft climbing. I'm decent but I don't think I've ever tried to do 30mph by myself on the flats. I had to work but when I came back I only averaged 174 watts over the whole thing, not really that much work.

Segments were at 30+ mph when I look at the ride, but not the whole thing. I don't think there are many group rides that do 30+ mph over the whole thing.

Mobile 155

well there is that BD and there is the effect of a peloton or a good pace line. I can't ride 10 miles at 30 by myself but I have gone 10 miles at 28 in a pace line with four strong riders in front of me. I have also been in a 28 mile road race where I got in the middle of the peloton and 27-28 felt like cruising. at least for the first 13 miles till we hit the hills.

2 wheeler

How The Heck Do You Ride At 30+ Mph?

First, be about 30 years younger.

rideorglide

Ummm it's probably gonna have to be downhill for that to occur for me, but even a slight incline is good enough, (with a bit/lot of a tailwind )

h2oxtc

There's nothing wimpy about that. I'm just happy to be on the bike, make it to the top of the hill and enjoy the ride down. I'm happy if I can "hammer" 23 mph for a few blocks on a flat windless road. And some day's I'm happy with 20

Bill Kapaun

I put 4 magnets on the wheel!

DX-MAN

When I was a teenager, I routinely hit 30 for short distances; in my 'present reality' of over 40 (now I'm 54, but got back into serious riding at 41), I broke 30 maybe half a dozen times total. The "short distances" were a couple blocks, tops. I can't hit those speeds anymore, but I can maintain what I do attain a lot longer -- rode a route a couple years ago that matched my teen commute, and shaved 6 minutes off of it!

The peloton can do it because of the massive draft they are all a part of -- I've experienced something similar on group rides.

MickeyMaguire

hehehehe

Right you are. When I was in my twenties, I rode several times with a lady friend with legs of steel. We averaged about 23 MPH for sustained periods with occasional sprints to 30 MPH. I have little body weight having been a cyclist all my life, and I can hit 30 MPH and hold it a while on flat ground (kept with the traffic for about a quarter to half a mile a couple nights ago with a stiff wind at my back in a 35 MPH zone), but, sustained like the professional peloton... they'd better have a stretcher waiting for me.

Sixty Fiver

When you are really fit a good measure of that is to be able to do a solo 25 miles in an hour (out and back)... the amount of energy to go 30 miles in an hour is exponentially higher and sustaining that for an hour will put you in world record territory.

In the peloton, the drafting riders do not have to work as hard and with people taking turns pulling, the entire group can move at a pace that would be nearly impossible for a solo rider.

Mind you, there was a guy named Merckx who led through an entire stage of 170km and kept it cranked up in the 25 mph plus range for the entire time (4 plus hours) and he went on to set the hour record by riding almost over 30 miles in one hour and said this was the hardest thing he had ever done.

MickeyMaguire

Merckx is still an animal on a bike. He has to be the best rider of all time in my book.

Zinger

You wait until a long downhill, put your chin to the stem and pull your knees in like you gotta pee (which you might do in the turns) and freewheel....hope that helps

Sixty Fiver

I have done 25 miles in an hour (multiple times) and that took some dedication to riding and training but to do 30 miles in an hour is so far beyond the abilities of normal mortals that few can do it. The difference in the wattage required to go from 25 mph to 30 mph is considerable, using my own physical stats I need to generate 260 watts to ride at 25 mph and over 400 watts to ride at 30 mph in perfect conditions.

Riding at 25mph for an hour is sustainable, riding at 30 mph for an hour is not (for most).

I would estimate that Merckx was probably cranking out power in the 400 watt range to set his record (49.43 km) which was done at high altitude and decreases the power requirements, Coppi (who was smaller) also set the hour record in 1948 and rode 45.8 km and his wattage numbers have also been estimated to be in the 400 range.

Try this at sea level and you need to crank out another 100 watts.

Track sprinters can generate over 2000 watts and someone like Cavendish cranks out 1600 watts when he is crossing that finish line in a final sprint.

Wogster

I tried that once, found a shimmy at around 47km/h so never quite made it to 48.3km/h (30MPH)......

Rootman

I can easily ride at 30 mph . . . . downhill in the highest gear, and it typically scares the crap outta me.

Took a ride a few weeks ago with a very steep decline, had to use my brakes to keep under 40 mph, scared *itless the entire time. It wasn't fun climbing back out either

Lacumo

I used to love doing >25mph and those occasional bursts of >30mph that I was able to manage, but then... One fateful day I woke up in a major (regional trauma center) hospital ER hooked up to IV tubes and monitor leads and connected to that monitoring machine that goes "Ping!"

I was lucky I wasn't seriously injured. I did however learn that 30mph=44fps and that when the world is flying by me @ 44fps I don't have adequate control of my bike or the ability to react quickly enough to rapidly-developing emergency situations to avoid disaster. Ever since that learning experience, I'm content to top off my bursts of machismo around 23mph. When I go down large hills, I use my brakes a lot. I take it back down to 20 every time it gets up to 30. I haven't looked like the Road Rash Poster Child of the Year since 1986, the scars are almost entirely gone and I like it that way.

As for the question "How the heck do you ride at 30+ mph?" --- My answer is "Why would any sane person want to?"

I think anybody who's overpowered by the need to prove something by high-speed bicycling should prove it by doing a century at an average speed of >23mph. That to me is a signature achievement of a true animal on a bicycle and you don't have to attain or hold dangerous or potentially self-destructive speeds to do it.

As a parting thought to those who just have to do 30, 40 and 50mph on a bicycle to prove something... Make sure you have good health insurance in effect at all times.

Gerryattrick

Sometimes you just have to push yourself to do something at the edge, even if that edge is perhaps a little bit less challenging or dangerous than when you were young. In my experience the body gets old faster than the mind.

I would imagine that in the U.S. your last suggestion is sensible no matter how fast you ride.

big john

A group of friends rode up to Santa Barbara and had lunch at an outdoor place on the beach. The ox in our group drank a pitcher and a half of beer by himself. On the return trip there is a 6 mile section of freeway we have to ride on and that guy pulled the whole way @28 mph! Good times.


I don't think riding at speed is about 'proving' anything, sometimes it's just fun. We all have our limits, (well, most of us), and I start thinking about it when I get above about 45 mph. I ride in the mountains a lot and I do wear out brake pads.

rumrunn6

I've done 39 downhill only and whenever I go nutz like that I regret it afterwards, not for the physical affects but for the regret of the danger I put myself in. even in pacelines I am amazed at pro riders, as in, the grand tours, who do this day after day after day

dendawg

You're supposed to do the climb first and find a flat route home. :-)

Rick@OCRR

True, as big john says, if you ride on the mountain roads a lot, the descending speeds become routine at 30+ and it doesn't start feeling "fast" until 45 or so. I often get 40+ even on little club rides around here. 30 mph on flat ground for any length of time, however . . . no, not gonna happen with me!

Rick / OCRR

t4mv

jyl, you gotta go watch Breaking Away, again.

NOS88

While professional riders in the peloton my spend time at 30+ mph, I think for the rest who say they do this, there is a whole lot of (see photo) going on.

Lacumo

That may be the case for some or many people, but it's definitely not the case for everybody. Many of us who have been tempered by near-death experiences resulting from acts of bravado and machismo have discarded that "...you just have to push yourself to...the edge..." attitude. Coming out of a coma in a regional trauma center ER is a memorable and attitude-altering experience.

But -- as always... "To each his own, said the lady as she kissed her horse." We're all adults, we all make our own choices and we all deal with the consequences of our choices. Best of luck to the >30mph'ers out there and here's hoping you don't hit some sand or a pebble you didn't see and end up the way I did.