ganchan

I ride slowly -- and I've finally decided that I'm OK with that.

When I first got back into cycling, it really bugged me that I wasn't zipping along like the spandex crowd -- even though that style of cycling had nothing to do with my interests, needs or inclinations. It has taken me a while to finally figure out that I'm a tortoise by nature, not a hare. I have no urgent commute to stay on top of, I don't ride with groups, I don't race, I don't actively pursue fitness training....so I'm free to put upright handlebars on my bike and tool along at whatever speed seems comfortable. But it was almost as if I had to give myself "mental permission" to let myself get passed by faster folk and just enjoy the scenery.

Anyway, I'm now an unofficial member of the Slow Rider Movement. Go slugs!

BobbyG

I commute 9 miles each way 3-4 days a week. Anytime I'm passed by someone younger, I figure, well, they're younger, they aren't going as far, or as often, or aren't kitted-out for emergencies or safety as I am. Anytime I pass someone else I think, but of course, I'm in better, shape. But there are these two riders who I occasionally come across who seem to have ten years on me and leave me in the dust. One is equipped like I am on a slightly older bike. The other has no gear, often no helmet and rides the most basic and humble bicycles. I finally met him last month after he blew past me on a 60 year old Schwinn Typhoon single speed, coaster brake bike. I caught up to him at a light and he turned out to be a great guy.

But seriously, I'm with you. Especially as one gets older the challenge is less against others, and more against aging and one's own decreasing abilities and increasing physical challenges.

imi

"It doesn't get any easier, you just get faster"
Greg LeMond

Wrong! "It doesn't get any easier, you just get slower"

canklecat

Ditto. My average speed on a comfy/hybrid bike is probably only 10-12 mph, if that. Suits me. If I really get concerned about it I'll reconsider in 6-12 months after I'm in better condition. Maybe by then I might benefit from the nuances of a faster bike.

I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.
--Mikhail Baryshnikov

Stucky

When I first started out, I was hoping to average 20MPH eventually. Realized, that in the hilly area in which I live, it ain't gonna happen.

I lowered my sights to maybe 16.5-17MPH....

That would be achievable- but I found that when I don't worry about my speed, and just go along and enjoy the ride, I enjoy the ride a whole lot more- so I stopped caring about speed. Getting exercise, and more importantly, enjoying the ride, are the most important things.

So I'm perfectly happy with my 15MPH speed now- and if I have a bad day, or there's a strong headwind (which there often is) even if I find myself plodding along at 12-13MPH, I find that I still enjoy the ride a whole lot more that way, than I do if I'm working to improve my speed and worrying about it.

Relax and enjoy.....if more people would do that, I think they'd get a lot more out of their cycling. F the numbers!

Stratocaster

To me, the goal should just be to enjoy your bike and riding - whatever your intended purpose.
At 53, I still have some spunk - in fact, I intend to do some racing next year. I just started "serious" riding this year.
But I'm enjoying the process of getting in shape, meeting new people, seeing the sights on my back-road travels, learning about bikes, riding, clothing, etc.
I'm glad to have found the hobby that should be beneficial to my health.

ltxi

I'm with you, OP. Early '80s through the mid '90s I had a very competitive cycling attitude, most of the time. Off for a long while and when I came back it was with a different approach. Still kinda anal, maybe more so, about having decent equipment and tweaking to fit but I'm now truly out there to enjoy the ride vice allowing competing to injure the experience. My nominal daily ride average this season runs 13 plus a bit mph. I've done notably faster and notably slower some days when I just felt like it. That's on my road bike....MTB is even slower. And, going further into now in my early '70s no longer really all that much giving a rat's ass what other folk think territory, I just added a 21D Electra Townie to the stable...with fenders no less. Winter, bad weather, and often just fun to ride N+1.

james_v

Slugs unite! I am most likely never to reach an average speed of 15 to 18 mph on my bike given that it has taken me almost 6 years just to get the saddle and handle bars dialed in. Average around 11 to 12 mph for the most part. Just cranking (make that spinning) away for the cardio work. Did surprise myself once with a speed of 22 mph (down slope - no real hills in Houston.)

yooperbiker

OK, not a slug

ganchan

Part of my old skittishness, I think, was the vestige of car-driver mentality: "I gotta get where I'm going, like, NOW." Destination instead of journey. The routes I normally take are pretty boring, too, which didn't help. Now, though, I use my cycling time as thinking time, because there's always plenty of interesting stuff to think about.

Nachoman

I totally agree. Go Slugs!

mrodgers

Overweight slug here. Been riding 3 seasons now. Started on a heavy full suspension Walmart mountain bike. Couldn't wait to try out a "real" bike. Bought my Escape 1 hybrid. Light as a feather compared to that Walmart bike. I was thinking I'd be working my way up in speed rather quickly with a new "real" bike. Didn't happen. I averaged 12 mph on the Walmart bike and average about 13 on the Giant on just a flat paved bike trail.

Lost 35 lb, the regained 35 lb. I'm back where I started. The average speed is the same, at least on flat. In hills on the road though it's a little different story. It's not an amazing story, but there is significant improvement over the 3 years for this fat slob. I started out averaging a whopping 6 mph on the roads with a lot of hills. I don't ride a bit of flat at all on the road. On a good day I could hit 8 mph average. I'm now consistently 10-11 mph on the road with my hybrid. Hills that stopped me dead from grinding up in the lowest gear halfway up to rest and let the exploding heartrate come down a bit now has me up 3 or 4 gears. Sometimes I don't drop down into the smallest chainring in sections that I was dropping to the lowest gear.

The other day I got home and didn't think I pushed all that hard. I was exhausted and didn't know why. Then I looked at my little cycle computer, same route I ride all the time, average jumped from my usual 10 to 12.4 mph.

I don't care about being fast. I don't care about super long distances. If I've ridden 25 miles, I've ridden quite a long ride for me. I don't race and the group I ride occasionally with, we are riding side by side, not all in a line trying to ride as fast and hard as possible. It's about the scenery and exploring new trails or new countryside to ride in. When with my group of coworkers, it's about hanging out and chatting while enjoying the ride and the scenery.

I'm unfortunately getting away from the group of guys at work I was riding with. They are going more long distance, 50-60 miles. I'm not interested in sitting on a saddle for 4 or 5 hours, the pain isn't fun for me. I haven't ridden with them once this year. They've ridden the GAP Pittsburgh to DC, ridden the Katy trail a week in Missouri (I think that's it). They've ridden a week Albany to Buffalo. Not interested in any of that. I'm content with an hour or 2 a day at my nice slow 12 mph average.

jgadamski

I find neat places and notice cool things I might not have noticed had I been ripping down the boulevard. I engage in conversations with folks I meet. I take time to enjoy what I encounter, be it a nice little park or a coffee shop or somebodys' garden. I feel no need to apologize or explain: Any one who rides a bicycle is a 'cyclist'. Only a special few get to savor the scene..or have the sense to choose to do so.

veganbikes

Go as fast or slow as you want whenever you feel like it. Find a pace that is comfortable to you and maybe take it up one notch every so often so you don't get to rutty.

I personally tend to ride slow most of the time but when I was working and commuting home I would try and best my previous time and just get home as fast as possible. Nothing exciting to see, no reason to go slow just needed to pedal off a day of dealing with customers.

Tony Marley

Ride it your way. There is no need to compete with others.

indyfabz

The world needs ditch diggers, too. Just sayin'.

J.C. Koto

So what you're saying is, the bike is fundamentally a form of shovel?

indyfabz

Uh...Yeah. Exactly.

Maelochs

With the exception of the new muscles, stronger heart, bigger lungs, better circulation, and all that great time on the bike and the better attitude it can bring.

I tsarted gaining back a little weight, and it Really bothers me, but at least I know some of it is my quads ... and I know I am a lot fitter (not hard, considering where I started) so the weight per se should not be not the main issue.

And I still ride slowly enough to be earn my Slug Team membership. Proud to be loving every minute on the bike.

Stratocaster

OUCH!

Phil_gretz

Each should embrace whatever inner *<insert noun here>* he or she wishes. I've never been a slug physically or athletically. I love physical exertion - the more the better. Plus, back in my early teens (early 70s), I discovered that my physique was super compatible with bike riding. Bingo!

So, when I climb on the bike my body says, "yay! here we go!" It's not even something that I need be conscious of, just happens my body's engine and muscles simply rev up and go...

Korina

My ambition is to become a slug. (Feeling guilty for leaving my bike at home on a cold, cold morning.) I love cycling, but I am the laziest human on the planet; I have to fight my inclination to just take the bus and walk a mile to work, and I'm not much of a fighter; especially when it's 36* outside, and dark, and Monday.

From the land of banana slugs, I salute all the bicycle slugs!

no motor?

My inner slug kept me on the couch this morning long enough to need to drive in. But my speeds when riding are so erratic that I figure I'm like an aged Jack Russell terrier now, except I can't stop and pee on every tree along the way.

fietsbob

Winter is Slug season in the Coastal PNW .. I've seen a FB post about seeing a Slug on her 2nd floor window..

ltxi

I'm gonna do serious Slug tomorrow. Using the blizzard warning we're under as an excuse.