Originally Posted by
DaninTexas
My question involves my speed. Generally I can hang in there about 9 mph - 11 mph for the whole ride. I usually am very consistent in that range. I will have dips as low as 7 if I am riding in 100+ degree temps.
Is this horrible? WAY to slow? I read all through here about you fellow Clydes bouncing down the road at 15 mph. Right now if I drop it all the way down and stand up giving it my all I can do 16 mph or so and nearly have a heart attack after a couple blocks.
Is it me? Do I need to work up to it? Or is it just being on a mountain bike with big fat knobby tires? All my riding is around the neighborhood on the street.
If it is the tires - do they make tires that can get me going faster?
Thanks all
Big fat knobby tyres will roll more slowly than slick tyres. So that won't help your speed.
When I started riding I was overtaken by just about everything else on any number of wheels. Kids on BMX bikes, middle aged women on bikes with baskets on the front... you get the picture. If I managed to hit 15mph even briefly on the flats I was thrilled. The thought of cycling 10 miles seemed daunting. Put even a modest gradient in my path and I'd slow, and from a speed that wasn't exactly blasting along to begin with. Having been cycling for a while 15mph is the kind of speed I aim to maintain as an average (and there are riders in here that are way faster than that), but you don't get from one to the other overnight.
Over time your average speed will increase, your endurance will increase, your fitness will increase. Along the way your weight and resting heart rate should decrease. Just keep at it... and before you know it you'll be doing things you'd consider impossible now.