Originally Posted by
San Pedro
How fast do you cruise at? I have a quite a bit more lights on my ride, and to get that average I need to cruise over 25mph, sometimes hitting 30mph on the flat roads (need a good tailwind or a truck to do that though). Jealous of your traffic lights per mile, that would not be possible in Japan.
My speed varies as I try to ride for a constant effort and cadence rather than a specific speed. I do get over 30mph at times and down to 15 as well.
I have my GPS watch set to auto pause when my speed gets down below 4mph which only happens if I get stopped at a traffic light so this helps when that happens but I still loose a few tenths of a mph as a result of slowing down to a stop and coming back to speed. You'd think you would gain some back getting a bit of a rest but I think that when you get stopped, you also get out of your rhythm a bit so you don't really benefit from it.
I can also tell a big difference when a truck is going by in the same direction. Even being off on the shoulder, that helps a lot. I wish I could have one escort me all the way to work/home - I could probably avg about 25mph with that kind of a pull.
With the days getting shorter, now I also seem to be racing the sun trying to get home before it starts getting dark. I have front/rear lights but would need a couple more for safe night time riding.