Oh - the other cheap hack to make a bike faster and get more range: if you're using conventional platform pedals the replace them with BMX pedals with "pins" that stick out to grip your shoe. These let you pedal about as efficiently as the racing pedals that lock to special shoes, but they're very cheap. A $20 pair off ebay will be fine. A lot of the power in your pedal stroke lies between 8 and 4 o'clock - ie the part of the cycle at the bottom of the stroke when the pedal is moving horizontally. Locking aka clipless pedals and BMX pedals let you capture this.