The things we think about while riding. My mind goes everywhere. Last night on my way home (in 102 deg temps and 76%Rh) I was coasting down a shallow grade, still sweating. I started thinking about how nice it is to coast!

In the commuting forum I know we have Roadies who commute, MTBers who commute, Urban Assault riders who commute, BMX bikers who commute, and probably some other catagories I can't think of!

For me, I'm a long time (over 30 years now) long distance tourer. Hundreds of miles and several week trips are awesome. For years I paid close attention to my cadence. Touring, commuting, cruising, it didn't matter. Cadence was everything. Back then, NO COASTING.

Now that I'm a little older, I enjoy coasting. Slowing down to smell the flowers (sometimes literally)

So how about you? Do you coast?

Jerry H

When I'm not riding my fixed gear.

+1

I never coast while commuting since I commute on my FG.

I coast. My commute has a long stretch with an ocean view, and sometimes it's just too pretty to go speeding by it.

I coast. But we just bought a place in Fl. and it is flat as a board. You don't coast much here.

I live right in the middle of miles and miles of steep winding canyon asphalt so there are always ample opportunities to coast. There's no point in pedaling once you get up to 20mph sitting upright on a 32 pound mountainbike with 2 inch wide tires!


Greg

This season I did a little coasting on my 100 mile ride because I was concerned about lactic acid buildup. I think the next time I ride 100 miles I won't back off on the gas so much. The past few weeks commuting in the rain I've coasted to keep my speed down. I can't wait to kick it again. I miss flying.

sometimes, although I try not to.

Of course I do. When I crest the top of a long hill, I'll coast a bit to just relax. When I'm feeling good and in no hurry and just want to enjoy the ride, I coast. The ride isn't always about speed. Those of you who think it is are missing one of the biggest benefits of commuting by bike. Look up, look around, and enjoy the ride.

My commute is in the middle of a city, and I'm the same way - if I've got to get a wiggle on and get to work I ride at a steady cadence, but when I have time I like to go exploring. When I'm in a new neighborhood, I'll often coast as I look around and see what's there to be seen. Also, traffic sometimes dictates that you coast...or that you don't coast.

I do when I'm coming to a stop and need to unclip. My Satellite has 27 speeds ( do I know at any given time which gear I'm in? hah!) and that allows me to still pedal efficiently on the downhills.

coasting is my fav part, but as the earlier poster said florida doesn't give you many opportunity to coast.

Often, but especially when I'm looking ahead and timing red lights. Coast, Coast, Coast, HAMMER!

I coast to give my legs a break. By day 3 of 23 miles each way, they need a little rest.

Sure I do. When a traffic light goes red and I have to stop anyway, I coast a bit. Otherwise, not so much.

I easily hit 30+ Mph on several downhill sections of my morning ride into the city, and I tend to cost and tuck these sections. My Nexus-8 is more or less maxed out at that point, and I see it as an opportunity to just enjoy gravity doing its work.
Other than that, I discretionarily coast in the city - approaching lights, assessing stuff affecting the bike lane up ahead, etc.

I rarely ever coast. About the only time I ever coast is when I ride my single speed because there's no point pedaling when you are totally spun out. I'm an old schooler as well, and I think it's bad form to coast, particularly on group rides. Nothing irks me more than someone supposedly taking a pull in a paceline and coasting down the hills. You're supposed to work when you're at the front.

Only at down hill sections where I've already maxed out my yumpy MTB on 2" of knobbies. No point wasting energy.

Yeah I coast into red light - on my FG

I coast when i can

I coast on downhills where pedaling would put me above safe speed.

GREETINGS Jharte/ when im spinning 100 revs min. ill try to prepare for comming grade but its nearly impossible on the hills in Maine to keep from coasting./Kenneth

Old schooler here too, and I generally agree with your take (although it is probably more applicable to the racing forum than the commuting forum). One noteworthy exception to the "coasting is bad form" comment is that it is quite common for racers to put the pedals horizontal, and tuck on big descents - largely due to the sipin-out factor, but also to conserve energy for the next portion of the race.

Coasting is one of the simple pleasures of cycling, even 40+ years after I first took off the training wheels.

As far as group rides, if you wussies could keep a consistent pace, I wouldn't have to coast when sucking your wheel.

Coasting to me is a nice reward after a long climb or hammering hard to pick up some extra speed. Bad form or not, coasting makes my ride more enjoyable and that's the major reason I commute to work on a bike.