You were supposed to "do the ****ing math." I'm going to have to take points off because you didn't show your work. If you want full credit, try again and estimate the time spent at stop signs and traffic lights if the OP's average speed is ~20 mph when moving. Don't forget to assume an average speed around 10 mph while ascending that 400 foot climb and 30 mph while descending the other side.

I almost reached the speed limit as I went downhill through a school zone today, and I have 2.3inch wide studded tires, which are similar digits to your 23 mm ones.

Yet, I don't have a cat so I'm out.

Let me guess the answer to your math problem--400 watts???

Here:




thread derailment *initialized*

ok, now that i have a cat, all i need is a cloak of invicibility and then i'll retake the test and see if I pass.

Hard to be competitive when you rarely ever see another cyclist.

I do try to pack as light as possible and enjoy going fast - particularly on the way home when I'm not worried about getting too sweaty.

Welcome to my world, it;s ok, they know me there.

Anybody figure out who the sockpuppet is?

Why is a conventional double with cogs ending in pie-plate sized mountain bike sprockets like a 28T OK but compact doubles and triples with bigger low gears like 34x23 or 30x21 are out?

Did you give them The Look (tm) too? DuraAce, is that you?!

Wait, no, you spell "hammer" with two m's. Nevermind...

--J

OK, let me try again....

(5 miles / 20 minutes) x 60 min/hr = 15 mph.

Damn! Still not epic. I must be missing something. Back to the drawing board. Somewhere in there has to be a TdeF winning Joules/kg number, or at least something that would put the fear of Glod in that Xtracycle guy.

If the numbers don't sort out, I also have been working on ways to talk with hands about bike commuting. You know, like fighter pilots do. I thought I had it, but it turns out the lady that approached me was a special ed teacher who just wanted to check that I was OK. Will let you know when I nail it.

I think I ride pretty hard on my commute. I don't carry much stuff like tools, tubes or patches. I know it's gonna get me one day but until then I'll risk it till then. Since I do a lot of physical work at my job I don't care much if I get all sweaty on the way to work.

I'm surprised it took 11 posts for this gem to come up.

By the way, I only run my 23 mm tires/tubes at 100 psi. I guess my Cervelo and I are disqualified. You lucked out, OP.

Remind me to email my district rep to reissue my license to say:

Road: 3
CX: 4
Track: 5
Commute: 6

Please post your training schedule and special food suppliments, I now have a goal.

After doing about 20 miles yesterday running various errands and pub stops I was three miles out from home on the nishiki. I got overtaken at the top of a hill by a mountain bike on the sidewalk, I was in the bike lane. After the pass he came back out onto the bike lane. I geared up for the down hill but didn't close the gap until the light which turned green right as I was getting there. Thought I might test myself a little and see if I could keep up on the next uphill. I have no skill going up hill so I didn't want to challenge but to pace off of him. When the light turned he just shot out, no way could I have caught him. Then he went onto the bike path and I was going up the next hill so I just waved as he went under the road on the trail below me. Normally I am on my slow 5 speed and never think about a cat 6 challenge, and wont again for some time after getting dropped like a turd from a tall horse.

Just thought someone should post about being on the losing end of a cat 6. FCN 11,

cat 6 rules should be more generic. Ride what you have, be it a roadie in full kit with a backpack, a cross/touring bike with rack and panniers yellow jacket and blinkies, or a mountain rigid on knobbies or full fred upright bars.

The key would be to hammer relentlessly, attack off the wheel unexpectedly (usually masking any hard breathing by giving a lazy "mornin"), and chasing down anyone seen ahead.

Geriatrics on three speeds, prepubescents on bmx, clydesdales on walmart specials, safety-nannies in full day-glo and bearded recumbents are all equally valid "kills" for the day's tally.

Cat6 = Attack! Close the gap, never show pain, attack again, cheat the wind, dont merely pass them, drop them, slow for nobody, look 'em in the eye and ride off the front! . . . but. . . if you get dropped or passed, remember, its just a commute and not a race.

All that bravado, and the OP thinks a 400 foot climb in 0.6 miles is tough.

Even the clyde commuters on mountain bikes are laughing at you.

I am quite happily a Fred/Yellow Jacket commuter. The OPs rules, as stated by early responders, are nonsensical for REAL commuters.

I push 285 lb of me, 25-30 lb of bike, and 15-25 lb of cargo happily through the air at a moving average of 12-12.5 mph (or a moving average of about 10 mph). Do I care if I get dropped like I'm sitting still? Not at all.

The OP can have all the "points" against me he wants. I gain my points by getting there under my own steam, by the number of days in a row I commute without flats or blowouts, by the weather I ride through, by the number of days I commute at all, by my knees hurting LESS, and by the waistline I shed.

OP, enjoy your knee surgery and walker when you're older.

Yeah what a dumb-ass. Trying to be visible to other motorists so he isn't killed, what a moron. Come on people just be glad they are on a bicycle.

I'm not sure why a first time poster is dropping an entire list of commuting "rules" along with a silly manifesto.

Oh, wait. Portland.

Yup, I see why now.

I resent that!

Yeah but look at his proposed rules...

This guy wouldn't last 10 minutes in the Tweed Ride. I'm not convinced he's really even from Portland.

Hmm...there is a potentially incongruent narrative there.

On the one hand, the smug quotient is just right. On the other hand, the rules that go along with it could be slightly off.

So!