Well then, all you have proven is that if you ride harder your bike will go faster.
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Gee, wish I woulda thought of that...

Eddie Merckx said... "ride lots".

For a guy who was lazy he did pretty good for himself.

To chime in with some other folks....

1) One sample ride is insufficient.
2) It looks like you're averaging 13.7mph. At those speeds, drag has some effect -- enough to make you work a little harder, but unless you are commuting at the max of your abilities it's not enough to slow you down. Or to put it another way, if the fairing doesn't change your commuting times, why would lowering the bars?
3) Adding gears will only make you faster if you find that you're constantly spinning out with the SS/FG.
4) Derailleurs are slightly less efficient than SS/FG. Usually it's worth it, since you can climb easier and don't spin out.
5) Why does it matter? If it's a flat course, stick to the SS/FG for lower maintenance. If you deal with hills, use gears and save your knees. Besides, for commuting I'd readily sacrifice performance for robustness, most notably favoring flat-resistant tires over fast ones.

Yesterday I did my 40 km round trip commute then went for kickboxing class. This morning my legs were tired from the previous day's effort. Since it was a sunny day however, I rode to work anyways. Otherwise, how can I fight the zombies in the apocalypse like Will Smith in I am Legend?

The night before I had raised my handlebars to ease the pressure on my neck. So back to raised flat bars with bar ends ( 2 inches higher than the seat), no fairing with 8 derailleur gears. I wondered whether this would affect my commuting time since I would be sitting more upright than before. The weather was sunny & warm this morning as I headed out.

Chased a rabbit going uphill on Cambie from Marine to 41st. Then caught another guy on a mountain bike whom I passed. Flew down the hill from King Edward keeping up with car traffic with gear 7 & 8 heading towards the Cambie Bridge going into downtown. A regular time for me is between 51:30 to 52:00. Today was 48:25. The higher handlebars did not affect my time as much as working harder to chase rabbits.

SesameCrunch is right. Working harder and pushing more power is the key. I am surprised however that changes such as fairing, handle bar type, handle bar height don't seem to make that much of a difference in commuting.

Bacciagalupe, avg speed is not the issue here as the terrain varies. On the flats, I am doing more like 18-20 mph. On the downhills with gears, between 22-25 mph.

Always wanted to like oatmeal, I love the idea of oats in the morning but just like coffee I cant stand the taste :-/

Well, when I notice differences in my time I take a close look at the data from my Garmin 705 which tracks the cadence, speed, and heart rate over the whole course, then I try to find out where there were speed differences at different parts of the ride and see what the heart rate and the cadence were up to as well. This gives you a much more comprehensive picture of what is going on.

The point is that to ride harder is a game of wits against yourself. Therefore, to a large extent "which bike is faster?" it's not question of their physical properties, but one of their psychological influence on the rider.

IMO even more than physical conditioning this is what separates riders in training from the rest because riders in training are practicing control over their own psychology.

Or as multiple RAAM record holder Jur Robic said, "I hallucinate I'm being chased by a pack of wolves".

Eddy Merckx is a *****.

Yes, I pretty much have to imagine I'm cycling for my life or getting away from danger to induce maximal efforts.

Add a spoon of honey. I've had porridge every morning for about 6 years now. When I forget the honey, it becomes bland cardboard. Add it before cooking then you don't get the intense honey flavour. I place 120g oats with about 2 parts milk with a squeeze of honey, microwave 5 minutes, stir, leave to cool, then eat. You're getting a lot of carbs and the protein in the oats along with the milk is about 20g which is good for a breakfast.
Many many cyclists don't realize the release rate of energy of food, and cyclists become tired basically because they've stuffed themselves with protein and fat (aka Full English Breakfast) which release energy much slower.
My local benchmark is a small hill called Kings Mountain, there is a much stronger correlation between what I ate than my fitness or the bike specifications.

pp - If you got yourself out on the open road and did not have to deal with traffic and lights you'd discover that without having to slow / stop / accelerate constantly your performance would be much better.

If I can spend a week commuting and have a 20kmh average on the odometer I figure that is good and when I am commuting 100km a day or doing longer rides of as much as 165 kmh my average speed over those distances picks up to 25-27kmh.

This is a comparison based on using the same bike with similar setups... my P20 folder.

If I did the same thing with my road bike my commuting speed would not change much but on the open road the Cooper idles at 30kmh as it is a much faster (efficient) bike and has taller gearing I can exploit when conditions allow.

This bike could make me lazy as riding it is so effortless and it does not take much to make it fly... I often ride it after I have done longer tours as it is a great recovery bike where, even at a restful pace, it will still fly.

On oatmeal...

I mix in dried fruit, raisins, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, a little local hiney, and a few drops of milk to smooth it out.

My oatmeal hating kids love my oatmeal and my power bars are of a very similar composition with some added peanut butter.

I'm off to play golf now. Here is a mediation for today:

https://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2007/0...-per-hour.html

I have unprocessed oatmeal, (rolled oats), every morning, it's my proton energy pill.
If you don't like the taste try my version: rolled oats, grated apple and pure cold pressed honey...... Food of the gods!!

I prefer semolina to oatmeal, although I'm not sure how it compares nutritionally.

But yeah, a little bit of honey or butter does wonders for a hot mushy breakfast.

My wife's a honey