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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

How to raise your average speed

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Old 04-22-05, 05:21 PM
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How to raise your average speed

And not have to buy anything.

Step 1: Drive to your daughter's school with bike in car to take ride before picking her up.

Step 2: Get a flat on mile 27 of 37 mile ride with less than 1/2 hr to get back to school to pick up daughter from step 1

Step 3: Discover you have the wrong tube (needed more valve stem for new deeper section rims)

Step 4: Reveive tube from helpful fellow biker with almost the exact same wheel set

Step 5: Hammer to the school (which is on top of a hill)

Step 6: Make it before the bell rings!
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Old 04-22-05, 05:26 PM
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hah.

you should ride with your daughter to school in the morning, and meet her when she gets out again and ride home together. good way to get kids into cycling.
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Old 04-22-05, 05:27 PM
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Ok so I guess I need to:

Step 1: Get married.

Step 2: Get a daughter.

Step 3: Wait 5 years til she starts school.

Step 4: Find a school on a hill.

Step 5: Become independently wealthy so that I can take the time out of my day for a 37 mile ride just prior to picking up said daughter from school.

Don't guess I have to buy anything but it sure seems like a lot of work just to raise my average speed.

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Old 04-22-05, 08:34 PM
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On a ride yesterday and was about 1 hour from home. Get a call from my 11 year old son telling me he is sick and I need to pick him up. Pushed it all the way back home - I definitely kicked it up a notch or two...
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Old 04-22-05, 08:38 PM
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Originally Posted by jakemoffatt
Ok so I guess I need to:

Step 1: Get married.

Step 2: Get a daughter.

Step 3: Wait 5 years til she starts school.

Step 4: Find a school on a hill.

Step 5: Become independently wealthy so that I can take the time out of my day for a 37 mile ride just prior to picking up said daughter from school.

Don't guess I have to buy anything but it sure seems like a lot of work just to raise my average speed.

rmfao
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Old 04-22-05, 10:42 PM
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Originally Posted by jakemoffatt
Ok so I guess I need to:

Step 1: Get married.

Step 2: Get a daughter.

Step 3: Wait 5 years til she starts school.

Step 4: Find a school on a hill.

Step 5: Become independently wealthy so that I can take the time out of my day for a 37 mile ride just prior to picking up said daughter from school.

Don't guess I have to buy anything but it sure seems like a lot of work just to raise my average speed.

Ehh. From experience, steps 1, 2, and 3 will lower your average speed. Especially #1. And you do have to buy stuff for that.
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Old 04-22-05, 10:46 PM
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I had a similar situation yesterday. I was 20 miles from home and it was about 45 minutes from getting dark. I didn't make it before dark, but I had a fun time trying.
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Old 04-23-05, 01:05 AM
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Originally Posted by gknep
And not have to buy anything.

Step 1: Drive to your daughter's school with bike in car to take ride before picking her up.

Step 2: Get a flat on mile 27 of 37 mile ride with less than 1/2 hr to get back to school to pick up daughter from step 1

Step 3: Discover you have the wrong tube (needed more valve stem for new deeper section rims)

Step 4: Reveive tube from helpful fellow biker with almost the exact same wheel set

Step 5: Hammer to the school (which is on top of a hill)

Step 6: Make it before the bell rings!

The most important step of all - set the computer to a larger wheel diameter. Your mileage and average speed goes up dramatically.

sun
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Old 04-23-05, 02:36 AM
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Originally Posted by ShredSkelton
On a ride yesterday and was about 1 hour from home. Get a call from my 11 year old son telling me he is sick and I need to pick him up. Pushed it all the way back home - I definitely kicked it up a notch or two...

if you where 1 hour from home and went faster then to an observer at a constant speed by definition you would be 1 hour from home, and not be home for 1 hour what ever the speed. I dont think your slight increase in speed would create a noticable slow down of your personal time, although then again if it did in your hour other people would of had more then 1 hour pass so that would have the opposite effect of what you want! The moral of this story? state your distance, not just your time!
 
Old 04-23-05, 04:47 AM
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Dont have to be independent wealthy to have time - check local prof. sales jobs ; several friends make more cash than me and are much more tied to the job. Can always make more cash, can't make more time so I chose time! Does this have anything to do w/AVG speed ? Yes, if you have some time then you can work your plan to improve, I guess. Now going to ride in low 50's in TX (major cold front, worried friends won't show) but to increase my AVG have to get home to care for my boy and twin girls, yes this setup makes you ride faster !!
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Old 04-23-05, 05:45 AM
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You guys want to increase your avg spd. Ok, Picture this;

You take on a solo ride, it is almost dark and you've been relaxing under the same tree for hours. Only for a local to pass by and utter something close to, "are you aware that this area is frequented by wild animals?"
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Old 04-23-05, 06:25 AM
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Sure fire way to increase your average speed is to only ride DOWN hills...the bigger the better. It is that darn climbing that kills the speed.
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Old 04-23-05, 09:35 AM
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My observation : Beer at local favorite spot after the ride can really speed up AVG !!
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Old 04-24-05, 01:45 AM
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Dogs always help me raise my average speed...woof woof or the guy who is pissed off cause i just doused his dog with a water bottle full of gatorade...haha
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Old 04-24-05, 02:09 AM
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Nothing motivates a higher average speed better than getting off the front in a race. Problem for me is the motivation seldom = the HAS necessary to stay away
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Old 04-24-05, 06:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Whoodie
You guys want to increase your avg spd. Ok, Picture this;

You take on a solo ride, it is almost dark and you've been relaxing under the same tree for hours. Only for a local to pass by and utter something close to, "are you aware that this area is frequented by wild animals?"

on that note....try a local dog that likes leg.
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