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I've Picked Up A Couple MPH!

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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

I've Picked Up A Couple MPH!

Old 08-02-21, 12:47 PM
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I've Picked Up A Couple MPH!

I'm not great about going out on longer rides on weekend mornings: that's for a casual, leisurely breakfast. It takes me a while to get warmed up during the day but I look forward to a good ride at some point in the afternoon or late evenings.

I changed that up recently and went out for some road riding in the mornings. My average MPH shot up a couple mph. I was amazed at the pickup in speed but realized after the ride was over that it was due to the very low wind speed in the mornings, well under 5 MPH.

Afternoon wind speeds are typically 10-15 mph which is certainly tolerable but definitely less than ideal for achieving higher speeds. No wonder roadies love to ride in the mornings!
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Old 08-02-21, 01:12 PM
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Originally Posted by partytimeroadie
No wonder roadies love to ride in the mornings!
FWIW, I like riding in the mornings because of time constraints and weather considerations (in the summer, at least).
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Old 08-02-21, 01:45 PM
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As WhyFi knows, we've had more very hot days than usual in the Twin Cities. I've been setting my alarm for 5:15 AM, and am on the road by 6. A 2 1/2 hour ride gets me home, showered, and ready to work by 9. A great way to start the day.

I have friends that are on the road much earlier- the most ardent morning rider is usually on the road by 4:40 AM

I used to do mainly group rides around dinner time. Now I only do that about once a week, or not at all. Group rides weekend mornings, solo mornings during the week.

This will all change when we lose the early morning dayllight.
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Old 08-02-21, 01:55 PM
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Originally Posted by MinnMan
This will all change when we lose the early morning dayllight.
And I will weep... again.
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Old 08-02-21, 02:13 PM
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I'm not entirely convinced 4 am really happens.
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Old 08-02-21, 02:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Seattle Forrest
I'm not entirely convinced 4 am really happens.
Aw, come on. You must have seen it from the other side.......when you were young.

I well remember as a youngster, moving from the east coast the west, and being offended by the 2 AM closing time of bars in California. In NY they stayed open til 4, and after that, there were after-hours clubs.
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Old 08-02-21, 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by MinnMan
Aw, come on. You must have seen it from the other side.......when you were young.

I well remember as a youngster, moving from the east coast the west, and being offended by the 2 AM closing time of bars in California. In NY they stayed open til 4, and after that, there were after-hours clubs.
I was a bartender when I moved from MN to NYC. ****, man, the closing time was tough to adjust to. It wasn't unusual for me to get home as my wife was getting ready to head out to the office.
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Old 08-02-21, 03:37 PM
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Originally Posted by partytimeroadie
Afternoon wind speeds are typically 10-15 mph which is certainly tolerable but definitely less than ideal for achieving higher speeds. No wonder roadies love to ride in the mornings!
It all depends...

One of my toughest half century rides was a morning ride to the Albany Swap Meet.
The fastest half century ride was the afternoon ride coming back from the Swap Meet, with quite a few miles averaging around 20 MPH or greater.
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Old 08-02-21, 03:43 PM
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I see you're in Eugene. I've read Portland has turned into an absolute hellhole with homeless encampments and antifa rioters everywhere.

Last edited by partytimeroadie; 08-02-21 at 04:22 PM.
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Old 08-02-21, 04:30 PM
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Originally Posted by partytimeroadie
I see you're in Eugene. I've read Portland has turned into an absolute hellhole with homeless encampments and antifa rioters everywhere.
You're new here. Political talk belongs in P&R. Keep it out of the other forums.
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Old 08-02-21, 05:19 PM
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I like to get going at the crack of lunchtime.
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Old 08-02-21, 05:29 PM
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Originally Posted by partytimeroadie
I see you're in Eugene. I've read Portland has turned into an absolute hellhole with homeless encampments and antifa rioters everywhere.

Last edited by shelbyfv; 08-02-21 at 05:39 PM.
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Old 08-02-21, 05:39 PM
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Originally Posted by MinnMan
Aw, come on. You must have seen it from the other side.......when you were young.

I well remember as a youngster, moving from the east coast the west, and being offended by the 2 AM closing time of bars in California. In NY they stayed open til 4, and after that, there were after-hours clubs.
But the bars in California were open for a whole hour after the New York bars closed!!!
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Old 08-02-21, 07:14 PM
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"A couple of MPH gain" is not a "sht up" in my book!

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Old 08-02-21, 07:40 PM
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Originally Posted by MinnMan
I well remember as a youngster, moving from the east coast the west, and being offended by the 2 AM closing time of bars in California. In NY they stayed open til 4, and after that, there were after-hours clubs.
MinnMan You would have loved Hong Kong then. Up all night drinking and partying and then straight to morning dim sum. Not conducive to biking though.
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Old 08-02-21, 07:43 PM
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Originally Posted by SoSmellyAir
MinnMan You would have loved Hong Kong then. Up all night drinking and partying and then straight to morning dim sum. Not conducive to biking though.
The younger me would have loved it. And I was a night owl long after my bar-closing days were finished. Even into my late 40s or early 50s, I was commonly awake until 2 or 3 AM.

Now I go to bed early so I can get up at dawn and ride.

I'm glad to have lived both lives.
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Old 08-02-21, 07:48 PM
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Originally Posted by MinnMan
The younger me would have loved it. And I was a night owl long after my bar-closing days were finished. Even into my late 40s or early 50s, I was commonly awake until 2 or 3 AM.

Now I go to bed early so I can get up at dawn and ride.

I'm glad to have lived both lives.
I am still at the transition point: too old to be carousing all night, but too young to wake up at the crack of dawn. Plus I generally prefer to start my ride in the late afternoon so that the temperature is dropping during my ride. For my most recent ride during this current heat wave I tried to wake up at the crack of dawn, failed, and started mid-morning when all the other roadies were just about finishing up. It was tough to do the return leg during rising temperatures.
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Old 08-02-21, 07:57 PM
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BTW, it's not normal to gain a couple of miles per hour just because the wind is low. Assuming you ride equal distances with a head wind and a tail wind (i.e., no change in wind direction or speed during your ride), the speed should be faster under low wind conditions (this is related to that same old math problem - you'll arrive sooner if you do both halves of a ride at 15 mph than if you do half the distance at 10 and the other half at 20, though not exactly so because the effects of air speed on effort/speed are non-linear)

But even so, general experience says that average speed under low win conditions (3-5 mph) is not several MPH greater than during moderate (10-15 mph) winds. Maybe 1 MPH, I'd guess.
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Old 08-02-21, 11:57 PM
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Originally Posted by MinnMan
BTW, it's not normal to gain a couple of miles per hour just because the wind is low. Assuming you ride equal distances with a head wind and a tail wind (i.e., no change in wind direction or speed during your ride), the speed should be faster under low wind conditions (this is related to that same old math problem - you'll arrive sooner if you do both halves of a ride at 15 mph than if you do half the distance at 10 and the other half at 20, though not exactly so because the effects of air speed on effort/speed are non-linear)

But even so, general experience says that average speed under low win conditions (3-5 mph) is not several MPH greater than during moderate (10-15 mph) winds. Maybe 1 MPH, I'd guess.
So many bizarre assumptions in your post such as:

-the wind blows in one direction only

-the course is completely straight and exactly parallel to the direction of the wind

-the wind blows at one speed continuously

You fail to factor in swirling winds, variable speed and direction and gusts, the latter of which is far more likely mid day to early evenings.
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Old 08-03-21, 05:22 AM
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Originally Posted by partytimeroadie
So many bizarre assumptions in your post such as:

-the wind blows in one direction only

-the course is completely straight and exactly parallel to the direction of the wind

-the wind blows at one speed continuously

You fail to factor in swirling winds, variable speed and direction and gusts, the latter of which is far more likely mid day to early evenings.
Whatever, dude.
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Old 08-03-21, 06:03 AM
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So, if I am reading the OP correctly, he/she has discovered that a tailwind helps in riding faster.

Have I got that right?
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Old 08-03-21, 07:32 AM
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Originally Posted by Koyote
So, if I am reading the OP correctly, he/she has discovered that a tailwind helps in riding faster.

Have I got that right?
I don't think so, subsequent posts mentioned "swirling" winds.
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Old 08-03-21, 12:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Badger6
I don't think so, subsequent posts mentioned "swirling" winds.
Leading to vortex induced speed differences? I need to add some vortex generators to the sides of my shin tape then.
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Old 08-03-21, 02:08 PM
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I tend to appreciate wind because a headwind turns a boring flat stretch into a workout. 😊 Definitely more of a hindrance than a help as this graph shows:




This shows the power requirement for riding with a wind equal to the speed you would ride in still air. So if you would ride 15 mph at power level of 1.0, this shows the power requirement to pedal 15 mph with a 15 mph wind at all angles. Notice that it take a fair bit more than 1.0 to go 15 mph with a straight side wind. Wind needs to be about 15 degrees behind just to be neutral.

If you weight all 18 of his values of angle around a full circle and average, you get about 1.33, meaning you need an extra third more power (on the average) to keep up your still air speed with a wind of that speed.

From Jobst Brandt’s article:

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/wind.html

Otto

Last edited by ofajen; 08-03-21 at 02:15 PM.
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Old 08-03-21, 02:35 PM
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Originally Posted by ofajen
I tend to appreciate wind because a headwind turns a boring flat stretch into a workout.

Otto
Wait -- are you saying that a headwind is good?

Criminy. I'm gonna have to start taking notes.
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