kbarch

When I saw the title, it brought to mind a recent post in a thread about cadence where someone gave a little table for his own cadence ranges for speeds in multiples of 5mph through 25, but then only went up to 27 (I think), but not 30. I thought it was a reaction to that.

I've discovered that often I will look down and take note of a speed and, because I've momentarily stopped hammering, think the speed is close to an average over some segment, when actually it's closer to the max that was attained just prior. Sometimes when cruising back down the highway at the end of a ride with a spirited group, I'll keep looking down seeing figures in the mid-20's on the flats, maybe 30 once or twice. I'll figure we averaged mid 20's right? Wrong. 21, maybe. We may keep pushing it up the inclines, but dropping to 18 will kill that average. Funny thing, though; when I was racing, normally I would only look at my speed on the slower moments, so I tended to underestimate my average speed. My fastest Prospect Park loop was 26.2 mph (KOM 31.4 mph), fastest Central Park, 24.6 (KOM 30.6). I would have guessed 2 mph slower, judging from what I saw while in the race And while those are average speeds for those instances of those loops, they are WAY above my average speed for them, generally speaking!

CliffordK

You must have been looking at a different chart than me.
What is your cadence on the flats? Post # 45

38 MPH is pretty impressive!!!

I haven't done any flat out short speed challenges for a while, but I can maintain about 25 MPH for a mile or so. 27 is easy enough to hit for quite short distances (flat, no wind). 30 is tough for me, at least to maintain for more than a few seconds.

I haven't been in a high speed draft line, so it is hard to say how I would fare. Probably not long on the front.

wphamilton

Lance was doing 28 mph on training rides, so one under is a good mark for the fish stories. Now we all know that he was doping of course, so we can't use that.

brianmcg123

Cyclist0108

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club

TimothyH

I'm 54. Cheated it twice.

DrIsotope

Power estimate for me to maintain 27mph on level ground with no wind: 448W. So the amount of time I've sustained 27mph on level ground without the draft of a vehicle... about 90 seconds. Just bein' real here.

kbarch

Same chart, I just mis-remembered. I guess it's impressive in a way, but it's not so much a performance achievement because it's only attainable on descents or with massive tailwinds, and heck, if we're going to go that way, why stop under 40? We can just as reasonably talk about 45-50, too. .

Meanwhile, just to get back to reality (sort of) I just looked at the segments in the ride where the KOM for the Central Park loop was achieved. The guy is pro-level, it was a race, and his top speed on the one very flat, 1/3 mile straight segment was 34.4 mph, average 31.1 mph. That's a long way from 38 mph.

Machka 

August 19, 2004 ... I was wrapping up work and packing my things. Getting ready to move my stuff 2 provinces over and spend 3 months cycling around Australia. About 6 weeks later, I was doing just that. That was my first visit to Australia.

znomit

Only if you get to 55.

Steeljag

KraneXL

Silly Americans when will they learn. Oh...wait??

lyrictenor1

The use of 27 mph figure is similar to people saying that their gear only has 400 miles/ridden lightly when listing it for sale on Craigslist.

TimothyH

I tried to hold 27 today on my 48x16 fixed gear bike + 1 cracked rib from a crash last week.

3 Advil before the ride and I couldn't do it. Spinning that fast was too much.

I'll try again with a 48x15 in a couple of weeks after I heal. Then you will all see.

Costco hot dogs

see what?

TMonk

27 MPH (with that level of precision) is def. the average speed of the Fiesta Island "World Champs" ride in San Diego during DST. I'd bet the farm on that.

How long can I ride at 27 MPH solo on a road bike? Not sure, but somewhere in the 8-10' range.

How repeatable is doing 27-30 MPH digs on the front of a group of similar riders? Very .

indyfabz

I did 32.5 mph for several miles on a 90 lb., fully loaded bike while riding the High Line in Montana on the way to the town of Malta. Flat, straight with a very strong tailwind. The panniers acted like sails. I finally spent too much time in the red and had to dial it back to 28 mph. A guy in our group, who had a bigger top gear, caught and dropped me.

Dan333SP

Did you yell at him?

Bah Humbug

I was still in college, still living in upstate NY, hadn't met my first long-term adult relationship, hadn't started my now 13-year-old career, hadn't met my wife, gotten married, bought a car, bought another car, another car, another car, bought a house, ridden a bicycle, swum a lap...

indyfabz

Actually, I yelled "Get him!" to him. You see, we were chasing down the tour leader, who we didn't like. He left second breakfast about 10 before us. When he did, he said smugly "See you in camp.", which was about 20 miles down the road. A couple of us were determined to catch him before we got there. The guy who passed me came within fewer than maybe 100 yards of doing so but ran out of real estate. The leader said something like "I told you I would beat you here." We reminded him that he started 10 min. before us and finished maybe 10 seconds before us. The great thing was that he paid for his effort in the form of a sore back.

That guy was a total putz. The leader was supposed to ride sweep each day, but the next day we let him leave whenever he wanted because it was a short day. He left before anyone else got up, taking with him most of the block of cheese that was supposed to be for sandwiches. I and another guy later came upon him on the side of the road. He was covered in white sun screen. The block of cheese with teeth marks in it was sitting atop his trailer bag, melting in the sun. He had flatted, put in a new tube but could get the rear wheel back on. Took my buddy 30 seconds to realize it was because the QR of the brake was closed. He had been able to remove the wheel when the tire was flat. Putting it back on with an inflated tire was impossible with the QR closed. He told us he had been trying for 45 min. to get it back on. We had him fired and replaced by Minneapolis.

TheRef

TimothyH

^^ /thread

LoL That's the best thing I've seen on this website in a while.

CliffordK

Some people like to shut down the old threads, but the good ones can take on a life of their own.

The county put up one of those speed signs on the local road, but it seems to be adjusted to not pick up bicycles. Perhaps I'm not going fast enough I'll have to try to get past it at > 30 MPH???

datlas 

August 17, 2004....the famous @datlas Saturn was already 6 years old.

woodcraft

August 17, 2004

Tennis doubles, including 4 sets w/ one 8-6 comeback from 1-5