Speed averages between trail riding and road riding
Brian Walker wrote:
I've been riding for a couple years now. I started out on trails/tracks
and
finally got bored enough with those that I began venturing out on the
road.
Since that time, I've noticed my averages went up considerably.
[snip]
Has anyone else ever noticed the differences like this when going from
trails and into traffic road riding? Does anyone have opinions to whether
it's better to get into heavy traffic or just isolated traffic?
I live on a very popular multiuse path and there is no mystery about why all
those iPod-wearing, cell-phone-using walkers, joggers, rollerbladers, and
(yes) cyclists make the path slower than the road.
Even when the path is clear, I find it is not as engineered for speed as the
main road. There are stops at every intersection, long stretches are not
well maintained, and visiblity is not as good.
On the other hand I am not a road-warrior type--I hate traffic. So I might
hop on or off the path based on time of day and my own knowledge of likely
conditions in different places.
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