Advice to get my average up??

In article ,
Hell and High Water writes:

I've tried spinning at a faster cadence, but not much change.

Assuming that's in the same gears as usual, it's /gotta/ be faster.
Try harder! sound of cracking whip :-)


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Being cold always increases my speed. If I'm cold enough I go faster to
get warm.

jj wrote:
:: On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 13:45:11 -0500, Hell and High Water
:: wrote:
::
:::
::: I AM! Every time I ride, it's fantastic! I've truly fallen in love
::: with the bike!
:::
:::
::: Thanks for the excellent advice! I will continue to cherish my
::: rides, and try to watch the 'avg speed' indicator a bit less.
:::
::: -Bob
::
:: I think there are some 'tricks' that you can use. Most of these
:: won't work for very experienced riders, but they've worked for me.
::
[...]
::
:: 2. motorpacing. Same kind of thing. Find somewhere that you can have
:: a trusted and skilled partner drive in front of you so that you are
:: riding pretty hard to catch up to him, and using the lack of wind
:: resistance, really get your speed up. This takes some practice and
:: skill on both parts, but it can work - just be very careful and
:: don't be tempted to ride too close - 10-12 feet back is plenty. When
:: you get your speed up, at a pre-designated location, you pull out
:: from around him and try to keep up that new speed as long as you
:: can. He should of course drop off and let you by - be very careful
:: doing this!

Too dangerous for a nonracer, IMO.

::
:: 3. parkinglot Crits. I've found that I -really- give myself a
:: workout by finding a large empty parking lot that has some hills and
:: a lot of tight turns. Go out and ride a dozen or so laps pretending
:: like you're in a real criterion. Jump on the turns, stand to pedal,
:: pick a "finish line" and go for the sprint win on each lap. This
:: teaches you like no other method how to get tight fast turns, how to
:: keep your speed up right after slowing for the turn, how to find a
:: good 'line', how to jump and pedal and so on. Since the layout of
:: the course dictates your tactics, you'll really give yourself a good
:: workout. I get more 'toasted' doing one of these than a hard fast
:: ride. The point is it's hard to 'tell yourself' ride harder. But a
:: parking lot crit, I find, -makes- you ride hard because of the
:: lay-out. These can be so tough I only do them once a week.
::

Too dangerous for a nonracer, IMO.

[...]

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In article ,
Hell and High Water wrote:
I ride 10-15 miles four or five days a week, then a longer (~30 miles)
ride on the weekends.


Any suggestions to get my average speed up?


_ Draft somebody, riding with people just a little bit faster
than you is a really good way to get faster. In particular it's
good for breaking out of a rut, in that you have to go fast
when they go fast, not necessarily when you go fast. A lot
of getting from 15 or 16 mph to 20 mph is keeping the speed
constant over short hills and through corners.

_ Booker C. Bense


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Neil Brooks wrote:
Hell and High Water wrote:


In article .com,
says...



If you're not into racing (I think only about 1% of cyclists race), why
worry about it? Do you want cycling to be something enjoyable, or some
form of torture where you subject yourself to interval sessions and
such?

mmmm...torture.....


;-)


Good attitude. You'll be fine :-)

In addition to the intervals--a recommendation with which I
agree--build up your base mileage. Just ride more. Makes you
stronger.

Agreed. Ride 15 - 20 miles four/five days a week, then ~40 on the
weekends. Although, this might be a problem if you really don't have
time to do that, but that's inherent motivation to go faster!

\\paul
--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

"Hell and High Water" wrote in message
.net...

My average speed is between 15 and 16 MPH. Seems to be there no matter
what I do.

Put an extra magnet on your wheel, average reading will go way up. That
was some advice that was given to me at one time, before I quit worrying
about speed.

On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 16:25:18 -0400, "Roger Zoul"
wrote:

jj wrote:
:: On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 13:45:11 -0500, Hell and High Water
:: wrote:
::
:::
::: I AM! Every time I ride, it's fantastic! I've truly fallen in love
::: with the bike!
:::
:::
::: Thanks for the excellent advice! I will continue to cherish my
::: rides, and try to watch the 'avg speed' indicator a bit less.
:::
::: -Bob
::
:: I think there are some 'tricks' that you can use. Most of these
:: won't work for very experienced riders, but they've worked for me.
::
[...]
::
:: 2. motorpacing. Same kind of thing. Find somewhere that you can have

Too dangerous for a nonracer, IMO.

Perhaps. Tell me you've never done an opportunistic draft on a big truck,
though. If you do it with a small motor bike it's pretty safe. But, dude,
if -I- can do it, and I'm a big old klutz, then surely younger more agile
guys can do it. Just gotta keep well back from the car. Ten to fifteen feet
you still get the draft using a van or a taller car.

::
:: 3. parkinglot Crits. I've found that I -really- give myself a
:: workout by finding a large empty parking lot that has some hills and
:: a lot of tight turns. Go out and ride a dozen or so laps pretending
:: like you're in a real criterion. Jump on the turns, stand to pedal,
:: pick a "finish line" and go for the sprint win on each lap. This
:: teaches you like no other method how to get tight fast turns, how to
:: keep your speed up right after slowing for the turn, how to find a
:: good 'line', how to jump and pedal and so on. Since the layout of
:: the course dictates your tactics, you'll really give yourself a good
:: workout. I get more 'toasted' doing one of these than a hard fast
:: ride. The point is it's hard to 'tell yourself' ride harder. But a
:: parking lot crit, I find, -makes- you ride hard because of the
:: lay-out. These can be so tough I only do them once a week.
::

Too dangerous for a nonracer, IMO.

What the....? Are you serious? As long as there are no cars trying to pull
out (I do mine on Sunday) and the surface is good (no loose stuff) and dry,
it's very safe. In fact my top speed is usually only about 13-14mph because
of the need to slow to corner and then get back up to speed on the bits
that go uphill. Where else are you going to learn to corner at speed than
in a freakin' parking lot?

Bet if you tried it you'd like it. Don't have to go fast at all; just have
to ride smart.

But whatever. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it, hom. ;-)

jj

jj wrote:
In fact my top speed is usually only about 13-14mph because
of the need to slow to corner and then get back up to speed on the bits
that go uphill. Where else are you going to learn to corner at speed than
in a freakin' parking lot?

JJ, I have no problem with you riding around parking lots, but if your
top speed is 14 mph I question if you are learning to "corner at speed"

Hell and High Water wrote:
I ride 10-15 miles four or five days a week, then a longer (~30 miles)
ride on the weekends.

I've been doing this now for a couple months.

Any suggestions to get my average speed up?

1) Lose weight (apologies if you're anorexic).
2) Find a group of faster riders to attempt to ride with, attempt riding
with them regularly, keep at it until you can.

On 10 Oct 2005 14:24:47 -0700, "gds" wrote:


jj wrote:
In fact my top speed is usually only about 13-14mph because
of the need to slow to corner and then get back up to speed on the bits
that go uphill. Where else are you going to learn to corner at speed than
in a freakin' parking lot?

JJ, I have no problem with you riding around parking lots, but if your
top speed is 14 mph I question if you are learning to "corner at speed"

Er, should have said average speed; my bad. ;-)

Obviously I'm going into the corners fairly fast, but you just can't get up
to a very fast speed when you're zig-zagging around the parking islands;
the more islands the better for this purpose. It's definitely several mph
slower than my top or average speed on the open roads.

There's about about 20 sharp corners and switchback corners in the place I
use and one lap is about 1.4miles. It's quite challenging for me. Your task
would be to find one that is challenging to you and if you think about it
the slower it makes you go, the better, as far as jumping out of the saddle
and accelerating and decelerating. Right? ;-p

jj