my 2nd ride ever and i reached 31 miles and hour on flat w/o wind

oznation said:

im happy i think that if i can do this now w/o ever riding that i wil be pretty good when i get more rides under my belt!!!

And that right there is the addiction. 🙂

oznation said:

im happy i think that if i can do this now w/o ever riding that i wil be pretty good when i get more rides under my belt!!!

Is that 31 mph top speed in the flats with no wind? What kind of bike do you have (make and model and build). How old are you? What's your height and weight?

You makes me jealous! When I started I only could hit 26.2 mph. After 1 year (about 1500 miles) I hit 32.9 mph.

Get a heart rate monitor and post your average speed at 80%, 85%, 90% Max Heart Rate -- that'll show how good you are.

JTE83 said:

Is that 31 mph top speed in the flats with no wind? What kind of bike do you have (make and model and build). How old are you? What's your height and weight?

You makes me jealous! When I started I only could hit 26.2 mph. After 1 year (about 1500 miles) I hit 32.9 mph.

Get a heart rate monitor and post your average speed at 80%, 85%, 90% Max Heart Rate -- that'll show how good you are.

yes flats and no wind. i have a fuji ace. im 17 and i weigh 165 lbs and im 6'3.

At 6'3" and only 165 you're probably not much wider than a bike frame; I doubt you'd be affected by the wind even if it was blowing. 😉 😄

Shreklookalike said:

At 6'3" and only 165 you're probably not much wider than a bike frame; I doubt you'd be affected by the wind even if it was blowing. 😉 😄

lol yeah im pretty skinny but im a good build for riding.!!

oznation said:

yes flats and no wind. i have a fuji ace. im 17 and i weigh 165 lbs and im 6'3.

That's very impressive. Was the 31 mph sustained or a momentary burst of speed? According to the "Bicycle Speed and Power Calculator", 31 mph on flat ground requires ~800 watts of power when riding on the brake-hoods and ~570 on the drops (for a 165 lbs, 6'3" person). Both of those power numbers are huge!

Take care and ride strongly and safely,

Berend

squidwranglr said:

That's very impressive. Was the 31 mph sustained or a momentary burst of speed? According to the "Bicycle Speed and Power Calculator", 31 mph on flat ground requires ~800 watts of power when riding on the brake-hoods and ~570 on the drops (for a 165 lbs, 6'3" person). Both of those power numbers are huge!

Take care and ride strongly and safely,

Berend

umm it was probably sustained for about a half mile maybe just under a half mile

when i started riding at 14, i was able to hit mid 30s on flat no wind.

squidwranglr said:

That's very impressive. Was the 31 mph sustained or a momentary burst of speed? According to the "Bicycle Speed and Power Calculator", 31 mph on flat ground requires ~800 watts of power when riding on the brake-hoods and ~570 on the drops (for a 165 lbs, 6'3" person). Both of those power numbers are huge!

Take care and ride strongly and safely,

Berend

you cannot accurately calculate power at those speeds without knowing what your frontal area is EXACTLY.

31mph for me in the drops is around 600watts (6'2 175lbs)

check out the training forum, the post <watts vs speed>

oznation said:

umm it was probably sustained for about a half mile maybe just under a half mile

half mile? that is not a real sprint. i bet you could get up to 34-35mph if you did a real sprint

velomanct said:

you cannot accurately calculate power at those speeds without knowing what your frontal area is EXACTLY.

31mph for me in the drops is around 600watts (6'2 175lbs)

check out the training forum, the post <watts vs speed>

It all depends on the completeness of the model being used. And of course, in the end, they are just models and approximate real world phenomenon. Having said that, I had read the "watts vs speed" thread before and the formula being tossed around there is far more simplistic than the one that's used on the "Bicycle Speed And Power Calculator" site. Scroll down to the bottom of the calculator and also read the FAQ if you're interested in the math behind it. It is an accurate model. "Analytic Cycling" is another good site for this sort of information.

You said "31 mph for me in the drops is around 600 watts". Did you get that from the calculator or were you sharing that as some sort of a "measured" number?

Berend

velomanct said:

half mile? that is not a real sprint. i bet you could get up to 34-35mph if you did a real sprint

yeah i just got the bike to stay in shape after soccer is over because im a senior and i need to stay in shape over the winter and since i wont be playing soccer anymore to stay in shape i know i needed something but i will have to try to sprint a mile and see what i can get to and i will let you guys know!!!

squidwranglr said:

You said "31 mph for me in the drops is around 600 watts". Did you get that from the calculator or were you sharing that as some sort of a "measured" number?

velomanct,

I went back to the "watts vs speed" thread and realized that you were the one that provided the Powertap data, so no need to answer the above question. 🙂 It's noteworthy that the value computed using the aforementioned page for you (175 lbs and 6'2"😉 ends up being ~565 watts, so it's not very far of at all.

Berend

oznation said:

yeah i just got the bike to stay in shape after soccer is over because im a senior and i need to stay in shape over the winter and since i wont be playing soccer anymore to stay in shape i know i needed something but i will have to try to sprint a mile and see what i can get to and i will let you guys know!!!

You are confused, but that is ok, you are new to the sport.

A sprint on a bike is an all out 10-20 second MAXIMIMAL effort. Therefore, you should be able to reach a higher top speed that what you did during your half mile effort. You should be exploding into the pedals, out of the saddle, like you are going for the finishline. Since you are new to cycling, you haven't learned what your body can do. After time, you will see you will be able to put out an extremely hard effort compared to what you think is your max effort now. I think many many recreational riders have not pushed themselves as hard as possible, they are so used to going a medium pace. When you race you do things you never thought were possible.

Your goal should be to reach the highest possible speed, even if you can only hold it for a second or two. Road conditions, wind, and even very small changes in gradient will greatly affect your speed.

squidwranglr said:

velomanct,

I went back to the "watts vs speed" thread and realized that you were the one that provided the Powertap data, so no need to answer the above question. 🙂 It's noteworthy that the value computed using the aforementioned page for you (175 lbs and 6'2"😉 ends up being ~565 watts, so it's not very far of at all.

Berend

It is really hard to find a place to ride where there is no wind and the road is absolutely flat. Any small changes in conditions will have a big effect on the power at that speed.

velomanct said:

It is really hard to find a place to ride where there is no wind and the road is absolutely flat. Any small changes in conditions will have a big effect on the power at that speed.

yes i know but theres about a 5 mile long section of the bike path here that has trees on both sides that helps keep the wind down and it is just been paved (it's not really open yet) and it is extremely flat