feeling humbled

[bugbear]

Ambrose Nankivell wrote:
> (Once a bloke apprehended me and my brother
> as we rode through a local park on an old 1930s tandem we'd got storage of
> and talked of his fond memories of "riding on the old [squints down at top
> tube to make out manufacturer's label] Suns", and how he "once got from
> London to Brighton in an hour"...)
>

I've had that experience; an old guy in a pub (*)
saw my Mercian fixed, and was telling me about
cycling on a 3 speed to his girlfriends, when
he was around 20.

The distances and times were TDF winning!

BugBear

(*) no, really!

 

[Simon Bennett]

bugbear wrote:

> I've had that experience; an old guy in a pub (*)
> saw my Mercian fixed, and was telling me about
> cycling on a 3 speed to his girlfriends, when
> he was around 20.

That's some going! How many girlfriends did he have?

 

[sothach]

Adam Lea wrote:
> I found out today that someone at work commutes the same journey as me by
> bike so I asked him for some advice. I found out that on a racing bike he
> has managed the journey (a lumpy 12 miles) in a mere 34 minutes and back in
> 28 minutes. I now realise my hour in and 50 minutes back is pretty pathetic.
>
> I would love to get my fitness up to that level.

S'nuffin. They are running the Prologue to the Tour de Luxembourg on
part of my commute tonight (2.6km of my 17km) - fair enough, nice and
hilly, but they reckon on doing it in 4mins! That's like a 27.5mph
average including some of my fav hills, mind boogling. Still, bet they
won't be pulling a trailer with two kids, big jessies... If it's on
the telly, I'm the one with the skelington shirt.

 

[dkahn400]

Tony Raven wrote:

> It's a top time for a time trial course with no stops, starts, corners,
> junctions or hills to deal with, let alone a complex cross country
> commute. I'd take his time with a pinch of salt myself. BICBW and HCB
> Alan Holmes.

It is possible. Best times in a single direction on a regular commute
will be set with a following howling gale. Average times tell more.

--
Dave...

 

[David Martin]

John B wrote:
> Adam Lea wrote:
>
> > I found out today that someone at work commutes the same journey as me by
> > bike so I asked him for some advice. I found out that on a racing bike he
> > has managed the journey (a lumpy 12 miles) in a mere 34 minutes and back in
> > 28 minutes. I now realise my hour in and 50 minutes back is pretty pathetic.
>
> But you would be doing 1 hour 22 minutes less cycling.

I realise you teach cycling not maths but that is somewhat poor.

60+50 - (34+28) is 48 mins less cycling, not 1 hour 22.

FWIW my best commute times over that distance were from my parents home
(near Pitfields cycles in New Malden) to Aldwych in 35 mins (with a
small rucksack and no RLJ) and on another occasion from somewhere in
Surrey (back end of Chertseyish - don't remember the exact location) to
New Malden via seven hills road and the A3 in marginally over half an
hour for just under the same distance (12.5 miles).

But my best time for a 10 is in the 28 minute range. And my only timed
lap of Richmond park would now be illegal.

...d

 

[Clive George]

"Adam Lea" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Adam Lea wrote:
>>> I found out today that someone at work commutes the same journey as me
>>> by bike so I asked him for some advice. I found out that on a racing
>>> bike he has managed the journey (a lumpy 12 miles) in a mere 34 minutes
>>> and back in 28 minutes. I now realise my hour in and 50 minutes back is
>>> pretty pathetic.
>>>
>>> I would love to get my fitness up to that level.
>>>
>>
>> So would many racers. That's 23min 20seconds for a lumpy "10" at a
>> 25.7mph average. Either he's very good or being economical with the
>> truth.
>
> He said that was the fastest he had done it and that it took him two years
> to get to that speed. Apparently he says he does the journey faster during
> the summer than the winter.

I'm definitely faster in summer than winter. Not sure if it's physiological
(warm muscles working better) or mental (nicer days) - probably both. And I
wear less clothes in summer which probably helps.

His best times will be set with a stonking tailwind (Tony, I'm surprised you
haven't realised that one way journeys aren't comparable with TTs returning
to the same point).

cheers,
clive

 

[Tony Raven]

Clive George wrote:
>
> His best times will be set with a stonking tailwind (Tony, I'm surprised
> you haven't realised that one way journeys aren't comparable with TTs
> returning to the same point).
>

So you reckon you could average over 27mph with a stonking tailwind
through traffic, junctions, up and down hills etc etc? I've done plenty
of commutes where a tailwind has let me reach 25-30mph but my average is
well below that because of the need to slow down and speed up all the
time because its not a TT course. It would need to be a strange tail
wind too as, if I understand correctly, the route goes north from
Horsham and then heads east through Forest Green. BICBW. Perhaps that
was Alan's reason for his speeds too.

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

 

[Clive George]

"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Clive George wrote:
>>
>> His best times will be set with a stonking tailwind (Tony, I'm surprised
>> you haven't realised that one way journeys aren't comparable with TTs
>> returning to the same point).
>
> So you reckon you could average over 27mph with a stonking tailwind
> through traffic, junctions, up and down hills etc etc? I've done plenty
> of commutes where a tailwind has let me reach 25-30mph but my average is
> well below that because of the need to slow down and speed up all the time
> because its not a TT course. It would need to be a strange tail wind too
> as, if I understand correctly, the route goes north from Horsham and then
> heads east through Forest Green. BICBW. Perhaps that was Alan's reason
> for his speeds too.

Less than 26mph according to the numbers posted here.
I'm not a fast rider - I've only twice made evens on my daily loop ride (but
that is with mudguards, dynamo, bar bag and a pannier, and although not
lumpy, it's still moderately mountainous for Cambridge riders). However I'm
sure there are people who can do that sort of speed - especially on an A
road with a tailwind. Horsham to Forest Green looks like it's got big enough
roads. And given the disparity between the there and back, I suspect there's
a net descent involved in the fast one too.

It's not a Holmsian claim - he's not claiming to do significant distance on
a 3 speed roadster, he's doing quite a short trip on a fast bike at entirely
feasible speeds for somebody with some ability.

(I wouldn't be surprised if it was bike-computer measured time, ie ignoring
stops at lights etc)

cheers,
clive

 

[David Martin]

Tony Raven wrote:
> Clive George wrote:
> >
> > His best times will be set with a stonking tailwind (Tony, I'm surprised
> > you haven't realised that one way journeys aren't comparable with TTs
> > returning to the same point).
> >
>
> So you reckon you could average over 27mph with a stonking tailwind
> through traffic, junctions, up and down hills etc etc? I've done plenty
> of commutes where a tailwind has let me reach 25-30mph but my average is
> well below that because of the need to slow down and speed up all the
> time because its not a TT course. It would need to be a strange tail
> wind too as, if I understand correctly, the route goes north from
> Horsham and then heads east through Forest Green. BICBW. Perhaps that
> was Alan's reason for his speeds too.

It depends on the commute. My long, fast commutes were on relatively
junction free roads, or happened to coincide with the lights etc. Very
few give way type junctions. Typically with heavy traffic one also gets
dragged along a bit.

As for distance and time, on my Oslo commute (25km) I'd typically
reckon on about an hour. On a good day I'd do it in 50 minutes, a bad
day would be an hour and a quarter. There were no flat bits.
And this was on a roadified MTB. In winter that would be 2 hours.

I did it once with both kids in the trailer in a shade over an hour.
These days I'd probably stop for coffee half way and consider that a
good day out..

...d

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Adam Lea
('[email protected]') wrote:

>
> "Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Adam Lea wrote:
>>> I found out today that someone at work commutes the same journey as
>>> me by bike so I asked him for some advice. I found out that on a
>>> racing bike he has managed the journey (a lumpy 12 miles) in a mere
>>> 34 minutes and back in 28 minutes. I now realise my hour in and 50
>>> minutes back is pretty pathetic.
>>>
>>> I would love to get my fitness up to that level.
>>
>> So would many racers. That's 23min 20seconds for a lumpy "10" at a
>> 25.7mph average. Either he's very good or being economical with the
>> truth.
>
> He said that was the fastest he had done it and that it took him two
> years to get to that speed. Apparently he says he does the journey
> faster during the summer than the winter.

Yup. Warm air is less dense, and warm muscles work better. Time
triallists regularly do better in warm weather.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; IE 3 is dead, but Netscape 4 still shambles about the earth,
;; wreaking a horrific vengeance upon the living
;; anonymous

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Tony Raven
('[email protected]') wrote:

> Clive George wrote:
>>
>> His best times will be set with a stonking tailwind (Tony, I'm
>> surprised you haven't realised that one way journeys aren't comparable
>> with TTs returning to the same point).
>
> So you reckon you could average over 27mph with a stonking tailwind
> through traffic, junctions, up and down hills etc etc?

I certainly can. And the rest. I've averaged over 30mph this month on a
40 mile one way trip crossing two ridges with 200 metres of climb each.
And I wasn't even particularly going for it - but it was a stonking
tailwind.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; when in the ****, the wise man plants courgettes

 

[Zog The Undeniable]

Adam Lea wrote:
> I found out today that someone at work commutes the same journey as me by
> bike so I asked him for some advice. I found out that on a racing bike he
> has managed the journey (a lumpy 12 miles) in a mere 34 minutes and back in
> 28 minutes. I now realise my hour in and 50 minutes back is pretty pathetic.
>
> I would love to get my fitness up to that level.

When you say "has managed", that could be with a 25mph tailwind, which
would give him 3-4mph on his average speed. Just trying to make you
feel better ;-)

 

[Chris Malcolm]

Adam Lea <[email protected]> wrote:
> I found out today that someone at work commutes the same journey as me by
> bike so I asked him for some advice. I found out that on a racing bike he
> has managed the journey (a lumpy 12 miles) in a mere 34 minutes and back in
> 28 minutes. I now realise my hour in and 50 minutes back is pretty pathetic.

> I would love to get my fitness up to that level.

For five minutes before breakfast every day exaggerate as much as you
can.

--
Chris Malcolm [email protected] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]