Jennifer mentions going the same route again and again to build speed. I gotta agree with that! I find that the more familiar I am with a road, the easier it is to go faster. It also helps when I can see for a long distance ahead of me -- someone mentioned keeping your eyes looking on down the road rather than fairly close to you, and she's right. It really does help! Like was also mentioned -- riding on a curve-y down hill stretch is harder too, since you can't see what is around the bend, but oh, on straight shots, where you can see for like a half mile, wow it's like flying!

The exception I've found to looking far far ahead of me while riding: going up hill. If I can't see how much hill is left, it doesn't seem so hard to climb.

Something totally different that I'm wondering about -- I have found that 7 miles an hour or so is really HARD to do! It makes me very wobbly when I'm riding at slower speeds, and it's challenging to keep my speed down that low, unless I'm using my really hard gears or climbing a hill, or there's one heckuva wind pushing at me! May I suggest finding a nice flat open area where you can see everything and trying a bit faster ride to see if you feel more stable, like I do? Gear down to some of the easier ones, not the grannies that are too easy and your legs get out of control, but something pretty easy to spin them fast like the ladies here talk about. You might find that you're much happier when you're going faster!

(I sure understand about a spooky feeling stopping when you're going down hill -- I'm trying, but that front brake scares me a lot!)

Karen in Boise