Boy am I slow...

[Thorn]

But.....does it matter if we're slow? Do you enjoy riding? Do you feel like you're flying even if it is only downhill? If so, isn't that enough?

In my younger days, I was much faster. I did triathlons and my bike times were almost always in the top ten women (...now my swimming...ok, never last out of the water, but pretty darn close :-).

I started riding again a couple of years back. Age and years of inactivity and now I'm slow and I don't care. Sure, I'm faster today than when I started up 3 years ago. Sure, the road bike is faster than the hybrid, but most days, we average only 13 mph.

I look at it this way....if there weren't slow people like me, the fast people wouldn't be able to feel so fast!

Some day I'm going to find a jersey for my hypothetical "racing" team, Equipo Tortuga and wear it proudly whilst being passed by the hares.

[missymaya]

There's nothing wrong with going "slow". And slow is a frame of mind anyway. What may be fast to me, may be slow to someone else and vice versa. Again, what it comes down to is, whether or not your having fun and enjoying it.

[SadieKate]

From roadbikereview issue dated 11/09/06 :

1. Weekly Dispatch o^o o^o o^o o^o o^o o^o

We heard the buzz about a surprising new tire test in Bicycle Quarterly, a nifty magazine published in Seattle and edited by Jan Heine. The name was Vintage Bicycle Quarterly until recently, but "vintage" has been axed because it implied the mag was about old, collectible bikes and equipment.

Well, plenty of pages are devoted to arcane and interesting gear, history and randonneur-style riding, but Bicycle Quarterly also publishes cutting-edge material. The tire test is testimony, appearing in the Autumn 2006 issue.

Heine gave RBR permission to summarize several major findings. Interestingly, they confirm lots of what Uncle Al has been ranting about for years regarding tire width and inflation pressure.

Some test conclusions will be particularly enlightening if you're riding on narrow, high-pressure clinchers seeking more speed via lower rolling resistance. Your skinny tires may not be as fast as you think.

For the full eight-page report on tire performance, order the Vol. 5 No. 1 issue from http://www.bicyclequarterly.com. The test included nine 700C tires, seven 650B tires and two tubulars. The protocol and results were reviewed by industry experts. These are eight findings:

---With roughly the same power output, the rider's speed can vary by as much as 20% depending on tire choice. For example, the rider on the fastest tire [in this roll-down test] moved down the road at approximately 16.4 mph (26.2 kph) while the same rider on the slowest tire went approximately 13.6 mph (21.7 kph).

---Many longtime riders believe tires with a cotton casing are faster than modern casings made from nylon. Testing seems to confirm this. The best-performing tire in the test, the Deda Tre Giro d'Italia 700x23C (actual width 24.5 mm), has a cotton casing.

---Tire pressure has only a small effect on the rolling resistance of most tires. Narrow 23-mm tires seem to roll fastest at pressures of 105 psi (7.2 bar) or more. However, running these tires at 85 psi (5.8 bar) for improved comfort increased the test times only 2%. Wider 28-mm tires are as fast at 85 psi as they are at higher pressures.

---Tubular tires perform worse at very high pressure. At 130 psi (9 bar), the narrow Clement Criterium rolled slower than it did at a more comfortable 105 psi. The wider Clement Campione del Mundo rolled slightly faster at 85 psi than at 105 psi.

---Wide tires do not roll slower at lower pressures. In fact, testing indicated that a wide tire at lower pressures rolls faster than a narrow tire at high pressures, if all other factors remain the same. Even narrow tires can be ridden at comfortable pressures with only very small concessions to performance.

---Tires rolled slightly slower with Michelin's relatively thick latex tubes than with butyl tubes. Thinner latex tubes, like used in tubular tires, may offer better performance, but when used in clinchers they are more prone to punctures caused by friction between tire and tube. Latex tubes do improve comfort.

---Perhaps the most important result of the test is that tire pressure does not significantly affect rolling resistance. Wide tires in particular do not need high pressures to roll fast. But because many current wide tires are designed to handle high pressure, they have strong casings that lack suppleness. This results in higher rolling resistance than necessary.

---The test's findings point to a new direction for performance bicycles. For most cyclists, wide, supple tires at low pressures offer more speed, better comfort, increased versatility and improved safety than today's narrow high-pressure tires. However, this type of wide, fast tire currently is not available. Hopefully, these test results will help persuade manufacturers to produce them.

[Veronica]

Will helium in my tires make me faster?

I just got red tires. Red is a faster color than gray, right?

V.

[maillotpois]

From Sheldon Brown:

CO2 is heavier than air, you will make your bike heavy and slow if you
use it. Helium is lighter, the only way to go if you want speed and
safety.

If you are willing to live dangerously, Hydrogen is lighter and cheaper
than Helium, but don't smoke while riding your bike if you use
Hydrogen...

[MomOnBike]

Some day I'm going to find a jersey for my hypothetical "racing" team, Equipo Tortuga and wear it proudly whilst being passed by the hares.

I want that jersey!

And what Thorn and others have said. If you haven't paid entry fees for a race, who cares if you are slower than someone you've never met before. Pump up your tires and enjoy your ride.

[madscot13]

You are all right I love to pedal. Speed has just become one of my benchmarks for measuring my improvement, and keeping up with cars gives me great fun!

[rij73]

Jolt, you can definitely develop skill and fitness on the bike you have. It can be a great training bike, I'm sure. Just don't fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. There are always going to be people much faster, and if they are on a road bike, that's a definite big advantage. Just keep working hard and you'll improve! Then, one day, you'll go for a spin on a road bike, and you'll just fly!

[Geonz]

... just getting back from my group ride which last week a couple turned back & didn't go the whole distance for; this week they hung with us but SLOW (as in <9 mph) ... and so at the halfway point I felt compelled to peek at the bike and yea, those brakes... I picked up the wheel and spun... I mean dragged the wheel around.
We managed to get 'em adjusted better (tho' they were at the end of the adjustment point) and yes, that rider feels stronger - but pretty tired!
I think what was nagging at the back of my mind was that she was *never* coasting. We were going into a 13 mph wind but still... welp, between less friction and a tailwind, the ride home was much faster.
Fill them tars up and go for a ride

[rij73]

... just getting back from my group ride which last week a couple turned back & didn't go the whole distance for; this week they hung with us but SLOW (as in <9 mph) ... and so at the halfway point I felt compelled to peek at the bike and yea, those brakes... I picked up the wheel and spun... I mean dragged the wheel around.

Wow, were they embarrassed they hadn't noticed that? I bet they were relieved that the bike just had a simple maladjustment that addressing is going to help a lot!

[Jolt]

... just getting back from my group ride which last week a couple turned back & didn't go the whole distance for; this week they hung with us but SLOW (as in <9 mph) ... and so at the halfway point I felt compelled to peek at the bike and yea, those brakes... I picked up the wheel and spun... I mean dragged the wheel around.
We managed to get 'em adjusted better (tho' they were at the end of the adjustment point) and yes, that rider feels stronger - but pretty tired!
I think what was nagging at the back of my mind was that she was *never* coasting. We were going into a 13 mph wind but still... welp, between less friction and a tailwind, the ride home was much faster.
Fill them tars up and go for a ride

Wow, pretty bad! I know that's not my problem (if the brakes were rubbing I'd definitely hear it, and the wheels spin freely). That said, that did cross my mind that day as there's a sound that was coming from my front wheel it seemed on each revolution--thought it might be brakes but when I spun the wheel around I didn't get the sound and it spun fine. Still not sure what the sound was--any ideas? Or could it have something to do with the brakes and it only does it when I'm riding as opposed to just spinning the wheel?

[Geonz]

They weren't rubbing enough to hear - the wheel would go around about once before stopping. Besides, she'd just brought it in to the shop (for it's "30-day free checkup" from when she bought it... except that it had been ten years!!) ... my favorite LBS, I'm embarrassed to say, but at least I can say that it had been adjusted out to the end, so my guess is it was one of their new guys who didn't know what to do when you've adjusted as far as it can go and didn't want to ask (I know, I just know my guru wouldn't have let it out of the shop knowingly ... he'd have given it new cable or whatever!)
There aren't too many things that only drag the wheel when you're riding - then it would be something in the pedal crank perhaps. I am completely unmechanical - I even suggested that smaller tires might make the brakes not rub before I looked at them and of course realized it's not the tires they hit... doh... (her hubby seemed to be leaning *hard* towards getting her a new bike, so here's hoping their trip in for gear turns into something even nicer!)