How can i get my speed up???

[EasilyLead]

everyday is gonna feel different. take a couple of days rest and then you will be more refreshed.

[KnottedYet]

Shift up one gear higher than you generally cruise in, and make yourself catch your cadence back up to your usual rpm.

It's very tiring at first, but once you get the bike up to speed it is easier to keep it going there.

When you feel you are getting fatigued, drop back down into your customary gear.

Keep working your way into the higher gears and soon you'll be using them more, and going faster, and passing folks without really feeling the effort.

Gears are magic tricks you can play on your legs!

If you are already at your top gear and getting passed, then you might want to look at chainring options to get you higher gears.

[przc]

Can you please explain the gears to me. Are the hard gears the higher gears and low the easier? I never thought to ask i just change them as needed.

[KnottedYet]

Yeah, the high gears are the harder gears. The bigger chain (front) rings and the smaller cassette (rear) cogs.

Sheldon Brown (RIP) has some great articles about gearing: http://sheldonbrown.com/gearing/index.html

Sheldon wrote great articles about everything, really. Grab a beer and a comfy chair and you could easily spend hours reading his stuff.

[BikeHN]

I'm glad you brought that up przc, I feel the same way. I feel like my cadence is high and I'm at a good pace then ZOOM!! I'm just left peddaling in awe. I have the bad habit of getting lazy on the flats too, which doesn't help my avg. speed at all.

[przc]

When i went riding with a experienced rider he told me. The more spin you have the better (stay in low gears). Is thre any truth to this??

[KnottedYet]

When i went riding with a experienced rider he told me. The more spin you have the better (stay in low gears). Is thre any truth to this??

Totally depends on your physiology.

Some people's bodies are more efficient at higher rpm, some people's aren't.

Generally, whatever rpm you feel good at is where you are efficient, and you change speed by changing gears. The range of gears lets your body pedal at its happy rpm regardless of the speed of the bicycle.

To go faster, you get into a higher gear.

Caveat on the rpm: in general, to be good to your knees, you probably want your rpm to be 60 or higher.

[aicabsolut]

When i went riding with a experienced rider he told me. The more spin you have the better (stay in low gears). Is thre any truth to this??

but to go fast, you must learn to "spin" a high gear.


* "spin" being relative to your comfortable cadence...what Knotted said