I want to ride faster

[Triskeliongirl]

Well, I feel I must report my own experience with thinner tires, just to be on the record...
I am sure that it is probably true for many of you that you gain speed when you put on skinnier tires. But oddly, it did not seem to make a difference for me....

I am curious, did you try to go faster, meaning did you ride you bike with both sets of tires, each time trying to go as fast as you could (i.e. sort of like a personal time trial)? Does your route have hills, where rotating weight will make a difference? I notice a huge difference in speed when I ride my touring tires (32c) vs racing slicks (23c), but I imagine if you are out riding to ride, you may just notice that it was easier to push the lighter tire, and rather than taking advantage of that to go fast, kept at your usual comfortable pace.

[CR400]

It is true that riding with guys will push you and make you faster. Its worked for me. However, it can be down right depressing and discouraging if the men you are trying to ride with are significantly faster. I have a friend I ride with and on his "recovery" days he still wants to average between 18-19mph. Which for quite a few women that is still fast (oh we usually ride side by side so no draft, you pull yourself). On his high intesity days I stay with him for the first five minuets, then I see him again at the end of the ride after I pull in 15min to 30min behind him. The scary part is he isn't even the fastest in the group.

[RoadRaven]

May I just volunteer... isn't that 23mm???

I guess they are, but my Pasela tires are listed as "23c" or "28c" width so I guess I tend to read it as cm's which is probably incorrect. Surely they mean mm in any case!

Just jumping back a page or two...

Yup... a bit of research (talking with other cyclists and measuring tyres)... of course it is mm... why they say "c" instead of "mm" though, I have no idea...

[Toni]

Okay, here's what you do with your hybrid: knock a little off the tire inflation (but watch for potholes - you're asking for pinch flats), maladjust the brakes so they drag **just** a little, put a couple of gallons of water somewhere on the bike, and go find a headwind.

Ride with that bad boy for three weeks. Then pump up the tires all the way, adjust the brakes, take the water off... you'll blow by lots of people :-)

I'm gonna try this!!!!!