Posted by: Mic
Posted by: Endurimil
Mic, true about the slow to go fast. Also keep in mind that a easy ride needs to be just that. We tend to ride our easy rides to fast and hard when it is supposed to be the opposite.
The slow and easy part is a serious challenge for me and my Ego. I tend to try and ride as fast as I can, without easy spinning or "just riding along", unless I force myself to do so. I tend to constantly check my bike computer. Riding as slow and easy as possible is only possible when I ride with my kid, which is not as often as I would love to.
Tracking and monitoring my rides is an unnecessary obstacle, it seems. Riding buddies have told me the same, guess it is part of our condition as cyclists, or humans.
Okay...so let me get up on my old high horse about "slow down to go fast".....it's not about riding slow, nor is it about GOING slow: its about the timing of your slow sections and your fast sections. With my old job, one of the big things I ran into was excessive brake maintenance on our fleet vehicles. Basically, while our drivers were being cognizant of rules of the road (driving at or below the posted limit - what they considered slow) they were still driving the cars waaaaaay too deep into corners or late braking at stop lights/in traffic. Me, on the other hand, have go much longer between brake service than most people I know. Why: because of timing of the slow sections and the fast sections. If you want to slow down to go fast, try this: look ahead further, time your braking (or off pedals) earlier, and then get on the pedals as soon as you can (early apex corners, when you anticipate lights changing, when "openings" exist in traffic, when you can get a jump on people in line ahead of you. We all think we look far enough ahead when we are riding, but considering how damn slow I am, I can tell you, you need to look as far ahead as possible. Look ahead, focus, breathe.
