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Road and race speeds?

Printed From: BHPC Forum
Category: Public: Open to anyone
Forum Name: Etc
Forum Description: Any other racing-related topics
URL: https://forum.bhpc.org.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=187
Printed Date: 27 March 2026 at 4:46am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.07 - https://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Road and race speeds?
Posted By: LeeW
Subject: Road and race speeds?
Date Posted: 29 July 2005 at 12:25pm

Just wondering, what kind of speed diffrence (if any) do you find between road riding on flat roads and racing on a circuit on the same bike at the same effort?  Would getting rid of my saftey flag, pannier and rack make anykind of diffrence?

 



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Current fleet: Milan SL MK2 #027, Fujin SL II, Beany!




Replies:
Posted By: AlanGoodman
Date Posted: 29 July 2005 at 6:46pm

Probably would make a bit of difference, but slipstreaming other people certainly makes a huge difference...

I was staggered by my average speed on my old Kingcycle at Preston... 21.2MPH is a good 2MPH faster than I would expect to average on the road, and faster than I've been on the Hurricane in most races this year.

All down to the fact that I was sitting behind faster riders for the whole race...



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Posted By: Yowie
Date Posted: 30 July 2005 at 1:14pm
Its rare that I get a clear run on the road with which to match my race effort, but including the normal road delays, I'm usually at least 2mph slower on the road.


Posted By: gNick
Date Posted: 30 July 2005 at 5:02pm
Add to the pot the way you never seem to be able to put in quite the same effort when riding (or even training) as you do when racing. At least I can't, not that training has been high on the agenda recently...

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gNick



"I'm afraid it's definite, Mrs Banker - your son has bicycles"


Posted By: LeeW
Date Posted: 19 August 2005 at 10:06am

I recently did a 21.8Mph 10 mile TT on my flat-bar upright, I tried the same circuit a few weeks ago on the trike and got about 18Mph.  It was done on a fairly flat dual-carrageway, out and back with a roundabout at the end so not much stopping although the surface is mostly chip-seal which probely slows me down a bit.  On the race track, should I expect something like 19Mph?

I might try a second run on the same bit of road without the pannier, rack, flag and LH mirror and see how fast I go.  I can also put more air in the rear marathon tyre which I keep at about 70Psi but can go to 100Psi.



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Current fleet: Milan SL MK2 #027, Fujin SL II, Beany!



Posted By: AlanGoodman
Date Posted: 19 August 2005 at 11:40am

This might sound silly, but are you sure the speedos on both bikes are calibrated exactly the same (did they both read exactly 10 miles at the end of the same route?)

I thought I was going really slow on my Kingcycle compared to my mountain bike over a fairly hilly little circuit I ride in the mornings, but it turned out that the speedo on the mountain bike was a bit optimistic...

So in fact I was just dog slow on both bikes...

Alan.



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Posted By: LeeW
Date Posted: 20 August 2005 at 9:22pm

I know the speedo on my upright must be fairly accurrate since when I crossed the finish line, it read 10.04 miles.  My avarage speed on my speedo was 21.8Mph but using the time I got, I worked it out to be 21.71.

I have set both speedos by rolling the wheel and measuring the distance.

I cannot remember seeing the finish line when I tried it on my trike so did not really know where the finish was.



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Current fleet: Milan SL MK2 #027, Fujin SL II, Beany!




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