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Strava Segment - how much faster is a road bike than a hybrid?

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Strava Segment - how much faster is a road bike than a hybrid?

Old 05-01-17, 01:55 PM
  #26  
DonBjr
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
That's what I thought, but unless he had riding buddies that DIDN'T STRAVA their rides, he was solo for the laps around that lake. It's also a loop so head/tailwind would be negligible.

Point is- with or without a draft, that kid is real strong.

OP should probably flag the ride, and all the others above him.

Oh you're right... there were two others strava was displaying along with his ride, but they were just in the area and not riding with him if you look at the flyby
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Old 05-01-17, 01:56 PM
  #27  
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I see we've all perfected the art of the Strava Stalk
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Old 05-01-17, 02:11 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
I see we've all perfected the art of the Strava Stalk
Yes, and I'll also add these to the list of disappointments after a good stalk.

"damn he's in my weight class"
"damn he's in my age bracket"

Sometimes you have to narrow it down to a club, or even just followers, before your placement improves significantly.

I wish they had a bike type filter so I could potentially blame the bike.
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Old 05-01-17, 02:15 PM
  #29  
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Filtering down until you're the best sounds fun.

"Oh, his chain is brand new, mine has 4,000 miles. That explains why he's 6 seconds faster."
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Old 05-01-17, 02:16 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by highrpm
@Abe Froman, see that's the number I had in mind when I asked the question.

...


So 2-3 minutes from the bike. And 3-4 minutes from me needing to train.


See that sounds reasonable.
Ha! I like how you choose to listen to the one respondent, out of several, that says the number closest to what you were hoping to hear. So are you going to go get a new bike or is this just a rainy day hypothetical?
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Old 05-01-17, 02:24 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by highrpm
@Dan333SP, he did that in the middle of a long ride??? Wow.
Yes, 90 miles.

Although, that's not as significant of a detail as you might think. He was crawling for most of that distance, and as long as you got legs trained for endurance and a butt that can handle a saddle all day, such cycling doesn't really burn your potential. I've stuck my Saturday morning group rides in the middle of century rides before, and as long as I don't push hard on the way out, it doesn't seem to do much to my group ride performance. (The ride back home is another matter.)

You know what I did? I did a flying start. I got up to full speed before hitting Start at the boat dock. And I flew into the boat dock entrance at speed while hitting stop. Not cheating but not exactly a standing start either.
Nobody does a standing start for Strava segments.

Why did you hit start rather than just have Strava running? Easier to lead into a segment if you're not fiddling around with your electronics...

And I was fresh. I didn't bike before this.
If you weren't sufficiently warmed up, that might have put you at a disadvantage.

//========================

By the way, this isn't necessarily just "hybrid vs road." Given that this dude was seeing those speeds at "only" 300W, there's a decent chance that he was using aerobars.
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Old 05-01-17, 02:26 PM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by HTupolev

By the way, this isn't necessarily just "hybrid vs road." Given that this dude was seeing those speeds at "only" 300W, there's a decent chance that he was using aerobars.
You didn't stalk hard enough. He has pictures of himself from that ride. Has a Tarmac with Enves, no aerobars. May have been riding IAB, though.

Up your stalking game, people.
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Old 05-01-17, 03:21 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by DonBjr
Oh you're right... there were two others strava was displaying along with his ride, but they were just in the area and not riding with him if you look at the flyby
Drafting cars or slow trucks is more effective anyway. If only Strava would coordinate with Google locations, we'd have a better idea about that situation ...
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Old 05-01-17, 03:26 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
I Strava-stalked the guy with the top time on that segment. He's averaging 280 miles a week, he's a fairly competitive Cat 2, and he did that time in the middle of a 90 mile ride. He averaged just under 310 watts for the ~13 minutes of the segment, which isn't off the charts in power terms, but is way stronger than your average recreational rider is capable of. To get to that level, it would literally take years and tens of thousands of miles of training. And, depending on genetics, there's no guarantee that any given rider can even get to that point.
Kid's got 3,200 miles in for the year and a part-time job's worth of saddle time. Yeah, new bike oughtta level the field between me and him.
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Old 05-01-17, 03:34 PM
  #35  
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As with the OP, I also own a Trek 7.4FX, although I went down to a pair of 28mm Gatorskins and rode with clipless pedals. However, last year I bought a Giant Defy carbon endurance bike because I found that I still had a need for speed, or in my case, a need to ride less slow.

My anecdotal evidence is that I immediately picked up about 1+mph upon switching to the road bike. It's gotten better since then.

It might also be interesting to note that my crabon machine is about 7-8 pounds lighter (approx 17lbs vs 25lbs) than the aluminum hybrid, so that should account for a little extra pep in your ride (as would a couple of extra gears on the cassette).

Either way, enjoy the ride!
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Old 05-01-17, 03:54 PM
  #36  
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There's nothing about a hybrid that prevents you from putting on 25mm tires and bending your elbows more. Try that.
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Old 05-01-17, 04:12 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by WhyFi
Ha! I like how you choose to listen to the one respondent, out of several, that says the number closest to what you were hoping to hear. So are you going to go get a new bike or is this just a rainy day hypothetical?
And I said 2 minutes max, if he had crappy knobby tires and a more upright hybrid. Not 2-3 minutes for sure.
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Old 05-01-17, 04:33 PM
  #38  
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You can play with this if you want:

Bike Calculator

Put in 6 miles and 19 minutes and select MTB tires and Bar Ends as position and it says 242watts. You can then play with the tires and position and see how the time changes. With clinchers and drops the time would drop to 15 min 40 sec, a 3 min 20 sec gain.
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Old 05-01-17, 05:05 PM
  #39  
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Get someone to motorpace you with an old van and you'll shave 3-4 minutes off your time easily, for $0. At 19mph, it's all aero drag.
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Old 05-01-17, 05:57 PM
  #40  
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If your doing 19 already, I think picking up a minute would be pretty damn tough. Like someone else said, you should just pick a road bike if you're already that quick. They're just more fun.
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Old 05-02-17, 04:29 AM
  #41  
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That bike calculator shows that I'd drop a little more than two minutes going to a carbon bike. If I put a headwind in there, just going to drop bars seems to drop the time a bunch.
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Old 05-02-17, 04:52 AM
  #42  
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How much better time should you make or would you make? Totally different questions. One could do the numerical analysis of the effects of drag, rolling resistance, watts, etc. and come up with a good number. Or one could do an "experiment" and attempt to ride a controlled course under controlled conditions a number of times varying only the equipment. However, I've always found such "experiments" completely bogus, because the one thing you can't count on controlling is the most crucial variable: effort. Unless you have a power meter and can monitor it as you ride or correct for it after the fact, your varying will and ability to put forth any level of effort (not to mention desire to come to a conclusion or validate your hypothesis) will always confound your results.
That said, if you really want to go faster, you'll go faster.

By the way: according to one "experiment" my TCX is faster than my Propel on the road, on an inclined sprint (last half mile to crest of a hill) despite being 3-4 lbs heavier! I'm sure others have plenty of similar stories of getting unlikely PRs on their heavier, less aero bikes.

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Old 05-02-17, 05:17 AM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
I Strava-stalked the guy with the top time on that segment. He's averaging 280 miles a week, he's a fairly competitive Cat 2, and he did that time in the middle of a 90 mile ride. He averaged just under 310 watts for the ~13 minutes of the segment, which isn't off the charts in power terms, but is way stronger than your average recreational rider is capable of. To get to that level, it would literally take years and tens of thousands of miles of training. And, depending on genetics, there's no guarantee that any given rider can even get to that point.
He probably had very beefy chainstays and a wide bottom bracket.
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Old 05-02-17, 06:14 AM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by redfooj
He probably had very beefy chainstays and a wide bottom bracket.
Probably a BB386EVO for efficient power transfer. You just can't do a ride like that with a threaded BB.
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Old 05-02-17, 06:51 AM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by highrpm
I like to ride a six mile loop here in Michigan and the Stoney Creek metropark. It's a popular place to ride. Lately I started looking at my lap time compared to what folks are running on Strava.


I ride a stock Trek FX 7.4 hybrid on 32 tires and a flat bar. I'm in good shape. I lift and run every day. 6'1 and 168lb.


So I did the loop in the high 19 minute range.


I looked online and the fastest times were in the 13 minutes.


My question is - how much of that time difference do you guys think is because of my bike and how much because of me? For example, if I got my hands on something like a Trek Madone, would I drop two minutes or five?
So I was thinking about this park and are there not many on the trail where one can blast through at over 25mph? No lights? Ample space? When I move back to the Michigan it sounds like a good safe place to ride if so. Kids can even play there while I ride.
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Old 05-02-17, 07:00 AM
  #46  
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Originally Posted by highrpm
That bike calculator shows that I'd drop a little more than two minutes going to a carbon bike. If I put a headwind in there, just going to drop bars seems to drop the time a bunch.
That's the key. If you just go for an aluminum road bike, you'd actually lose time. Frame material is what's going to save you the most time on a flat loop.
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Old 05-02-17, 07:05 AM
  #47  
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This should get you at least two minutes:

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Old 05-02-17, 07:08 AM
  #48  
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Originally Posted by Jarrett2
This should get you at least two minutes:


I mean, that's fine, but what about this baby?



I'm guessing he'd finish the loop before he started it.
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Old 05-02-17, 07:11 AM
  #49  
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@Dan333SP, well if I'm trying to justify a carbon bike purchase to myself, then absolutely!
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Old 05-02-17, 07:23 AM
  #50  
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Originally Posted by highrpm
@Dan333SP, well if I'm trying to justify a carbon bike purchase to myself, then absolutely!
Hehe. You didn't need to start a thread to do that! My take is always- "Do I have enough saved to buy a new bike guilt-free?"

If the answer to that question is yes and you've been wanting to try a road bike anyway, why not? Whether you gain 1 second or 6 minutes you should still get the new bike if it'll inspire you to ride more.
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