Originally Posted by
jadmt
my point is if you get used to going fast and I mean really fast on a motorcycle (I made a living riding for over 10 years) a bicycle will feel a lot more casual when you are going 40-50mph and 35 mph will feel pretty mundane. biggest issue I think is when a person is not used to going super fast they get tunnel vision and are looking just beyond their front wheel. When you are used to going well over a 100mph you are looking way down the road. same for bicycles look further down the road and don't lock in on anything (remember if you look at something you will probably hit it) and things are a lot less shaky or sketchy. Also I know at 64yoa I won't heal like I did when I was in my 40's
but I also know the likelyhood of crashing is very minimal so I still like hitting some higher velocities.
Motojournalist here. My most recent top speed run was at the Suzuki Hayabusa intro at the Utah Motorsports Complex. I only hit 150mph on the front straight because I then had to brake hard, downshift to third, and then turn left.
Yeah, 35mph is pretty mundane, but 40mph+ is context dependent. Out west without traffic and wide open sightlines? No problem. But back east bombing down a narrow, tree-lined two-laner with tar snakes and potholes and driveways and unseen creatures in the forest? I'm on high alert because my stopping distance is much longer than on a motorcycle thanks to the miniscule contact patches. And my wool jersey isn't abrasion resistant, my helmet doesn't protect my chin (the most common injury location on the head), and I'm not wearing my leather gauntlet gloves, ankle-protecting boots, or airbag vest.