Originally Posted by
cyclezen
taking equipment out of the equation... the motor and how you use it.
rolling terrain (Central Park) requires a good knowledge of your status and capabilities. burning matches to jam a hill/rise is often paid for on the flat...
maybe you're not in as good cycling fitness as you think you are?
if you and other's are yoyo-ing, and maintaining the same general pace for the loop, then you're all making the same mistakes, differently...
get an HRM, learn more about yourself and current state, time your park loops... if you want to get 'faster'...
cadence and spinning/gear selection helps smooth out the lumpy profile.
'aero' is quite and increasingly more important anytime you're over 15 mph...
... I do know Central Park - started my riding/training/racing there back in the mid 60's... I can still picture, in mind's eye, most every section, boat house to Museum, Harlem back to 59th...
the loop cutoffs and shorter sections...
horse **** on the lower park road... LOL!
Central Park is one of those rides where 'free-wheeling' is always slow... fastest always requires some level of pedal pressure...
Ride On
Yuri
The horse **** below 72nd is ever present! As are the tourists trying out city bikes at 4mph...
I'm definitely avoiding coasting for more than the few seconds it takes to get some water. I think I have the perfect gear selection for CP - I'm running up and down a corncob for most of the ride, only hitting 21T or 23T cogs on Cat Hill (in the 48T ring) and Harlem Hill (in the 32T ring). But in the flats/slight descents north of the museum, I can be in an aero tuck, and somebody on a gravel bike will cruise past me while sitting up - and that's where my question comes in.
I don't have a HRM or a power meter - definitely want a power meter, but the expense... especially if I wanted one for each of my bikes...
As for making different mistakes all around, I'm trying to take those into account. For example, was yo-yoing with a girl on a Kestrel, who is easily smaller and lighter than I am - I'd always beat her up Harlem Hill, but she'd catch up a little later on the west side rollers. On one lap, my chain fell off the outside ring as I was shifting just past the crest of the hill, and in the process of shifting to get it back on, she passed me in a full aero tuck - honestly, the first time I've ever seen someone get their chin down in front of their stem, elbows in, butt up, for that part of the loop. Well, there's 10 seconds I've been giving up on every other ride.
(Though honestly, I can understand why I've never seen anybody else do that - one can easily make 30mph there without a tuck, and bike/foot traffic is can be pretty heavy there)