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Do you go faster on busy highways?

Old 08-07-22, 06:04 AM
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jamawani 
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Do you go faster on busy highways?

I don't have scientific proof, but - -

I tend to ride 1 to 2 mph faster on busy highways than I do on quiet backroads.
Why? I think the biggest factor is adrenaline. Especially if I'm riding on an Interstate shoulder.
(Which is one of my least favorite riding choices, even US routes are pretty busy.)
Usually there is no other option and I am just trying to get from A to B.
But through highways tend to have better pavement and a more gradual grade.

Even so, I prefer the rough surfaces and goathills of the back-back roads.
I love it when my mind clicks into neutral and I am just moving through the countryside.

What's your experience?


Old Trails Road in Northern Indiana - totally empty. There's 4-lane US 30, then Old US 30/Lincoln Highway, then Old Trails Road.
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Old 08-07-22, 06:16 AM
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On the interstate highways I've seen, bicycles are prohibited. There are a few stretches of regular highways I will ride to get from point A to point B, but four or more lane roads I typically avoid riding on. Not so much due to the traffic, but there is extra glass and debris on the shoulders of these roads it seems. When I do ride on those roads, I don't know that I notice any speed differences.
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Old 08-07-22, 06:23 AM
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Not so much about traffic. My guess is that due to the better grading and smoother surfaces I go a lot quicker pace in likely with the same effort.

The next question is do I ride at the same level of effort. I don't know the answer to that one. I suspect it varies, but probably not really because of traffic. There is a certain type of rolling hills where I tend to get fired up and play racer. In that case I probably actually ride a bit faster even though the surface and terrain is actually slower. That is a small minority of the time though.

I bet it has to do with surfaces and grading far more than traffic for me. For sure I go over mountain passes faster on well graded major routes than minor roads with steeper grades and poorer surfaces. In Missouri I remember old minor roads that seemed to just follow the terrain with no cut and fill or going around anything. The going was very slow. Later in the same area on busier and more modern roads the paces was much faster.
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Old 08-07-22, 06:28 AM
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Just FYI - Bicycles are permitted on interstates in most western states - except on urban freeways.
In many parts of the West, interstates were built over the old highway, so there is no other option.
Example - I-90 in western Montana and northern Idaho
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Old 08-07-22, 06:39 AM
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I wasn't intending to correct you or indicate I doubted you, just relating my experience. But now that I think about it, I seem to mostly remember the signage prohibiting bikes on interstates in Kansas. I don't know that I can recall seeing signs in Tulsa or OKC on stretches of road I wouldn't ride for large sums of money.
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Old 08-07-22, 06:42 AM
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This was Fun.
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Old 08-07-22, 08:38 AM
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I think the adrenaline thing applies to me when on busy roads, including busy Interstate and U.S. Highways. That and the desire to get it over with.

At the same time, I can remember not feeling “the rush” on traffic-lite Interstate segments. The first one I ever rode was the Trans Am segment of I-80 east of Sinclair, WY. Traffic was very light early in the morning the day after the 4th of July. I thought to myself “This isn’t so bad.”
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Old 08-07-22, 08:46 AM
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Originally Posted by jamawani


Old Trails Road in Northern Indiana - totally empty. There's 4-lane US 30, then Old US 30/Lincoln Highway, then Old Trails Road.
Was that near Monroeville, IN by any chance? Our Northern Tier group spent the night there. The next morning we crossed U.S. 30 before entering OH. I said to a guy in our group who lived somewhat close to me “If we make a right and follow this it will take us close to home.”
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Old 08-07-22, 09:59 AM
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I don't ride highways anymore there are lots of bikers killed around here and its always the bikers fault.. Drives say, the sun was in my eyes I could not see the bike. I was doing 70 I came up on the bike so quick I couldn't avoid him. Bike & rider were both black color same as black asphalt road they could not be seen. .I don't want to be dead.

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Old 08-07-22, 10:20 AM
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Sometimes traffic does seem to cause me to ride faster. I've also noticed the noise level makes a difference. The noisier it is, the faster I tend to pedal. I think it's because I don't feel as relaxed when it's noisy or busy.

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Old 08-07-22, 11:45 AM
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Originally Posted by indyfabz
Was that near Monroeville, IN by any chance? Our Northern Tier group spent the night there. The next morning we crossed U.S. 30 before entering OH. I said to a guy in our group who lived somewhat close to me “If we make a right and follow this it will take us close to home.”
Close, but no cigar.
It's west of Fort Wayne - actually between Warsaw and Columbia City.
Notice the lightly rolling terrain? By the time you hit the Ohio line it gets REALLY flat.
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Old 08-07-22, 01:31 PM
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Originally Posted by jamawani
Close, but no cigar.
It's west of Fort Wayne - actually between Warsaw and Columbia City.
Notice the lightly rolling terrain? By the time you hit the Ohio line it gets REALLY flat.
We were southeast of there. Spent the night in a motel in Huntington with another tour participant before getting to Monroeville the next day. Huntington is the home town of former Veep Dan Quayle Had a Dan Quayle Burger at a diner he used to frequent. It was nothing memorable. Temperature hit 106 degrees that day. The city asked businesses to close early to relieve pressure on the electrical grid.

Monroeville had a community center for things like weddings. If it was not being used they let cyclists stay there. Very modern and healthfully air conditioned. There was a yellow line painted on the streets that led to the house of the man who had the key. The only thing he asked is that we sign a giant ledger with our names and home towns. Of course, we donated our night’s camping budget in return for a day and night of cool bliss.

And yeah, OH was really flat. I think the biggest hills I hit were south of Cleveland when I and another guy did the Emerald Necklace/Cleveland Heights/Shaker Heights route option.
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Old 08-07-22, 05:39 PM
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Originally Posted by mtnbud
Sometimes traffic does seem to cause me to ride faster. I've also noticed the noise level makes a difference. The noisier it is, the faster I tend to pedal. I think it's because I don't feel as relaxed when it's noisy or busy.
I was thinking the same exact thing, heavy noisy traffic makes me more interested in getting out of there faster.

This stretch along the freeway on the Pacific Coast route had very smooth shoulder pavement, but it was still noisy and you had to make sure you were not going to get rear-ended crossing an on or off ramp. I stopped to take a photo of the sign.



Adequate shoulder width, but a lot of debris on it. This was in Florida Keys. This would have been a poor place to have a puncture.



The paved portion of the shoulder was so narrow here that I rode in the loose gravel to the right of the pavement, was very slow riding. This was in Nova Scotia, a section of the Trans Canada highway, I took the first exit and rode a LOT of extra miles on quieter roads instead to bypass it.



You asked what our experience is. In some places the quieter roads have a lot more ups and downs, there was less budget for earth moving to make the road. There have been a few times where I rode a gravel rail trail instead of a quiet highway because the rail trail was much flatter to ride on, although it was slower riding on gravel than on pavement. Photo below, the gravel was slower riding but was much flatter so I rode on it most of the day. It was a wet day too.

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Old 08-07-22, 09:49 PM
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I tend to ride faster on busy highways, but have a different theory. My wife and I call it "semi-surfing", the pull created by the trucks as they go by. I am not sure the truck's pull adds significantly to overall speed but it is very noticeable.

I also think that the interstate highways are sometimes safer to ride than some back roads. In some places in the west the speed limits on the secondary roads are the same as the interstate highways. But the interstate highways have a wider shoulder.

Usually busy roads don't bother me, but there are exceptions.
Highway 20, Iowa.


In some places there are not any options. Our goal on this tour was to ride Highway 20 from Newport, OR to Boston, MA.

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Old 08-08-22, 05:17 AM
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Originally Posted by Doug64
Usually busy roads don't bother me, but there are exceptions.
In some places there are not any options.
Our goal on this tour was to ride Highway 20 from Newport, OR to Boston, MA.
In some places there are not any NEARBY or EASY options.
Usually there is a dirt road option - often rough.
Often there is a paved option - but with significant extra miles.

On the Parks, Peaks & Prairies ACA route that I helped develop -
It's pretty empty between Gillette and Buffalo in Wyoming.
I-90 is 68 miles - a moderate day. US 14/16 is 98 miles.
US 14/16 is beautiful with light traffic, but many riders opt for I-90.
It's funny, folks are cycling 4000 miles and balk at an extra 30.

US 20 in Nebraska is sweet. US 20 in much of Iowa sux.
It's possible, now, to take the old highway or county roads across Iowa.


US 20 in the Nebraska Sandhills. Scenic, empty, and with shoulders.

US 20 east of Boise is twinned with I-84 as your photo shows.
From Vale, Oregon you can bypass Boise via Givens Hot Springs and avoid I-84.



US 20 climbing up to Goodale's Cutoff in Idaho. Way busier in 2022 than it was back in 2003.
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Old 08-08-22, 05:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Doug64
I tend to ride faster on busy highways, but have a different theory. My wife and I call it "semi-surfing", the pull created by the trucks as they go by. I am not sure the truck's pull adds significantly to overall speed but it is very noticeable.

I also think that the interstate highways are sometimes safer to ride than some back roads. In some places in the west the speed limits on the secondary roads are the same as the interstate highways. But the interstate highways have a wider shoulder.
I too have very much noticed this, the "semi surfing" affect, especially if there is a tailwind, to adding onto ones speed over a day.
Not too many weeks ago I chose to ride on a two laner with a good shoulder, a good 2-3 foot , over taking a rail trail that was mostly beside road, because trail was gravel, slightly bumpy, crossing side roads sometimes (so slowing down or stopping at these) and the road paved surface was good.

Over that long day, 120kms, I knew I would save time and physical energy by being on the road, and the traffic was fine, plus I got the odd added semitrailer "pull along" also.

Sometimes it's about managing energy, and I'm ok with being on a good shoulder on a busier road if it's going to make a difference in my overall physical and time aspect of a day.
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Old 08-08-22, 05:57 AM
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Originally Posted by jamawani
On the Parks, Peaks & Prairies ACA route that I helped develop -
It's pretty empty between Gillette and Buffalo in Wyoming.
I-90 is 68 miles - a moderate day. US 14/16 is 98 miles.
US 14/16 is beautiful with light traffic, but many riders opt for I-90.
It's funny, folks are cycling 4000 miles and balk at an extra 30.
Two ways to look at the extra miles that might justify opting for I-90:
  1. An extra 30 miles on what would otherwise would be a easy length day is pretty significant.
  2. That is 44% longer. If you do that very many times on a 4000 mile trip you may well run out of time to finish unless you are retired.
I can remember quibbling over whether to choose places to stop or visit on the TA where we quibbled over going off route as little as a mile or two. I know that our group was stingy with any "extra" miles and there had to be a good reason to go off route. A nice attraction might suffice but there was always a cost benefit analysis and we were stingy with the miles. One of our group had a job prospect waiting at the end with unknow timing. We were at least a little concerned about running out of time.

I'd have to look at the routes before I'd decide on that section, but I don't mind or even kind of like riding interstate for some portion of a tour. I suspect that after some checking I'd be likely to choose I-90 there.
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Old 08-08-22, 06:36 AM
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Originally Posted by staehpj1
Two ways to look at the extra miles that might justify opting for I-90:
  1. An extra 30 miles on what would otherwise would be a easy length day is pretty significant.
  2. That is 44% longer. If you do that very many times on a 4000 mile trip you may well run out of time to finish unless you are retired.
.
We're all different in what we like on our tours.
We're even different, ourselves, from day to day and from one circumstance to another.

What might be a lovely, scenic ride on a beautiful day could be a nightmare on a rainy day with headwinds.
When the weather is challenging, I rarely opt for the longer scenic route.
But busy roads can also be extra dangerous in poor conditions - not to mention the spray.
Me and my bike look like a Jackson Pollock painting after one of those days.

On my trip this summer, I had a rear derailleur cable snap. (Fully-housed and impossilbe to jerry-rig)
So I rode part of the way on I-90 to have less climbing with only one gear (high) available for 80 miles.
But people here who know me know I almost always choose the back road, even if it means more miles.
I know what's around the bend on an interstate - a McDonalds's, a Motel 6, and a Cenex truckstop.
But who knows where the back road will take you?
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Old 08-08-22, 06:53 AM
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Originally Posted by jamawani
...



....
Fortunately it looks like there is at least a foot and a half of shoulder to the outside of the rumble strip in the above photo. You might be in trouble if you have a two wheel trailer or a trike, but that is a very small minority. That said, my ACA trip in Glacier had two Bike Friday riders with two wheel trailers and one trike for three out of thirteen riders.

The rumble strip in the photo below is harder to see in the photo, more than half of the shoulder was rumble strip. And it was terrible, when you hit it even your teeth felt like they were about to rattle out of your head. Less than a foot of shoulder to the right of the rumble strip. And to the left of it in the traffic lane, the traffic could not move over much to pass with the fence where it was.



Fortunately there was only light traffic.
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Old 08-08-22, 06:59 AM
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Originally Posted by jamawani
...
On my trip this summer, I had a rear derailleur cable snap. (Fully-housed and impossilbe to jerry-rig)
So I rode part of the way on I-90 to have less climbing with only one gear (high) available for 80 miles.
...
Some have told me I should not bother carrying a spare shifter and brake cable, but I keep carrying them. I never needed one yet on a tour, but I expect I will some day. I also carry spare spokes, tools to remove the cassette, and ... ... am starting to get off topic again.
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Old 08-08-22, 07:50 AM
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IME, the high speed traffic adrenaline rush can only carry me a mile or two. After that, it's a background hike in blood pressure perhaps, but I just settle down and grind it out. I'm not dawdling by any means, but neither am I pushing hard; just keeping the pedals spinning.

Of course terrain has something to do with it. For instance, the Walcott Junction to Sinclair, WY stretch that was mentioned, from Walcott the road was slightly downhill to the river. By the time we crossed the river, the trucks were just background noise -- except for the Walmart trucks that would not change lanes, those gave us the semi surf! Similarly, the access road from Ft. Chiswell to Wytheville, VA was a gradual decline followed by a gradual climb. Still, that stretch had some much traffic on the adjacent interstate that I was really glad to get back on U.S. 11 on the south side of town.

I suppose a corollary question would be, how do you enjoy the sights along a bike tour route? I tend toward a pedal, coast, and stop progression. For an interstate (or much of Kansas) I can see most of what scenery there is while pedaling. Sometimes I'll come around a curve and I'll stop pedaling and just coast to enjoy the view. And usually less than a dozen times a day I'll stop because something just takes my breath away (or I'm beat from climbing and there's something to take a picture of). Shoulders or pull-outs encourage stopping or coasting; narrow roads with traffic encourage steady pedaling.
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Old 08-08-22, 09:27 AM
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Of course you go faster when the 70 mph traffic is pushing the air along. It's not just semis either. I call it the traffic vortex.
Every time I go out on the highway, I have to deal with busy ones for 10 miles at least. The more traffic the more the boost.
Saturday I rode the rolly divided highway going west 62 miles out and back. A few times I was chugging up the hill and a truck gave me a boost. Nice.

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Old 08-08-22, 11:07 AM
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Originally Posted by jamawani
In some places there are not any NEARBY or EASY options.
Usually there is a dirt road option - often rough.
Often there is a paved option - but with significant extra miles.

On the Parks, Peaks & Prairies ACA route that I helped develop -
It's pretty empty between Gillette and Buffalo in Wyoming.
I-90 is 68 miles - a moderate day. US 14/16 is 98 miles.
US 14/16 is beautiful with light traffic, but many riders opt for I-90.
It's funny, folks are cycling 4000 miles and balk at an extra 30.

US 20 in Nebraska is sweet. US 20 in much of Iowa sux.
It's possible, now, to take the old highway or county roads across Iowa.


US 20 in the Nebraska Sandhills. Scenic, empty, and with shoulders.

US 20 east of Boise is twinned with I-84 as your photo shows.
From Vale, Oregon you can bypass Boise via Givens Hot Springs and avoid I-84.



US 20 climbing up to Goodale's Cutoff in Idaho. Way busier in 2022 than it was back in 2003.
I don't remember the rumble strips on 20 through the Sandhills. For most of the ride through Wyoming, Nebraska,and Iowa the traffic was not too bad. But that was 2007.

I agree, but on this trip we were still working. It took us 74 days, and I still had to call my boss and tell her that I needed 2 more weeks. The only side trips we took were exploring the small towns near our camping spot. We still talk about going back and explore more of northern Nebraska. We are retired now and we are a lot more casual about our mileage and route.

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Old 08-08-22, 01:36 PM
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A little off topic but. . . . . . .
Northwest Nebraska







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Old 08-08-22, 04:24 PM
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Originally Posted by jamawani
I don't have scientific proof, but - -
Yes, we much prefer quiet roads. When faced with busy connectors...it is time to add a bit of energy. We just finished a wonderful tour of the Gaspe peninsula. When roads have higher traffic we increase our pace. But we are aware it is temporary, since we have planned a route that minimizes traffic...connectors are necessary in a long tour. Last year we toured through much of the midwest. We tend to avoid ACA (A to B) routes such as US 2. US 2 is very safe but noisy, so we planned a route off of 2. It added >150 miles, but who cares, it was less traffic. It is all about scenery, being outside, and minimal car traffic on tour.
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