rumrunn6

what is the hand signal for that?

mschwett 

i posted a while back a comparison of the same loop route done dozens of times with two bikes that were similar in many ways (position, tires, etc) but with a 15lb weight difference. the average speed over those dozens of ride for each bike was almost perfectly proportional to the weight difference, because the majority of the time on the course was spent climbing. it's also a loop, so wind tends to equalize, although not fully. the difference of those 15lb averaged about 2.5 minutes over a roughly 30 minute ride. within the set of rides for each bike, changes like tires and wheels and clothing and temperature and even wind had a maximum effect of a minute or so.

i've since continued to ride the exact same loop, and the variation in my own output and the wind is about a minute.

so i would say, if a majority of the time of a route is spent climbing - and especially if the descent velocity is skill limited - then the biggest modifiable factor is actually weight. which makes sense, because the biggest force you're fighting is gravity, not friction. this is a 6.85 mile loop with 917 feet of climbing.

livedarklions

1 finger. Steer clear of the people holding up 2.

squirtdad

speed and efficiency 2 different things, but my take

Motor all comes down to motor for speed and effiency
Wind is impacts speed hugely... at your back you feel super human at your front you feel miserable (rode in my home town of Chinook, MT a couple of summers ago, for got about wind, had so much wind i could not coast on downhills)
Bike type, nothing more efficent and speedy than classic road bike position with drop bars....also make it easier to avoid some wind speed loss by getting in drops
Tires/wheels High end tires are the best thing for ride, efficiency, speed and efficiency bonus point for good quality, light enough wheelset
Condition of components (tuned and lubed) more important than how high or low end
Temperature: I know that I ride slower when super hot to avoid heat issues. control this by not exceeding a certain HR using an HRM
Riding surface for sure....ride slower on loose gravel, than on packed gravel or roads

weight, age don't make much difference to me

on thing not listed is elevation if you are a coastal person like me and go to the mountains speed and efficiency take a hit

of course whatever the color your favorite bike is, that is clearly faster

CliffordK

Get the right chain, and right chain lube, and you should be able to go 101 miles in the time it would ordinarily take you to ride 100 miles.

wolfchild

Riding in extreme cold is just as demanding as riding in extreme heat. It takes a lot of extra effort to ride in extreme cold...But like I said in my previous post nothing compares to a strong wind...A strong wind is the No.1 factor that will slow down a cyclist more than anything else.

Eric F 

For some folks, that time matters. At 20mph, it equates to about 3 minutes.

Eric F 

I thought it was my fat @$$ slowing me down. I'm going with "it was the wind" from now on. Thanks!

livedarklions

My point was heat stroke can put you in the hospital or even kill you. It's not even a question of being demanding, it's a question of regulating your effort to not put yourself in peril. It's not even a matter of fitness, you can be extremely fit and heat stroke, especially if you're not accustomed to it. Too fast, and you could overheat from too much effort, too slow and you can overheat from lack of evaporative effect. Extreme cold has its own dangers, but they are very different from heat's.
Wind is bloody obvious enough that I don't need to discuss it. It's already all over the thread.

wolfchild

I agree that extreme heat has its dangers...But so does extreme cold which can result in hypothermia or frostbite. Regulating your effort is just as important in the cold as it is in the heat. A simple mechanical issue such as a flat tire is a lot more difficult to deal with when out in the cold. My experience with riding in the cold is that when you stop the body starts to chill very fast and if you don't start moving soon it can get to a point where it becomes extremely difficult to get warm again. Dressing for the cold is a lot more involved than dressing for the heat. So yeah any type of temperature extremes has their own unique risks and hazards.

livedarklions

Fair enough, but I don't think you have the same "I need to slow myself down" issue with cold weather. As we've discussed before, I used to ride in cold , but really can't do it anymore due to a lung injury that gets exacerbated by breathing too much cold air. I'm pretty sure the resulting insistent coughing fit would affect my speed and efficiency.

Lombard

You're both obviously correct. I think the bottom line is to listen to your body. The symptoms will likely be there. As far as heat, if you have enough water left in your water bottles, it's pretty obvious what you have to do to cool down.

livedarklions

I got heat exhaustion as a kid once, and my memory is it really snuck up on me very suddenly. More like a switch got thrown than a gradual descent.

If you go into heat stroke, the solutions are not at all obvious or easy and it's definitely a life-threatening condition. I've never experienced it (fortunately), but it's apparently very confusing as the initial symptoms may include feeling cold and your ability to think is impaired.

Hypothermia is liewise awful, but I think it's a lot harder for it to sneak up on you than heat exhaustion.

As a nursing student in the early 1980s, I saw a patient in a Minneapolis burn ward who decided to go jogging in shorts at -30 degrees Fahrenheit. That resulted in the equivalent of 3rd degree burns all over his legs. Pretty sure that was also a psych issue.

OldTryGuy

My bilateral Orchiectomy - Orchidectomy in April 2015 thanks to diagnosis of prostate cancer. All other items mentioned are secondary in my case and if you disagree -- have one and you will understand.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/healt...67-orchiectomy

Lombard

Are you sure you aren't confusing heat stroke with heat exhaustion? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought heat exhaustion comes first and is a warning sign of the next thing to come which would be heat stroke. Recalling my first-aid training, with heat exhaustion, you can feel cold and clammy and aren't necessarily dehydrated. By the time you have heat stroke, your skin is hot, you are dehydrated and your thinking is impared - a true medical emergency.

Hypothermia and frost bite however can happen independently of one another. With hypothermia, there is a drop on core temperature. It is said that early symptoms of hypothermia are grumble, stumble and mumble. There can also be uncontrolled shivering, though in advanced stages, you don't shiver anymore - again, a medival emergency.

Jogging in shorts at -30F is just crazy with a capital C.

livedarklions

No, I got heat exhaustion without getting heat stroke. We agree The point is that the worse stages of heat exhaustion which are the precursor to stroke can involve getting "chilled". It's counter-intuitive that the cure for that is cooling off, so that may be a lost last chance to stave off heat stroke.

As to the jogger, yeah, he damn near died. Full thickness burns all over his legs.

rumrunn6

got hypothermia one time SCUBA diving in the Long Island sound. stayed out too long. got back to the dive van & my fingers stopped working. couldn't unzip my wetsuit. coach had to do it for me

got heat exhaustion one very hot summer day. riding a lot of slow, soft terrain & got a little lost & rode longer than planned. barely had enough water. felt "strange" laid down on the forest trail for a good 20 minutes before I was able to get myself back on the bike for an easy roll into a pond for a cooling swim, which brought me back to life

livedarklions

I had an incident a couple years ago where I went winter hiking, took a short drive to a deli, then took about 5 minutes to get my paralyzed fingers to pull out my wallet, then another couple minutes to fish out the credit card. I had to assure the poor cashier who patiently watched this that I wasn't having a stroke. The signature on the credit card slip was hilarious.

I drove with my mittens on, and hadn't noticed what was going on with my fingers on the drive.

rob214

for me it's the fat ass on top of my bike, I do lots of group rides and from what I see it's never the bike.

Randoo

When riding for the sake of excercise, where actual speed is not important but rather energy spent - does it matter how efficient your bike/clothes are? Or you can wear anything you want on 20 year old bike with bad tire pressures and your body receives the same quality excercise.

Lombard

Yikes! I was swimming in the ocean once where after about 20 minutes, my fingers and toes felt numb. When I got out of the water, I felt like I was in slow motion and was walking like a sloth. The air temp was warm, so I recovered fairly quickly. I found out later the water temp was 58 degrees! Granted I was about half the age I am now and twice as stupid, LOL!

livedarklions

It depends on how you define "quality". It's not an objective measurable variable. I really enjoy riding my 28 y.o. Serotta, so I'm motivated to keep riding it for several hours. If I didn't like the bike I was riding, I might find reasons to shorten the ride or avoid it entirely. The worst workout is the one you can't make yourself do.

Bad tire pressures aren't generally a good idea and air is actually free, so I don't get that one.

Welcome to the forums, btw.

PeteHski

I don't disagree with your data, but it shows the flaw in trying to rank various factors universally. Firstly 15 lb is a relatively large change. If you already have a lightweight bike and you are not overweight, then there is not much scope to make that kind of weight saving. How do we compare unit changes in weight vs unit changes in other factors like wind speed or aero drag? Riding a different loop with different variations in other factors could give a very different result. The obvious one would be a dead flat course on open ground in a very windy area. Then wind and aero would be king and weight would be almost inconsequential.