Harvieu25

against yourself?

With the stopwatch being the greatest indicator of visible gains, do you have a loop or route you occasionally like to run and see your time vs distance vs effort?

I've only done this for time once so far, but was very excited when doing a route for the second time I shaved off an enormous amount of time, with only 2 weeks between efforts.

tedder

I do this with Strava. Here's an example.

ltxi

Sorta sometimes but not much. Always happy to see a havin' a really good day new personal best over a regular route but that's never a focus when setting out. And if I can't capture on a Velo7 combined with my memory it just don't matter and I don't really care.

FBOATSB

No, I don't think so. With my poor health and condition issues my goal is just to get a minimum time/distance every day, now indoors due to season When outdoors my usual route includes a track I can run laps on to try to increase endurance in the given time constraints mandated by my wife who loves me

a1penguin

I compete with myself via setting a goal for number of miles per week. Speed is not really that important, but I do like to look at long term stats to see if there are positive results to increased miles or more hills.

waterfish_21

[QUOTE=Harvieu25;18286299]against yourself?

Yes.

Strava segments there are 2 that I compete with myself, the first one is a 4 mile stretch about 4 miles into my ride, its all flat on a very clean/smooth paved bike trail. It's easy because I get enough of warmup before getting there before I get too burned out, so the times are pretty constant. The second one is a small climb that is about 1 1/2 miles. It's on my way back on my daily loop but I'm usually too tired to give it all I have unless I stop for a short break at a park 1 mile before it.

I ride for fun and for fitness, competing against myself is pretty fun.

canklecat

Compete against myself, nope. I got competition out of my system years ago, in amateur sports, school and work. And I can't imagine anything less fun than messing with Strava, MapMyRide or similar stuff.

I do informally evaluate my fitness progress weekly or monthly based on how many hills I can manage without walking or resting along my usual routes, how often I stop to catch my breath, and how long I can climb out of the saddle to tackle hills without downshifting.

But my main gauge is how much I enjoyed the ride, how energized I feel later and how much I'm looking forward to the next ride.

SloButWide 

Yes. I try to have improvement goals and achievement (fun) goals. Last month, my achievement goals were "don't ride on weekends unless I want to", "50 mile ride" and "more than 350 miles this month". The weekend goal was to prevent burnout, the other two were to prevent getting lazy and to feel like I was progressing.

The improvement goals are usually MapMyRide courses or Strava segments on my commute. Most days I try for "strong but comfortable" pace, but one day a week I pick fast segments and try to go all out. Much of my commute is on multi-use paths, and much of the rest on streets without traffic. I don't make "get a PR" a goal, but "hit X mph average" for the segment.

IrishBrewer

I don't race but I compete against myself on a couple of loops I like to ride and more recently I've been trying to pick off some Strava segments that not long ago seemed impossible. Last week I got my first two KOMs (the second one only by a second). I find it good motivation to make some of the rides I do often more interesting.

RISKDR1

I do compete against myself. On one of my regular rides there is a segment that I go all out on. I have improved significantly in the last several months and in fact beat my previous best by a full mile per hour on my last Sunday ride. That improvement was over a previous best that was set two weeks before. I am 70 and am thankful that I don't know how fast I would have gone there when I was 40. I remember a 60 mile ride i did when I was around 38. I average 19.5 solo for the full 60 miles. I was not pushing anaerobic threshold. Today I could not hold that pace for 60 miles. Maybe 16 mph solo. It is all relative. I take it a year at a time. I am having a great time though.

TheLibrarian

On certain segments and sometimes I'll look at the overall time for various routes. I try to see how high of a gear I can get into comfortably on one flat/ slightly down stretch that's maybe 1/4 mile. Then there's an off road dip I try to go down and turn as fast as I can to get up the rocky other side as far as possible before having to pedal. A couple other spots where i sprint or pedal downhill just to go fast but not comparing to how much i can get on that same section of trail. Otherwise I'm not always riding the same trails or in a big rush.

Needles

As a martial artist who has practiced for over 40 years, I can say I ONLY compete with myself, no matter what I'm doing.

fietsbob

Nah, Just a tourist or utility rider now, But I Do Beat My Self Up emotionally,..

yooperbiker

If I end up riding the same route I always check my elapsed time to see if I rode it faster. Sometimes I tell myself it doesn't matter, but I check none the less and am disappointed if my time isn't better than the last time. Just can't help myself.

bmthom.gis

Sure I do, but not every ride. I use Strava.

Leebo

Nope, some of my bikes don't even have a bike computer.

indyfabz

No. I got tired of beating myself and losing to myself.

tramptrade 

I have a couple of "training" rides that I try to get the most out of every time I ride them. I will try to go a few miles further each week, or if I am pressed for time I will try and improve my time over a shorter distance.

I mostly ride semi-loaded and often a pulling a trailer, so I am not so much interested in how fast I can go. I am more interested in building endurance over a long haul. That being said, I usually try to increase my average speed over regular routes.

I don't use a computer or any app to track it, I know when I'm on or off my stride.

Stratocaster

Not really. I check my speed. I want to increase my distances. But to me it's more a matter of getting into better shape.
So even if I only do 10 miles on a certain day, I'm still getting a workout of sorts.

DMC707

Yep -- all the time

Tony Marley

I don't. I set goals for myself, and even do sprints/intervals from time to time, but I do not keep any records regarding speeds.

devianb

Sometimes, but varying traffic patterns always skews the data.

bakes1

Of course

avidone1

I use map my ride to show miles, avg. speed, and splits. I am always looking to improve in one or more categories. Currently my focus is on increasing miles.