This morning’s ride was really good again. I was pretty lucky with the lights and it wasn’t windy so I could really fly. I only just missed an average of 14 MPH and did by far my best time of 21:47.6 (ride time) and 22:36.5 (exercise time).
There are 2 reasons why I am suddenly going so much quicker. I think the main one is putting my saddle up a couple of inches – it makes my legs MUCH more efficient when I am pedalling. The second change is that I am now pedalling at a much higher cadence and am using the middle front ring instead of the big one.
When using the big front ring (highest gears) I only ever really used 1–5 on a regular basis and only went above that at 1 place on my commute going down a hill. When using the middle ring the gears are generally lower and I use 1-7. This means that I start off in a lower gear from lights and that there is less of a change in ratio when I change the gears at the back.
The generally lower gears that I am using mean that my cadence is much higher. This morning my average cadence was 81 and the maximum was 100.
These changes allow me to go much quicker, mean that I don’t get sore knees, mean that my backside doesn’t get as sore (more weight being supported by the pedals) and mean that I am not sore at the end of the ride. Despite really pushing it yesterday this morning my legs felt fine.
On the way back today I didn’t try to get a particular average and instead took it pretty easy. It was incredibly windy again – when the wind was blowing across my path it actually pushed the front wheel sideways and made it difficult to go in a straight line. I didn’t want to struggle against that all the way home so I took it easy. I still averaged nearly 12 MPH though but was just over the hour.
On the way home I stopped at Evans Croydon as the bike has started to make a funny noise. It sounds like it’s coming from the bottom bracket. Each turn of the pedals produces a clicking noise. The man at Evans had a ride and could hear the noise. He tightened everything up including the pedals but the noise actually got worse. I’ll see if Evans Canary Wharf can have a look at it tomorrow.
O: HRav:148 kCal:326 D:5.0 Av:13.9 Max:20.5 T:21:47.6
R: HRav:140 kCal:820 D:12.1 Av:11.9 Max:22.9 T:1:01:09
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