riding my bike yesterday and hit a top speed of 27mph. pure joy as I was moving through the wind at what felt like mach speed
bikes contextualize speed. when you know what 25mph really feels like you understand that driving a car within city limits in excess of 25mph is pure madness
yeah #fuckcars
For my non-cyclists friends, you get some sense of speed by standing close next to cars flying past you. It's not the same but this exercise does highlight the absurdity of speed in cities.
yeah 40mph would be a rush. I'll work up the courage to do it eventually and when I do it'll probably just make me more upset cities allow those speeds next to sidewalks.
I'll wear a mips helmet!
And yeah, I bet she wasn't. 40 does seem like a lot. It's interesting because a 10 mph difference seems like nothing in a car, but 30-40 mph on a bike reveals just how much a leap that is.
Again bikes contextualize speed.
I didn’t have to come to a hard stop, I started feathering as the hill leveled out well ahead of the light. But that bike is a cargo bike with Serious Disc Brakes too
I haven't been brave enough to speed down a hill like that yet but I'm sure I'll be back with a whole new perspective when I do hit 40.
Cities in the US do have 40mph speed limits next to sidewalks (with motorists going 45+) which is absurd but just how absurd I will just have to find out soon!
Oh yeah, it's really freaking wild to experience. I only knew I was going that fast because the speed control sign clocked me at 37. Otherwise my brain was 100% focused on ensuring I didn't fall down and explode.
that's super irritating. passing at those speeds (especially when what they're wanting to do is speed) is wild.
and I know that behind the wheel it's difficult to understand just how fast you're going, so it's not entirely on the motorist.
this just shows how important good street design is.
once got passed while going 10mph (45 in a 35) over the speed limit (steep downhill). some drivers are physically incapable of comprehending a bike going the speed limit or faster
they passed me with like 3ft room too... but flipping the driver off was a bad idea, i got brake checked. closest i've come to actually punching out a driver (chased them down the hill but the light at the bottom was green)
yikes. motorists do dangerous stuff and sometimes it's because they don't know what it feels like to be a pedestrian/cyclist near that kind of action, but sometimes it's because they genuinely do not care about your life. both are scary.
I'm dumb too sometimes and also reveal my discontent
yup an allez sprint w/ 50mm carbon wheels. i don't hit that much often - this particular hill is basically just straight & downhill (with a big turn at the bottom i've not tried hitting at that max speed, i brake pretty hard into it down to like 40 or so)
extremely nice bike. that sounds like a ton of fun. I have a relatively light ebike (36lbs) that I honestly use as an acoustic bike most of the time, but I'm considering getting a normal road bike too though doubtful it'll be as nice. one day I might reach this level.
how long have you been riding?
allez sprints are fancy race bikes, but they're aluminum so not horribly expensive! think the new ones are $2100 or so (vs the $1500 i paid for frame). i put di2 on this but honestly could put 11spd mech 105 + some fancy wheels for ~$4k all in? compared to like $7-8k for the tarmac
It's insane that the maximum speed most ebikes are legally allowed to go is also the minimum speed 2 tons of steel operated by idiots are expected to move through residential neighborhoods
Knowing that falling off bike and slamming into the concrete/ground at even this speed would be painful and potentially harmful contextualizes everything.
And yet hitting a pedestrian with a car at 30mph has 50% fatality rate, and you feel like you're barely moving.
Cruelty baked into infra
5mph increments in a car feel like nothing, but as we know 5mph can change everything if you're outside a car. Cycling provides a good measure of speed that is even hard to get a feel for as a pedestrian (though perhaps running provides insight? I dunno I don't run)
But yeah the fear of falling 😱
I dunno about fun, I'm not much of a speed demon (I don't get the endorphin kick). But it highlit not-in-a-metal-box reality of the speed I was moving.
when i rent a car in brooklyn im always like shouting at other drivers for going over 25mph and i am always shocked at how bad the blindspots are even for small cars like priuses and sedans
the blind spots are a huge deal too because while a car is less likely to not be seen given their size, pedestrians and cyclists are significantly smaller.
we should really work on minimizing blind spots on cars
even the small cars have such large blind spots. and american cars + american streets are so bad. why are our cars so large in urban settings? they should be tiny.
40 years ago I could run quite fast. 3:56.9 for a mile, so just over 15 mph. You would not want to run into an immovable object at that speed. You would be going to hospital to be put back together. & that’s 15 mph!
Meanwhile, on the gravel bike… 😅
