Bicycles

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Why am I so slow at cycling? (discuss.online)

submitted 5 days ago by ThePiedPooper@discuss.online to c/bicycles@lemmy.ca

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Today I did my first 20 mile (33km) ride on my hardtail XC bike. I learned how to ride a bike about 1.5 months ago, but I've been riding pretty consistently since I learned. I ride exclusively in the city, it's a very walkable city, but the paths aren't always the best. I did 33km in 2 hours 53 minutes, not including breaks for water or to eat.

I see people saying that 10MP/H (16KM/H) average is a good average to shoot for, but i can't even get my average above 7.1MPH (11.5KM/H), even on shorter rides. What am I doing wrong here? How are people going so freaking fast on bikes in cities?

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[–] ThePiedPooper@discuss.online 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

So the shocks don't really keep anything from breaking, they're purely for comfort.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Well, shocks can also keep the wheels touching the ground more often on bumpy terrain, for better traction. Think climbing a hill on rooty, rocky singletrack, without losing traction and therefore momentum.

But yeah, no: In order to get to the point where you actually need suspension to stop the frame snapping in half or something like that, you've gotta be doing some real X-Games shit. And at that point you need full suspension anyway, not just a hardtail.

(Either that, or your frame was defective and unsafe to begin with.)