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Why am I so slow at cycling? (discuss.online)
submitted 1 year ago by 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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[–] 1 point 1 year ago* (7 children)

What does that even mean?

When you go down stairs you want your weight backwards over the rear wheel which is gonna add more weight to the back wheel. To "deweight" the rear wheel you'd need to lean forward which is only going to end in pain going down a stair set.

edit are you referring to going up curbs as opposed to downstairs? In which case this would be relevant?

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    I'm also struggling to understand 😅

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  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Correct. You want most of your weight over the front wheel because if you’re over the back wheel you bounce harder and you’ll get a lovely snake bite pinch flat for your troubles. You aren’t going to be completely over the front wheel just a little bit to get the back wheel lighter since you have no rear suspension.

    I ride enduro on a hardtail mtb. I used to get the dreaded snake bites until i learned how to ride stairsets.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    ERM what? "Most of your weight over the front wheel" I'm sorry but this is just blatently wrong and goes against the physics of what is happening. If most of your weight is over the front wheel you are going over the bars.

    Then you say you aren't going to be completely over the front wheel, just a little. But you just said most of your weight.

    What you are saying makes absolutely no sense and isn't even consistent across your message.

    This is bad advice that could get someone hurt man. Not cool.

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  • [–] -3 points 1 year ago

    I ride every day and down a set of stairs. If he wants more in depth info he can go watch a video.

    What i’m saying makes sense if you’ve ridden any features that require you to deweight your back wheel. Most of your weight will be over the front wheel but you yourself will be mostly center on the bike. This isn’t rocket science. If he wants to gap the stairs (doubtful since he said he learned to ride a month ago) then i’d say lean back in preperation for a bunny hop but since he isn’t then the easiest thing he can do to not fuck up his bike is to lean forward a tiny bit as he descends. He’ll try it a few times and figure out where his balance point is since it’s different for everyone. until he figures it out he’ll probably pop a few tires.

    Biking over features can get you hurt, if you only take advice from one internet stranger you’re asking for trouble anyways.

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