What would experience Cokerheads say was a reasonable average speed for a
Coker commute?
At the beginning of the year I took delivery of a new bike, after riding
the same cheap ATB for 7 years until I could afford the expensive
recumbent that I really wanted. Apart from looking forward to finally
getting bent, I’d been looking forward to having 2 bikes so that I could
ride the spare to work while taking my time over maintenance jobs on the
other. But a few weeks later, I finally decided the old ATB wasn’t worth
maintaining any longer.
Because I don’t want to have to resort to driving to work at any time,
I’ve been thinking about getting a replacement hack bike. But it occurred
to me that if I can manage a reasonable commuting speed on a Coker, then I
won’t need another bike and I can probably justify the cost of the Coker.
My commute is 5.3 miles, mostly flat, 4 miles of it on a cyclepath. On a
bike, I typically use about a 65-70" gear at a cadence of about 90rpm. I’m
quite capable of maintaining a faster cadence on a unicycle, but 170 rpm
may be pushing it a bit. The ride takes 20-25 minutes (including stops for
traffic lights, junctions and cyclepath barriers), and if I bought a Coker
I wouldn’t want it to take much longer than that - bearing in mind that
I’ve only once commuted by muni because I’m far too lazy to get up15
minutes earlier.
On a longer distance ride which would not include stopping at stop lights, I average about 12 mph. That’s probably a little higher than the typical unicyclist, though. Obviously stopping at the stop lights will bring that down quite a bit too. I don’t have a cycle computer on my coker to see what my average speed is when commuting in the city.
danny@speedy5.freeserve.co.uk writes: >My commute is 5.3 miles, mostly flat, 4 miles of it on a cyclepath. On a >bike, I typically use about a 65-70" gear at a cadence of about 90rpm. >I’m quite capable of maintaining a faster cadence on a unicycle, but 170 >rpm may be pushing it a bit. The ride takes 20-25 minutes (including >stops for traffic lights, junctions and cyclepath barriers), and if I >bought a Coker I wouldn’t want it to take much longer than that - bearing >in mind that I’ve only once commuted by muni because I’m far too lazy to >get up15 minutes earlier.
I began riding to work on a 26" Semcycle a few weeks ago. This is in NYC
traffic, tho I mainly keep on the sidewalks. My commute is about 8 miles,
and I found I could average about 8.5 mph, arriving in under an hour.
Two days ago, I rode along a special path recently created (not quite
finished, actually) that goes nearly the whole distance. On this non-car
(and nearly empty) path, I averaged 11mph.
On a Coker, I comfortably ride on a bike path 5.4 miles long in about 26
minutes, tho there are big hills a few times, so I imagine that you could
easily cover that same distance under the conditions you describe in about
35 - 40 minutes, faster as you get more accustomed to it.
I average about 8.5-9.5mph most mornings. That’s over about 2 miles and
includes starting, four very slow sets of traffic lights, two subways and
nasty London traffic. It was a bit slower before I got idling the coker
sorted out enough to do it at traffic lights.
If I had a nice cyclepath to go along it would probably go up to 10-12mph
depending how tired I was, you’re almost certainly a lot healthier than me
if you ride bikes a lot. You might be able to go faster with shorter
cranks too. 12mph is about the maximum speed I can keep going comfortably
at the moment, but there’s definately scope for a bit more.
The Coker has a wheel circumference of about 287 cm, so I think 90rpm
would mean about 15kph or 9.7mph or something like that if I got my
sums right.
“Danny Colyer” <danny@speedy5.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message news:9bv9vl$jl0$2@news8.svr.pol.co.uk… > What would experience Cokerheads say was a reasonable average speed for > a Coker commute? > > At the beginning of the year I took delivery of a new bike, after riding
the > same cheap ATB for 7 years until I could afford the expensive recumbent
that > I really wanted. Apart from looking forward to finally getting bent, > I’d been looking forward to having 2 bikes so that I could ride the > spare to work while taking my time over maintenance jobs on the other. > But a few weeks later, I finally decided the old ATB wasn’t worth > maintaining any longer. > > Because I don’t want to have to resort to driving to work at any time,
I’ve > been thinking about getting a replacement hack bike. But it occurred to
me > that if I can manage a reasonable commuting speed on a Coker, then > I won’t need another bike and I can probably justify the cost of > the Coker. > > My commute is 5.3 miles, mostly flat, 4 miles of it on a cyclepath. On a > bike, I typically use about a 65-70" gear at a cadence of about 90rpm.
I’m > quite capable of maintaining a faster cadence on a unicycle, but 170 rpm
may > be pushing it a bit. The ride takes 20-25 minutes (including stops > for traffic lights, junctions and cyclepath barriers), and if I > bought a Coker
I > wouldn’t want it to take much longer than that - bearing in mind that > I’ve only once commuted by muni because I’m far too lazy to get up15 > minutes earlier. > > – > Danny Colyer (remove your.mind to reply) > http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/danny.html "The secret of life > is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made" - > Groucho Marx
joe_marshall@bigfoot.com writes: >I average about 8.5-9.5mph most mornings. That’s over about 2 miles and >includes starting, four very slow sets of traffic lights, two subways and >nasty London traffic. It was a bit slower before I got idling the coker >sorted out enough to do it at traffic lights.
I think that if I had all that to ride thru, I’d opt foro the smaller and
more manoeuverable 26" or 28". On those, riding mostly on sidewalks while
zigging thru lots of peds at times, I average 8mph and hit 11mph at times
(highest might be 13). It’s more fun in some ways, and also better or
shopping etc…
Danny Colyer I asked: > What would experience Cokerheads say was a reasonable average speed for > a Coker commute?
Thanks for the input.
I can very comfortably average 6.5mph (110rpm) on a 20", and 8mph (104rpm)
on a 26" (top speeds are a smidgen under 12mph and 15mph respectively).
Gilby’s 12mph average on a Coker equates to about 112rpm, so I ought to be
able to match that with a bit of practice, specially if I fit 5" cranks.
When I first got my recumbent I averaged less than 13mph for a few weeks
while I was getting used to the new riding position. I had no problems
getting up a bit earlier to cope with that, so I ought to be able to
manage a regular Coker commute.
I’m coming dangerously close to talking myself into ordering a Coker. My
wife will be pleased.
At my best, I’ve averaged a bit over 12 mph on my 6.5 mile commute to
work. It’s overall a little downhill, with some climbs and a little
bit of riding through traffic. Mostly just smooth bikepath. A usual
day is more like
11.5mph average. Over the same route I average about 18 on a MTB (when
feeling strong).
I would plan on 1.5x the time from bike to Coker, but for this kind of
distance, it’s so fun that you probably won’t mind getting up a tiny bit
earlier. Better workout too.
Have fun,
Nathan
“Danny Colyer” <danny@speedy5.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message news:9bv9vl$jl0$2@news8.svr.pol.co.uk… > What would experience Cokerheads say was a reasonable average speed for > a Coker commute? > > At the beginning of the year I took delivery of a new bike, after riding
the > same cheap ATB for 7 years until I could afford the expensive recumbent
that > I really wanted. Apart from looking forward to finally getting bent, > I’d been looking forward to having 2 bikes so that I could ride the > spare to work while taking my time over maintenance jobs on the other. > But a few weeks later, I finally decided the old ATB wasn’t worth > maintaining any longer. > > Because I don’t want to have to resort to driving to work at any time,
I’ve > been thinking about getting a replacement hack bike. But it occurred to
me > that if I can manage a reasonable commuting speed on a Coker, then > I won’t need another bike and I can probably justify the cost of > the Coker. > > My commute is 5.3 miles, mostly flat, 4 miles of it on a cyclepath. On a > bike, I typically use about a 65-70" gear at a cadence of about 90rpm.
I’m > quite capable of maintaining a faster cadence on a unicycle, but 170 rpm
may > be pushing it a bit. The ride takes 20-25 minutes (including stops > for traffic lights, junctions and cyclepath barriers), and if I > bought a Coker
I > wouldn’t want it to take much longer than that - bearing in mind that > I’ve only once commuted by muni because I’m far too lazy to get up15 > minutes earlier. > > – > Danny Colyer (remove your.mind to reply) > http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/danny.html "The secret of life > is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made" - > Groucho Marx >
Nathan Hoover wrote: > I would plan on 1.5x the time from bike to Coker, but for this kind of > distance, it’s so fun that you probably won’t mind getting up a tiny bit > earlier. Better workout too.
Seems reasonable.
I munied to work this morning, just to see what sort of speed I’d manage.
I decided that if I averaged 9mph I’d definitely order a Coker, otherwise
I’d think about it a bit more.
At about 3/4 distance, I realised that I’d been relaxing a bit too much
when I discovered that I was averaging 7.7 mph. Over the final mile and a
half I increased that to 7.9. The effects of only having ridden at
conventions for the last 3 years were obvious. My unicycling fitness is
not what it once was - if I were to start unicycling to work even just
once a week, that speed could improve.
Still, the fact that I rode the entire 5.3 mile distance (and back again)
with no unintentional dismounts and never any difficulty mounting
indicates that I’m a much more skilled unicyclist than the first time I
rode this route ( http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/hypermail/0470.html
), even if nowhere near as fit.
I could do with a bit more variety of exercise. If a Coker encouraged me
to unicycle more by using it to commute, that’d be a good thing. I think I
really want to talk myself into getting a Coker.
> I could do with a bit more variety of exercise. If a Coker encouraged me > to unicycle more by using it to commute, that’d be a good thing. I think > I really want to talk myself into getting a Coker.
Danny you need a coker.
–
Euro-cycle 2001 20 - 22 July Plymouth UK A european unicycle convention http://www.eurocycle.org
Richard Loxley wrote: > - Richard > > (who now knows he’s not going to have any company at the back of our > rides now that Danny’s getting a coker)
I’m sure I’ll still stick to the muni for most of those group rides.
They’d just be too slow on a Coker.
Speaking of which, we must go out for another muni ride sometime (with
Catherine on her bike, enjoying being able to go faster than me). Up to
Safeways for an ice cream and back again, again? Or maybe down to Bitton
station for an ice cream and back again. Or drive to the Severn Bridge
services, finish what we started back in September and have an ice cream
on each side of the border. Anyone fancy joining us for that?