How Can I Get Faster On My Bike(25mph+)?

Question

I need to be able to compete with a car at regular street speed limits (30mph around here). I just need to be able to go pretty fast on flat ground. High gear, I know, but currently I can only get about 18-19 mph if even that. I saw a large band of cyclists casually going about 25mph and mingling with traffic. I need to go pretty fast.

Answer 1

Get an engine or something to push fire out of the end.

Answer 2

pedal faster

Answer 3

Go downhill.

Answer 4

Buy a slimmer bike and slimmer wheels.When you ride postion shoulders to break the wind, and keep your head down soem this helps a lot.

Answer 5

Stefan Schumacher and world champ Fabian Cancellara just did the most recent time trial at le Tour at 49km/h ( about 31 m/h) over an hour. Unless you're an elite cyclist, you could not keep up those speeds for more than 15 minutes by yourself. Maybe if you had 30 guys blocking the wind for you, but otherwise, 20mph is very impressive.

Answer 6

Practice makes perfect

it takes time

Answer 7

No, you don’t need to keep up with cars.  You need to ride with traffic, about a foot or so in your lane and be respectful. Follow the traffic laws, and don’t force cars to pass you over and over by running up the right side at lights.  From there it is the driver’s who are legally responsible to make safe passes of a slow moving vehicle. (your bike)

We did a century over the weekend, and three of us working together run in the low twenties.  25-30mph are race speeds for most races, and you aren’t likely to be able to do those alone.  I can ride that fast for a short time, and I consider myself a fair rider, but even I cannot maintain those speeds on my own not for very long anyway.

Answer 8

Get a lightweight road bike with ultra thin tyres, deep rimmed wheels and a set of aerobars. I'm over 40 and I can still push my road bike up to over 35 mph for short periods but it just comes down to sheer leg power rather than aerobic fitness.  When I'm on the cycle track I just focus my mind and really let rip- it's all about an explosive burst of raw energy and aggression and the ability to ignore the build up of lactic acid in your legs. The bottom line is though if you don't have a lot of condition on your quadruceps you'll find it very difficult to go at speeds in excess of 30 mph even for short periods.

Answer 9

you need to buy one of those skinny and lighter bikes because they can go fast. You also need to change your speed on your bike, there should be a thing on your bike by the handles that let's you change how the bike rides.

:]

Answer 10

Wind resistance. That's what's eating up your energy.

Race bikes can reach 25-30 if you have the legs, but it's hard to stay there.

That pack is going faster because they draft each other. This is what happens in big bike races and NASCAR too. They have a collectively lower wind resistance. Those following use 1/3 less energy than the person in front.

The fastest bikes on flat ground are these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velomobile

They don't do so well on steep hills due to weight, but cut the wind well and move right along, not to mention some weather protection.

Answer 11

One thing to remember is that even if you get up to the same speed as a car, when the car stops at the next set of lights it will do so a lot quicker than you, and you will go straight into the back.

In traffic top speed is not important, it comes down to average speed.  Road commuting I average about 16mph and I know for the first 7-8 miles in town that's faster than the cars are doing.

Answer 12

push those legs and work it boy!!!!