Ride Journal: 7/15/2008

I had 2 goals for today’s ride. The first was see how fast I could go on my new bike, which meant that I had to find a relatively stop-sign-free stretch of road. The second goal was to see how my single-speed bike worked on a hill. This route provided everything I needed.

The stretch of road alongside the river parkway has very few stop signs and almost no traffic, excellent location for a speed test. Before I exhausted myself in the heat, I was probably going 15-20 miles an hour, which is perfect for my needs. And I’d guess that I wasn’t close to the bike’s top speed. With some practice, and a cooler day, I can certainly go faster.

The hill I wanted to try is from the river road up to about 40th avenue along 33rd street. It’s no monster climb, but it served as a good first test of my bike’s abilities. I intentionally geared the bike a bit low in order to make hills slightly easier, and it seems to have worked. The climb proved no trouble at all. I didn’t even have to leave the saddle.

Length: 3.6 miles
Time: ~20 minutes (I don’t keep very close track of the time)