As should be obvious from the photo at the top-left corner of this page, I like cycling. What was not so obvious to me until recently is that I'm no slowpoke!
I was out cycling on Friday when I decided to time myself to see how fast I could go on a short sprint. (I don't own a speedometer.) So I rode from my home to the Harbourfront train station. No particular reason why I chose that landmark except that it was a nice distance.
So I timed myself and came up with a time of just over 8 minutes, including brief halts at red-lights. Probably just over 7 minutes of actual cycling time.
When I got home, I checked the distance and found it was about 5.5 km.
That left me with the mind-boggling speed of 41 km/h! This on a simple mountain bike. (I can't afford a proper road bike.) And without making allowances for traffic lights. If I assumed 7 and a half minutes after red lights and all that rot, my speed went up to an incredible 44 km/h.
Obviously, I thought to myself, I've mistimed myself.
So I tried it again yesterday. But this time, not only did I make sure to time myself properly, I also said I'd make it a round trip, so that it wasn't just an all-out sprint.
Result? 11 km in 18 minutes (not counting a brief breather of 2 minutes). That translates to about 36 km/h. Not bad at all!
Next goal: 30 km/h over 25 km. Not an unachievable goal but should still be a challenge. (FYI: I usually cycle 15-20 km per session. Which really isn't that much -- less than an hour's worth.)
And now back to our regular scheduled programming...
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