[artificialidiot]

Riding a bike works like that. 2-3 minutes is a huge difference in terms of power output required. Headwinds can sap your power. Going slightly above your average feels like a headwind. A coach potato like me can output about a hundred watts on a good day so if you have money to spare and want to go faster, buy upgrades. 3 watts here, 2 watts there and you are at +10% ;)

[valuearb]

I ride about 100 miles a week. The author either lost form trying too hard, or really wasn’t trying that hard.

[julianlam]

Wait, so you're telling me "don't buy upgrades, ride up grades" is a lie?

I am joking, of course, but I think you're completely right in that for beginners, a small investment in upgrades (or even just a good solid bike) pays for itself in huge boosts of performance.

Of course, after that, then buying more and better things is just bad for your wallet ;)

[duopixel]

I took up biking as an adult again by biking with rental bikes in Mexico City (government owned) and they are built like tanks for durability, not for riding pleasure.

When I finally got on a "real" bike, I flew. I was much faster and agile than my bike-riding friends. Because I couldn't upgrade the bike, I had to upgrade myself, and these investments are compatible with any kind of bike (or sport, actually).

[AndrewThrowaway]

It reminds me of one video (unfortunately I can't find it at the moment) where journalist vs pro rider were racing each other with different bikes - road, city bike, old lady's bike.

What was surprising that pro on lady's bike couldn't match layman journalist on proper road bike. Basically all the energy spent on women's bike goes to flexing (heating) the frame. City bike built like tank was better as at least it was sturdy.

However it also shows that good bike is so much more important as you would think pro would match you riding anything with two wheels.

[rhn_mk1]

I'm really interested in that video. I assume that the women's bike was a steel model, since steel is supposed to be the most flexible common frame material.

Also curious about all the people who say "no surprise considering the bike".

[marcosdumay]

Do you want to move faster or do you exclusively want to excercise?