[Delk]

It's quite possible that the main reason he's taking nearly the same time is because he's now more fit. It's also quite possible that the improvements in conditioning only really became visible once he stopped doing it as intensively, as sufficient rest is also important.

I have kind of noticed that trying to ride faster can bring diminishing results in terms of time, though. This is mostly from commutes -- I rarely go on pure exercise rides nowadays and I never really time or measure them if I do -- but going from a semi-leisurely pace to one of actual exertion seems to cut my travel times by less than 20 percent.

I used to commute ~45 to 50 minutes to a previous job by bike, and increasing the intensity from moderate (getting a bit sweaty but not feeling real strain) to some significant exertion might have won me five minutes. Going all out might have theoretically won me a bit more but probably still in the teens in terms of percentage. Granted there were intersections, traffic signals etc. along the commute, so I couldn't really just keep a steady pace and that might also have an effect on how much you can gain, but there were also stretches of several kilometres where I didn't have to stop.

I don't necessarily buy the two-minute difference but I can buy the diminishing returns of increasing intensity.

[hot_gril]

Diminishing returns for sure. I usually bike leisurely to work cause I don't want to show up sweaty, and it's not a whole lot slower. I only bike fast if I want to get fit.

[__jambo]

Yeah, it's possible that all the pushing he did before made him fit enough he could pull it off.

It's just more dumb mark-manson like marketing stuff. There's no knowledge here.