this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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Bicycles

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Today I did my first 20 mile (33km) ride on my hardtail XC bike. I learned how to ride a bike about 1.5 months ago, but I've been riding pretty consistently since I learned. I ride exclusively in the city, it's a very walkable city, but the paths aren't always the best. I did 33km in 2 hours 53 minutes, not including breaks for water or to eat.

I see people saying that 10MP/H (16KM/H) average is a good average to shoot for, but i can't even get my average above 7.1MPH (11.5KM/H), even on shorter rides. What am I doing wrong here? How are people going so freaking fast on bikes in cities?

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[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 days ago (6 children)

Besides purpose built bikes for speed and distance, swapping out tires for a different tread can make a large difference. If you aren't doingactualy technical trails and just like road or flat gravel you can get a tire that has some nubs on the outer sides but a smooth patch down the center for way less resistance when riding. When I switch to my winter tires the bikes is so much slower

[–] ThePiedPooper@discuss.online 1 points 4 days ago (5 children)

Could you possibly recommend what sort of tires these would be? I occasionally go down gravel trails but no jumps or logs or anything like that, just like dirt trails. Would those still be okay on these tires?

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago

It really depends on the type of dirt, and how wet. Most of my summer the ground is hardpack or maintained crushed gravel. So I swap to a hybrid city tire, I don't need lots of tread. That's why I have the winter set with nubs and carbide studs for other weather. Is there a bike shop or two in the local area of the trails you ride? They can recommend a good tire.

But don't worry about speed/time, just go have fun :)

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