I don’t ride fast enough to need a faster bike.
You know: a newer bike, a lighter bike, a bike with 12 cogs in the back, a bike with a carbon-fiber frame.
My average speed this year has been somewhere around 12.5 miles per hour.
Tandem ride? 12.5 mph. Tricycle ride? 12.5 mph. Fixed-gear bike? Well, this morning, just over 13 mph. But usually? 12.5 mph.
Riding with a frame bag? 12.5 mph. Seat bag? 12.5 mph. Handlebar bag? 12.5 mph.
It just doesn’t make any difference.
Do I remember riding faster? Sure. Once I rode from Peoria to Columbia, Missouri, 247 miles, at 14.5 mph, including stops. I used to ride a 10-mile time trial course at a tick over 20 mph. Back in the early ‘80s, when I was in top wheel-sucking form in a group of 26 riders, I rode a hundred miles at 25 miles an hour.
Anyone can ride fast when the pack parts the wind.
(The second century that day, the one I rode by myself, took seven hours, or 14.3 mph.)
These days, I’m not too worried about speed. I’m happy to ride, period.
But I have collected all the parts I need to turn my Sekai into a fixed-gear bike with aero bars. And the old time trial course is right where I left it.
I even have a pair of 150mm crank arms that might allow me to tuck out of the wind without kicking myself in the gut.
The bike should look just ridiculous enough that I won’t be able to take it seriously.
Which means it might just be a lot of fun.
Good enough for me.
April 5, 12.6 miles plus 1.
16incheswestofpeoria 
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