serendipitous bicycle moments…

Posted on January 31, 2009 by Dave Feucht

On the way home from work today, going across the Hawthorne Bridge, I spotted something I almost never see… someone going the same speed as me! I’ve figured out that I average somewhere in the general realm of 8-10mph (13-15km/h) or even a little below. That may be the average in Copenhagen, but that’s pretty slow for Portland. So, when I saw someone sustaining about the same speed, well, it felt nice. As we went down Hawthorne and then turned onto Ladd Avenue, and the slow speed continued, I was enjoying watching the towering cathedral of trees lining the road, and feeling an unusual sense of solidarity with the only person on the road traveling the same speed as me. As we came to the intersection of Ladd and Division, we pulled up behind a girl on an old single speed cruiser, who was riding with a guy on a recumbent bike. As we started going, I couldn’t help but notice that they were also traveling at what was a very comfortable speed for me, riding side by side, and just chatting the whole way – moving over to the side of the road as cars would go by, and then moving back again.

Serendipitous cycle moments

We moved slowly up Clinton Street, making our way past 26th and on up. The girl in front of me turned off at about 30th, and the other three of us continued along.

Serendipitous cycle moments

The two in front of me continued just chatting away, until we reached 35th, and they said a fond farewell, as the girl turned left, and the guy continued straight. I, for my part, turned right, feeling calm, peaceful, and having enjoyed my ride home more than I have in a long time.

Serendipitous cycle moments

The moral of the story – enjoy your riding. Talk to people. Look at trees, houses, clouds. Don’t fly by the city so fast you forget it’s there.

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  • 2whls3spds

    Sounds like about the right speed to me ;>)

    "Live life at the speed of bicycle…you won't miss so much"

    Aaron

  • Anonymous

    “Don’t fly by the city so fast you forget it’s there.”

    Agreed…that’s what cars are for.

  • Erik Sandblom

    I wonder if we mean the same thing by “average”. Average speed means the speed including stops, such as traffic lights. So if the average speed is 15 km/h, that means you’re actually going considerably faster than that except when you’re stopping at lights.

    The average speed in Copenhagen is 15 km/h, but on Nørrebrogade it’s 20 km/h because they have a green wave so you don’t run into any red lights. So even though the average speed is 15, the speed people actually ride at is a lot higher.

    The Green Wave Spreads

    That’s why bicycle messengers are often faster than cars for delivery. It doesn’t matter that the car is cruising at 50 km/h while the cyclist strains to maintain 30 km/h. The key is to keep moving along, not to have a high top speed.

  • melancholic optimist

    I think we do mean the same thing by average… for the most part, the areas of Portland I ride through on a daily basis are pretty friendly for cyclists, and I don’t feel like I do an inordinate amount of stopping at stop signs, lights, etc – and I keep up an average speed over my entire work commute of about 8-10mph (12-16kph).

    It really just depends on the day and how things go as to how much difference there is between that and other cyclists around me, but on most of my trips, once a cyclist passes me, I never see them again. I follow pretty well-traveled routes, so I don’t think it’s entirely because they all just go different directions.

    Certainly there are times where another cyclist passes me going much faster, but I catch up to them at a traffic light or whatever, but I think that’s the minority.

    Anyway, whether the average speeds are different or not, the speeds between stop signs/lights are definitely very different, so it was nice just to have other people I was riding along with, instead of watching disappear into the distance :)