Cycling with the Mrs she always likes to cycle behind me, I used to think that it was so I would get hit first if anything happened, BUT

We were cycling into a strong headwind which I was coping with ok but got a wee bit tired when we started going uphill, I said you can go in front if you want as she is better on hills being about 40% of my weight but she says no I’m quite happy here lol

My question is if I’m doing the majority of the work at the front (there is only 2 of us) over 20 miles how much more work would I be doing?

She is right and doing more work.

/thread closed

We were cycling into a strong headwind which I was coping with ok but got a wee bit tired when we started going uphill, I said you can go in front if you want as she is better on hills being about 40% of my weight but she says no I’m quite happy here lol

Just stop pedaling or slow right down to let her get frustrated and overtake you. Be the passive-aggressive one 😆

Maybe she just likes looking at your rear end! 😉

Edit – or doesn’t like you looking at hers! 😐

May e she thinks you need the extra workout 🙂

30%

Egg curry for dinner – she won’t stay in the danger zone for long 😀

on our long European tour it took over 2,000 miles to get Mrs Stoner to stick to my rear wheel when it was my turn in front. She would be wafting around 10 yards down the road, rather than get a drag. Conversely when I’m behind her, Im trying to climb into her lycra. In a manner of speaking, obviously….

13.6%

“People can come up with statistics to prove anything Kent. 40% of people know that!”

FFS man, up the pace and drop the bitch – it’s what I do when my kids won’t do a turn

🙄

We cycled 6,000 miles across Europe and my wife sat tucked in right behind me the whole way. We were on a tandem, though.

Snot rockets. It’s only fair.

We cycled 6,000 miles across Europe and my wife sat tucked in right behind me the whole way. We were on a tandem, though

Let me guess, you only wanted to go to the shops but she was doing the map reading?

igmc.

She clearly likes the view of you from back there.
/buns of steel

And let’s face it, if your relative dimensions are as you state, you won’t be getting as much drafting benefit as her, so it’s only sensible. 🙂

over 20 miles how much more work would I be doing?

It depends entirely on how fast you are riding. The figures typically quoted for the percentage of energy you put into air resisitance / drag are for the highest speeds you might reach on a bike – velodrome speeds. At low / typical speeds, on gravelly tarmac rather than sanded floorboards, most of the effort goes into rolling resistance not wind resistance.

Cars illustrate this well – at their top speeds they are mostly battling the air. Petty much any car (around 100bhp) you might buy could eek out 100mph. To double that – 200mph takes 5 or 6 times the BHP and a lot of consideration for aerodynamics. Formula 1 cars are only 50mph faster but need 800 to 1000BHP to achieve that. Top Fuel dragsters can get to 300mph but that takes around 8000bhp.

So on a bike at 10mph wind resistance is pretty minimal – upping the pace to 20mph takes 3 times the effort but upping it 25mph takes 6 times the effort

So over a modest distance and not at racing pace the benefits to your wife of sitting behind you are pretty slim, other than her being able to enjoy the view of your perfect ass.

Obviously it depends on various factors, but most studies I’ve read say that air resistance starts to exceed rolling resistance at around 10mph. There is definitely a benefit to drafting at 15mph.

You did give her the elbow, didn’t you?

It just annoyed me that day battling into the wind after about 40mins I said “that’s some wind the day” To which she replied “Is it, I didn’t notice” Normally I don’t mind as I know its probably better for my fitness and of course, I need to loose the weight she doesn’t.

In fact she is now 44% of my weight as I have lost about 10kg.

We averaged 16mph that day, and I didn’t take off, 1. coz I’m not fit enough and 2. We were out for an ‘easy run’

I struggle on the hills and the one outside our house is around 600m and averaging 6%, once a week I do 10 mile warm up and then finish off with hill runs 1 extra every week (currently at 5 reps)- was horsing up on my first rep quite happy and talking to myself when an actual real cyclist went passed me, I thought wtf and sped up to catch him but after 5 metres died off and thought, well he’s probably half my weight (he wasn’t but it made me feel better)

Stoner – Member

on our long European tour it took over 2,000 miles to get Mrs Stoner to stick to my rear wheel when it was my turn in front. She would be wafting around 10 yards down the road, rather than get a drag.

Same here! my wife is small, light and a great climber (has about a 30% share of road QOM’s and most of the mountainbike ones round here) but seems uninterested in saving her legs when she has 13st of windblocker gurning away at 25mph in front of her. 😕

I can’t give her the elbow Captain, it may affect my bedtime manoeuvres!