Speed is the one thing that follows every ride, let alone a hybrid bike or a road bike.
For vehicles, the pursuit of speed may be the ultimate romance, whether it is how far they can go in a given time or how fast they can travel a given distance.
Many people are obsessed with speed and want to be as fast as possible on their road or hybrid bikes.
However, this article summarizes why it is more enjoyable to stop focusing on speed in your daily bicycle life.
Why would stopping to speed make biking more fun?
We hope that anyone interested will continue reading.
I stopped speeding on my bicycle.
Those days when I longed for high speed
The main point that attracted me to sports bikes was the ability to ride at speeds that city bicycles cannot reach.
With a city bike, you can ride at 20km/h no matter how hard you try, but with a road bike you can ride at 40km/h.
I used to try to come up with speedy customizations and study how to ride a faster bicycle with the sole intention of going faster.
At one time I was aiming for maximum speed on a long downhill, at another time I was attempting a time trial on a 30 km one-way commute, and at another time I was desperately chasing a road bike that I knew I couldn’t lose to.
I think it was all due to my obsession with speed.
The reason why I kept pedaling, even though I was struggling against the limits of my physical strength and gasping for breath, was because I would encounter a moment when I would think, “I’m getting winded now! I am the wind!
I continued to run with a strong awareness of speed, but one day I stopped forcing myself to go faster.
The Day I Ditched Speed and Became a Normal Bicyclist
The reason I no longer speed is safe riding.
I realized that if I went faster, I would be in proportionally more danger.
It is said that even with motorcycles and cars, the field of vision becomes narrower in proportion to the speed at which they go faster, making them more prone to accidents.
In the case of bicycles, it is thought that the more they are riding under their own power, the less time they have to look around them.
The fact of the matter is that when I was riding my bicycle at speed, I often found myself in danger, even on my commute to work, which is only 30 km each way.
The desire to run as fast as possible can lead to overreacting.
The rush to get to your destination as quickly as possible, even if only for a second, will cause you to think that the other person will yield to you when you are in a situation where either of you would yield to the other.
Instead of trying to stop at a yellow light, we decide to keep going!
This naturally led to an increase in dangerous situations.
I began to think that if I continued to ride like this, sooner or later I would have an accident.
Fortunately, I did not actually have an accident, but from that day on, I began to ride my bicycle with a greater awareness of safety rather than speed.
To be honest, I have never been disappointed with speed.
For me, speed had always been the biggest attraction and motivation for riding a bicycle.
To give up that speed would be like giving up a large part of the real appeal of bicycling, and I had mixed feelings about it, thinking that I would lose half the fun of riding.
However, once I stopped speeding, for some reason, biking became even more enjoyable.
3 Reasons Why Biking Became Even More Fun When I Stopped Speeding
I’m less likely to be in danger.
The biggest change that came from not speeding was in safety.
It was such a big change that I realized how much speed and safe riding are related.
When riders are no longer forcing themselves to speed up in order to get ahead, they will feel more relaxed and will be able to properly assess the situation around them.
They will be able to give way to other bicycles and automobiles and prioritize safety.
When I was focused on speed, I encountered many dangerous situations because I was in too much of a hurry and would run into intersections even at dangerous times
Each time I did, I often felt stressed because I was near-missed and sometimes pissed off or irritated by cars, bicycles, pedestrians, etc.
I was so focused on speed that I was riding in a way that was far removed from enjoyable cycling!
I’m no longer frustrated at stoplights.
It is fate that when you ride a bicycle in the city center, you will get stuck at traffic signals.
It is impossible to avoid getting caught at a traffic light, but if you are obsessed with speed, the time spent waiting at traffic lights becomes stressful as it is.
For example, if I am on a time attack on the road to work, getting stuck at a traffic light can lead to a fatal time loss.
This makes me very frustrated every time I get stuck at a traffic light.
It is normal to get caught at the next traffic light after the one at which you got caught, but if I am obsessed with speed, I get so frustrated that I want to scream at the slightest thing.
I get extremely stressed out when I get caught at a traffic light.
As mentioned earlier, it is impossible not to get caught by traffic signals when riding in the city, but if I am irritated and annoyed every time I do, I will not be able to afford to enjoy my bicycle.
Since I am no longer concerned about speed, I have come to accept waiting at traffic lights as a normal part of riding, and I can ride with little or no stress.
I could afford to enjoy the scenery and conditions around me.
If you focus on speed, you will only think about how fast you can ride.
And you will not have time to enjoy the scenery around you or the cityscape.
By riding at a leisurely pace, you will be able to notice new stores, and you will also be able to quickly notice changes in the changing seasons.
When you learn to enjoy the changes and discoveries in your surroundings while taking in the scenery through leisurely cycling, you will be able to enjoy even the roads you usually ride on.
When riding in urban areas, there are many traffic signals, so there is little difference in the time required to reach a destination whether you ride frantically at high speed or at a leisurely pace.
It is definitely more enjoyable to take it easy while enjoying the scenery around you than to ride through the city with a lot of fatigue.
Stop Focusing on Speed When Riding a Bicycle
There are many ways to enjoy bicycles, and as many people as there are who ride them, there are many ways to feel and enjoy them.
The ideal, however, is not to try to attain it by forcing yourself to go faster, but rather to train yourself to go faster naturally through daily effort.
Unreasonable speed and riding style are the cause of accidents.
We should be aware of traffic safety and enjoy riding bicycles safely.
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