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?
If most of your riding is on paved surfaces, you want “city bike tires.” For your bike, they’ll be roughly 26x1.5"-2.0" and they’ll be relatively smooth instead of knobby. Better ones will have features like extra puncture resistance and retroreflective sidewalls.
Random example from an image search:
The “some nubs on the outer sides but a smooth patch down the center” type of tire the commenter above recommended would look something like this…
…but honestly, I’d probably go for a full-blown city tire instead unless you’re regularly riding on loose surfaces, not just “occasionally.”