The Importance of Coasting

[ReapThaWhirlwind]

Coasting is when you stop pedaling and allow the bike's inertia to carry you. Especially for beginners, it's importance to practice your coasting, because it helps to give your metabolism some lead, and get some oxygen and metabolites into your cells. This lets everything cool down and can help to prevent dangerous lactic acid build up and asphyxiation of the cells and nerves.

Stay Safe

[ichitan]

I do something similar to this, and have thought of it as conserving energy. I try to maintain as much momentum as possible, to minimize the energy I use. I only use the brakes when necessary. If you conserve energy, you have more in reserve later in the ride.

Similar things I do.

If I go down hill to a flat road, I try to maintain a high speed for a while, to cover a decent distance quickly.

Going through a dip in the road, I go fast down, so the momentum will get me most of the way up the other side. That is provided the road is good.

I speed up just before going up a hill, so I can get further up easily.

If I come across a truck going about 30kph, I might ride in the slip stream. Not many trucks go that speed.

Going up a hill early in the ride, I often go up in a low gear, to conserve energy.

If drivers in front hit the brakes for such things as tiny bumps, I often overtake them, so I don't have to hit the brakes.

[TomC]

I've never particularly thought about it, but those are mostly things I have always done when cycling.

Those and a bit of route planning.

When I was growing up there were a couple years when I would ride to a friends house about 20 miles away once or twice a week -- perhaps more in the summers -- I quickly discovered that there were two reasonable routes between my house and my friend's house. His house was at a higher elevation, but I discovered that I could make just about the entire round trip "all downhill" by choosing a different route to and from her house.

Obviously anyone who understands topology knows that a round trip cannot be "all downhill" both ways, my trick was that one route was a mix of flat and downhill except for one short steep climb - in fact the climb was steep enough that I usually dismounted as soon as I had run our of momentum and walked my bike to the top. From there is was a gentle downhill to my friend's house. On the way home I used a different route that was all a gentle downhill.