Road Cycling - Avevage mph during a ride?

I have been riding off and on for a 6 years. Nothing serious. I started out more recently by attaching a kiddie trailer for hauling my son around. It was great excercise, especially climbing the small hilled roads.
When I go alone, usually for about 17 miles after work, I average 17 mph. I can usually pedal @ 18-21mph on the flat ground without too much effort. I would like to get an idea of what is an average speed so I know how much I need to improve. Any tips on how to increase speed would be great.

Thanks,
Manny

take off the kiddie seat

Good One.

I will actually be visiting Toronto next weekend. Any recommendations on places to visit.

it's the speed that coant
its the bfm (Bits for minutes)
buy a hart-training wath, and work with it

Yes, I do have a heart monitor and ride with an average of 150 bpm. I just dont want to go too slow. Thanks for the reply.

Manny

Don't worry, you are not going slowly. Obviously you are not a racer so 17 mph is quite respectable. (I am slower than you are-- I average around 15 mph). There are people on the forums who average quite a bit higher than either you or I so the best advice I can give (which is the same advice I got) is go at whatever speed is best for you. Different people average different speeds. You can increase your speed if you want by doing intervals.

Originally posted by quattro100
I have been riding off and on for a 6 years. Nothing serious. I started out more recently by attaching a kiddie trailer for hauling my son around. It was great excercise, especially climbing the small hilled roads.
When I go alone, usually for about 17 miles after work, I average 17 mph. I can usually pedal @ 18-21mph on the flat ground without too much effort. I would like to get an idea of what is an average speed so I know how much I need to improve. Any tips on how to increase speed would be great.

Thanks,
Manny

If you can ride 18-21 mph solo, you are a strong recreational cyclist. I can keep up with the "A" group in our local recreational club and most of those guys are ex racers and I do about the same solo.

Average speeds are not very good indications of fitness. I used to commute. My avg speed for the commute varied from a low of 7 mph (monster headwind) to a high of 27 mph (monster tailwind). Same rider, same fitness, same route, different conditions and radically different results.

Any time you slow down, you impact your average speed - like duh. But the effects can be dramatic. I had a loop I did about 25 miles. I did it several times and just let my computer run and then I did it several times and turned it off everytime slowing down for stop signs or lights got me off my cruising speed. The difference was 2 mph in avg speed.

You can get better by training. But you are already strong. I have found that the initial fitness gains are the fastest. As you get fitter and fitter, you have to get more disciplined and scientific about training to see any improvements. I recall getting really fit once and I thought of getting very disciplined in my training so I could get fitter. And then I realized, I am a recreational cyclist and I already have a job. Keeping things in proportion may make sense. I mean 99.99% of us are never ever going to make a dime cycling. We do it for fitness and fun.

That being said, there are a number of training techniques that one can do. You go out and get yourself a heart monitor. You figure out your max heart rate. Then you train at various heart rates for different amounts of time. You know, one day you ride really hard, the next day you recover, you do a long moderate ride, then maybe intervals. That way you are working at different aspects of conditioning. The idea is that it is counterproductive to go out and hammer each and everyday - it just tears up muscles. Varying the workout allows you to rest one component whilst training another. You can find workout routines in back issues of Bicycling Magazine. Or you can find yourself an online cycling coach if you really want to get into it.

I'm a fairly new rider having been riding only 4 months. I was in horrid physical condition riding a MTB and afraid of traffic. My pace speed was in the neighborhood of 11mph on a good day. I've lost some weight, built some muscle and gained a hell of a lot of confidence, got a good ATB and a serviceable road bike. My comfortable pace speed is in the neighborhood of 14 to 15 on the flats on my ATB. Don't know what it is on the road bike. I don't think it's all that much more. I know it's slow but I've come a long way even though I'm still a turtle.

Oceanrider
Glad to have you with us, This life we're living, It's not a race you know, enjoy your ride at your pace. you will gain speed in time and time is all we have, once you truely become a cyclist, your world will slow to a manageable, more enjoyable pace, your tolerance for the ill behavior of others will increase. On the bike you will have the much needed time to think and sort out the issues of daily life. You will see, hear and smell life as you never have and can't in any other way.

The bicycle: Created by man, for man, so that he/she can have a more healthy and enjoyable life. A tool, so that he/she can move about under his/her own power, carrying the things we think we need in order to accomplish the things we think we need to do, seeing places and meeting others along the way.

Keep at it Oceanrider, ride the bike, it won't do a thing for you while it's hanging in the garage.

Originally posted by quattro100
Good One.

I will actually be visiting Toronto next weekend. Any recommendations on places to visit.

go visit the CN Tower. Good waste of 20bux.

Everyone wants to know how fast they are when they begin cycling regularly or seriously. Human nature, I suppose. Am I fast yet?

However, ride length and amount of climbing affect average speed, so comparing your 17 mile average to my 19 mile average is difficult. But since you asked, here it goes.

On my 19 mile loop with one 3 mile climb of 700 feet and another 300 feet of smaller climbs I averaged 19.4 mph last time out. On my 25 mile ride last night with two 700 ft climbs and a couple of 100 ft climbs I averaged 18.4 mph. Last Saturday on my 60 mi loop with a 3 mile, 1,000 ft climb and another 1,500 ft of smaller climbs I averaged 18 mph.

Alone - My manage an average of 12 - 13 mph
With my wife - about 7-8

Both are great rides.

Carl

Do interval cruising speed training. Ride as hard as you could for 3 to 5 minutes (use a heart rate monitor to gauge your LT heart rate) at 96% of your max LT heart rate. Then, slow down and recover for 5 minutes by riding very slow or at 80% of your LT heart rate. Then, do the interval again. Do this 3 times a week. Eventually, you will get used to riding hard.

on my commutes I ususlly average 14 mph or so, there are a lot of stops and starts. On a training ride I usually try to average 17-18 mph. Not world class but it works for me.

I assume on these climbs with 700' and 300' elevation changes,you do have the opposite on the backside,serious downhills where you help the average speed.

Originally posted by Duffy
I assume on these climbs with 700' and 300' elevation changes,you do have the opposite on the backside,serious downhills where you help the average speed.

Yes. But keep in mind that the climb hurts your average speed much more than the descent helps it.

I did a century with three other guys yesterday -- in fact, only one of the other guys did the whole century with me. There was a lot of climbing in the middle, along Rang St-Georges in Rigaud, Quebec. Mont Rigaud is a minor ski hill and some of the climbs were this side of brutal. My average was 28.5 km/h [17.7 mph]. It would have been over 30 km/h [18.6 mph] without the climbing, I expect. With a large group, we could have done the whole thing in less than five hours.

avg. about 25 to 30 kph

Ditto.

I've been riding about a year now doing between 100 and 200 miles a week. Most of my rides average about 21-24 mph doing anywhere from 20-56 miles.

This is a 2002 thread.
bout the same year jan quit taking care of himself...lol

lol... was wondering why everyone was being so helpfull...

isn't it funny how they yell at you when you create a new thread that has already been discussed, and then yell at you for bringing a dead thread back to life? catch 22.

take off the kiddie seat

cheap shot.

I would like to get an idea of what is an average speed so I know how much I need to improve. Any tips on how to increase speed would be great.
Thanks,
Manny

I too am one of those people who likes to measure himself by going faster and faster. But, I'm learning that the more important measure (at least for me as a recreational rider) is how fast I recover after a hill or attaining that feeling of "riding without the chain." Here's the good news: the more you ride the better you will get at all that stuff, including average speeds. I have a 25 mi. route I use as a TT to see how I am improving as the season progresses. Last year at age 60, I was feeling that I was probably too old to ever ride well again. But, I kept at it and two days ago I did a 41 mi. ride with 3,000 ft. of elevation at 15.1 mph. Last year I wouldn't have been able to do that ride at 13 mph. So, just keep riding and it will get better and better.

I'm a gifted, fat, noob. I average 18 - 20mph on rolling hills and usually keeps up with the fast crowd... Now if I lost 25lbs....

You can do drills for power, and drills to improve spin. For power, I've been told that one method is accelerating as hard as possible in a very tall gear over a minute at a time, and then cooling down, will build power for seated or standing acceleration depending on how you work the interval. Doing spin intervals where you increase your cadence in a structured way (every ten seconds, for example,) and then cool down can also be effective.

I've been riding about a year now doing between 100 and 200 miles a week. Most of my rides average about 21-24 mph doing anywhere from 20-56 miles.

That's not too bad for a beginner. I've been averaging 30mph (extreme hills) to 70mph (tailwind) over quick spins of 150 to 300 miles.

Keep practicing.

That's not too bad for a beginner. I've been averaging 30mph (extreme hills) to 70mph (tailwind) over quick spins of 150 to 300 miles.


You in a heap o' trouble, boy.

http://www.thegobos.com/images/pastMembers/justice.jpg

That's not too bad for a beginner. I've been averaging 30mph (extreme hills) to 70mph (tailwind) over quick spins of 150 to 300 miles.

Keep practicing.

These average speed threads are so depressing. I never seem to measure up.

If I try for anything over 25mph up my short little 20% grade 3 mile long speed bump of a training hill, my heart rate jumps to 220 almost instantaneously - especially on the eighth or ninth repeat.

I guess there really is always someone faster than you...

*whips out his handy dandy notebook*

Somewhere above 0 mph and below 25 mph.
That is until I calibrate my computer like some of y'all. :p

I have these things that hang on poles suspended across intersections that tell me to stop or go. Kind of kills the average.

Stoplights are for wussy.