Touring - Speed of touring

I'm just getting into touring, did my first tour last weekend (http://bobbotron.livejournal.com/435462.html). I was surprised at how slow I ended up traveling for most of it. I didn't have a spedometre, but I know my average speed was pretty slow. :) I'm sure part of this was due to the hilly terrain, my 700x35 tires + beefy wheelset and (most importantly) me getting tired. I know touring is a slow paced endeavour, but I was surprised. Is this pretty much to be expected?

Cheers!
Rob

Your experience sounds typical to me. Touring can be very slow going; especially if you stop frequently to enjoy the scenery.

Over the years I have learned to pace myself during my first days out. I try to stop before I get overtired. On Day 1, I may reach my limit after only three or four hours. Often I COULD go on, but I try to force myself to stop for the day.

On tours longer than two or three days, you may find that your endurance improves as you go along. On my big tour last summer, I did 25 or 30 miles (40 - 50 km) on Day 1, but 60 or 70 miles (100 - 110 km) on Day 7.

no matter how fast i ride on the computer, it ALWAYS averages out to about 10 miles an hour. maybe 11, sometimes 9 ish....

10 hours 100 miles, 8 hours about 80 miles etc. once the days' ride is done....

no matter how fast i ride on the computer, it ALWAYS averages out to about 10 miles an hour. maybe 11, sometimes 9 ish.... 10 hours 100 miles, 8 hours about 80 miles etc. once the days' ride is done....

My experience has been exactly the same: roughly 10 mph average speed. My slowest speeds (other than steep uphills) occurred while riding into a fierce headwind (30 mph with much higher gusts). This happened in eastern CO, and it slowed me so much I decided to quit for the day. It actually pissed me off, but seems pretty funny now.

David in PA

don't worry too much about speed ... touring is about enjoying the ride and the destination ...
i usually have a cycle computer on my touring bikes, but this is just to measure distance so i have an idea of how far i have gone or how far i have to go ...


if you want a higher speed, buy a racing bike ...

When planning distances I use the 12 km/hr benchmark. If someone asks how far I've travelled, I just remember how many hours I've been out and multiply by 12.

If you go on shorter tours that are less than a week you can try and plan it so everything you need it at the destination you set for yourself that day. Just bring money, plastic, and all the food and water that you need for a long ride during the day.

In my neck of the woods I can do this but it only works for short tours. I just get my clothing to a friend or relatives place before I start the tour. Then all I have to do is connect the dots on the map and presto, I have a cheap bike tour happening. Of course camping out is usually more fun than being in some place that you are familiar with. But it is also nice to ride 300 miles to see your favourite uncle and get to jam and drink beer.

Also since this seems to be your first loaded tour you may have carried more than you needed to. As you become more addicted to loaded touring you will probably become stronger and much more experienced and your speed may increase.

I saw a post earlier in this forum where the person travels super light but camps out as well, try your best to lighten your load, I am sure there is always something that can be left behind or mailed back home.

We find about 15km/hour is what we tend to average. Hardly racing speed but it suits us just fine!

I don't really pay attention to my average MPH, but I know that I'm always pretty worthless the first two or three days of a fully-loaded tour. The miles feel endless, my body feels worn out, etc. After about the third day I start to hit my stride. Before long, 70 mile days aren't bad at all. I've begun big tours in various degrees of being in shape. Before a four week tour down the coast, I had a hernia repair. I wasn't able to train until two weeks before my ride left. The first three days were awful. I had planned a short (10-15 mile) ride on the fourth day, then a rest, but after I got on the bike that fourth day, my aches and pains had left and I felt great! I rode 40 or 50 miles that day. Before another long tour I was able to train for months. I felt like I was in pretty good shape, although my training was without luggage. When the tour started, again, I was pretty wimpy. But this time it only lasted two days. On the third day I was feeling strong.

Now I try to make my first day really short - 25-30 miles, my second day not much longer, and don't really plan on covering much distance until the third day. I think it's good to be flexible. If you feel wimpy, don't push yourself. Take it easy until you feel like riding further. Eventually you will.

If you took my camera away, I'd go faster, but still, there's no point in worrying about speed, because then you're missing the whole point of touring anyway. It's about stopping to smell the roses and slowing down to enjoy what we miss in our fast-paced lives.

I guage my touring speed at 10mph. It is pretty accurate for navigation.

Depends on whether I have camping gear with me or not. If not, I average about 22-23 kmh, excluding all breaks. With full load I average something like 18-20 kmh, again excluding breaks. In the mornings I'm slow as molasses, but somehow I always end up with those averages at the end of the day.

Covering 80 kms may take me anywhere between 4,5-7 hours of "real time", breaks included. I like to stop often.

--J

I've been toying with writing an essay that starts with:

"Speed is an elusion, bicycle speed doubly so" but I can't figure out how to work the proper Douglas Adams angle into it.

Actually, rip the little tattler off your handlebars and just enjoy the ride. Yes, I know, it makes navigating harder, but it sure is sporting!

All depends. On how many dogs try to attack you. Potholes and ripped up pavement. If you see the pretty maiden in the leafy glade... HeHe If she smiles at you.. After a while speed is really a non sequiter. In the end you see more on a bike in 5 miles than you see in the automobile in 100.
It damn slow at times. You never know whats around the corner.
Its all good I tell ya.

I did my first loaded tour a few weekends ago and I was wiped. I went about 35 miles (maybe more -- my computer was malfunctioning and packed up the next day) in 5 hours over hilly terrain. Returned the next day on a more direct route of about 30 miles in 4 hours. This included descending the very long climb that started my ride the previous day. I felt I was going really slow for much of it. I stopped to eat blackberries from the side of the road though, and took pics when I found a particularly nice vista, trying to make the most of my slow pace!

I was surprised how shattered I felt when I arrived in camp. I wasn't as sore after the return journey however. I don't think I would have doubled my distance that day over the previous day, however!

What I found was worst was how sore/numb my bum was! My muscles could have gone further but my bum protested. This has led to my decision to try a Brooks saddle.

Thanks for all of the replies! :)

I thought I was pulling the right speed during my tour, however sometimes it's nice to get reassurance from those with more experience.

I think the right speed is whatever feels right. On my just finished cross-Canada tour, I had daily totals ranging between 260km and 30km per day. If you take a pace you feel like you should be doing instead of one you think you should be doing, you'll be happier. It took me couple of weeks to figure that out. Then again, sometimes it just feels good to hammer your little heart out on a nice stretch of road.

Well, I've never been on a long unsupported tour but all of my up to a week tours have me riding at 15-18 mph and averaging about 12 MPH or so.

Same here... 10-11 mph average on my first tour, fully-loaded (Pacific Coast).

I just finished my first 600 mile tour. I was averaging about 13mph on a road bike with 28mm tires and a 25 lb load. This is much slower than my 21 mph average trainging pace. The trip was fun. What I lost in speed I was able to make up in hours on the bike. I had a 117 mile day.

If I was to go faster than 10 mph, I would wonder what I had missed.

Count your experiences, not your (k)mph.

on a supported tour that I do each summer, I got up at about 4:15AM to take a leak... (the camp is around high schools thru the state of Wisconsin). Bleary eyed, I glance over and see two fully clad riders in the dark, breaking camp, getting ready to ride...

I mean, what's the point? 'To be the first riders into the next 2 horse town? To beat the support vehicles to the next overnight so you can lean against a brick wall with nothing to do?

Touring is all about moving at a more human speed. Killing time. One of my favorite tasks is picking out great secluded roadside spots to 'see a man about a dog.' (an anti-urban experience). Century rides are okay, but I think 80 MIles is about max... 65-70 is good... leaves plenty of time to putz about and get into camp before 5PM or so.

Well, I agree with Sigurd, but even in California you have to have some idea of how long it's going to take you to get from A to B. And you sometimes have to ride a long distance in order to find a decent place to stay.

I prefer to keep a ride to 60 miles or less on tour but that's not possible sometimes and you need to be flexible and you also need to be able to ride fast enough so that you can relax in the next town without having to set up, eat and hit the hay in order to recover enough for the next day. I don't like to ride past noon on a tour because traffic gets worse and the day starts heating up.

And I'd much rather be sitting in a soda fountain listening to the gossip in some jerkwater berg than riding into a headwind any day.

I found 20km/h was my sweetspot and average speed. I tried to go faster, but found my quads ached like hell that night. I'm young, though and mostly stick to flats.

We just finished our first loaded tour along the Santa Ana River Trail in Southern California. The trip was 30 miles. The way out took us 3.5 hours with about a half hour worth of stopping -- so 10mph. The trip back took 4 hours with about 1.25 hours of stopping -- so quicker paced but we soaked in more of the scenery. We all agreed that the pace was good and, though tired after it all, we had enough steam and endorphines to go out to dinner and walk along the beach :)

I'd say to keep the spedometer if you're intrigued by distances like I am, but dump it if you find yourself racing the clock. 10 mph is plenty!

I mean, what's the point? 'To be the first riders into the next 2 horse town? To beat the support vehicles to the next overnight so you can lean against a brick wall with nothing to do?


I love the predawn and sunrise. I feel at my best and closer to everything at those times, and I like to be riding then at that time of day.
Even as a marine, I always tried to get the last watch before reveille to have that time.

Of course, maybe they were just taking off because you were snoring...? ;)

I love the predawn and sunrise. I feel at my best and closer to everything at those times, and I like to be riding then at that time of day.

I love the dawn as well. Which is a good thing because I start work at 5:30...

But yeah, riding at that time of day. Everything is quiet, you see a lot of animals (I have some regular rabbits on my route that don't even move when I go by now).

Maybe they like getting up that early so they can ride to the next town, sit at a cafe and have breakfast and watch the world go by until everyone catches up.

Or maybe they don't like the heat and would rather get the majority of the riding done so they can be resting during the hotter hours.

Reviewing my log from crossing the US solo on the southern route I mostly averaged 13-14 mph carrying two loaded panniers. I started most days well before sunrise to avoid the heat and some of the wind, it is such a beautiful time of the day. I enjoy arriving at my new destination by 1:00 PM and having the afternoon to look around, work on the bike, plan for the next day, etc.
The hardest lesson that I had to learn was to relax in the mountains. At first I attacked each one as I would on a training ride. That doesn't work for me on a long tour. If my comfortable pace was 6 mph up the mountain, then so be it. Just look forward to the 30+ downhill that is coming. Most days I will find a stretch of road that suits me and my 18 mph training pace. Then I relax again and coast along.

Last fall I rode 720 km in total elapsed time of 40.5 hrs. while touring the Ice fields Parkway in the Canadian Rockies (Golden-Radium-Lake Louise-Jasper-Lake Louise-Radium). [See the other thread on the Icefield Parkway] That includes climbing 6 major mtn. passes with a fully loaded touring bike ~ 85lbs. My average works out to 17.7 km/hour or about 11 mph. I was traveling solo and only cycled about 4 hours a day.

If I was to go faster than 10 mph, I would wonder what I had missed.

Count your experiences, not your (k)mph.

Amen to that, and well put, FlowerBlossom!! Some days on the TransAm I only did 35 miles because I kept stopping to see the sights, talk to people, take a LONG lunch at a beautiful overlook, etc. Sometimes I covered-up my computer so I wouldn't be compelled to set mileage/speed goals for the rest of the day.

Interestingly, I met several touring cyclists along the way who seemed hell-bent on covering as many miles per day as possible. I can't knock it, because people ride bikes for all kinds of reasons. But what they must have missed a long the way!

David in FL

Same here... 10-11 mph average on my first tour, fully-loaded (Pacific Coast).
OK, I just spent the last week on the Pacific Coast Highway between San Francisco and Santa Barbara. A total of some 375 miles. This was a fully loaded tour using camping sites so I didn't carry food but I carried just about everything else.

Speed: while riding my average speed was 11 mph overall. But actual average speed from campsite to campsite was about 2/3rds of that. With the guys I was riding with we ended up riding 2 hours and screwing around somehow for another hour.

Alone I believe I would have averaged perhaps 12 mph and made about 10 mph counting stops etc.

On flat terrain it would have been a whole lot faster I would think.

I think the most enjoyable touring strategy is not to worry so much about speed - let it happen. I find myself slow and sluggish for the first 2 or 3 days of a tour. I've done it enough to know it's going to happen. I accept it, also knowing that I'll get much faster as the tour goes on. I set my speed based on whatever mood I'm in. Sometimes I feel strong and I'm enjoying the pedaling and I enjoy going fast. Other times I feel poopy, or la-dee-da, or I feel like stopping every few miles to take a picture, or have something to eat, etc. Sometimes I try to be the first person to the hiker/biker site so I can get the prime spot for my tent. Sometimes I feel like quitting after a measly 25 or 30 miles - so I do.

I've been on tours where I had to be somewhere by a certain date. They were okay, but I much prefer having no set itinerary. Each day I ride when I feel like it, as fast as I feel like it, and when I feel like stopping for the day, I do.

The difference between the two isn't that great. Even though I allow myself to be as lazy as I want, most days I ride as fast as I comfortably can, and don't like to stop more than necessary. But on some days......

You HAVE to know what sort of speeds you can make in order to plan camping sites, restaurant stops or food stores or whatever. It is a critical thing to know because, for instance, over one 80 mile section there wasn't any camping until you got to the end.

If you don't know what sort of speed to be able to comfortably make, you can't tell how to plan your trip to begin with.

You HAVE to know what sort of speeds you can make in order to plan camping sites, restaurant stops or food stores or whatever. It is a critical thing to know because, for instance, over one 80 mile section there wasn't any camping until you got to the end.

If you don't know what sort of speed to be able to comfortably make, you can't tell how to plan your trip to begin with.

Not to be pedantic, but it's profoundly useful to know how far you can go in a day (1) comfortably, (2) with some effort, and (3) in a pinch. And while miles/day is technically a valid description of speed, the same 100 miles can be accomplished in 14 hours by riding 10mph with 4 hours for eating, sightseeing, etc, or in 14 hours at 15 mph with around 6 hrs devoted to goofing off and refueling.

The actual speed of riding is less important than starting time and diligence in making progress, I think.
This puts us back to "miles per day," and I suppose for most people between 65-85 is a good starting number, but some people are happier at 40, and others at 140. Such is the nature of the bell curve. You'll find darned few people who can push a bike at 200 miles per day for a week or two on end. They exist, but there aren't very many.

Make your plans based on 10 mph.

I'm just getting into touring, did my first tour last weekend (http://bobbotron.livejournal.com/435462.html). I was surprised at how slow I ended up traveling for most of it. I didn't have a spedometre, but I know my average speed was pretty slow. :) I'm sure part of this was due to the hilly terrain, my 700x35 tires + beefy wheelset and (most importantly) me getting tired. I know touring is a slow paced endeavour, but I was surprised. Is this pretty much to be expected?

Cheers!
Rob

Yes, especially when ya first start to tour and your bike isn't the lightning responsive guy ya got used to when it had no panniers and gear. Still, as you get stronger you'll pick up some speed and spunk, especially on the mild uphill grades which get ya when ya first start to tour.

I am a pokey rider. I average 10 mph no matter what the terrain.

roughstuff

What is everybody's median riding speed?(Your normal riding pace, rather than to average speed.)