Road Cycling - Average speed.

What speed do most of you ride? With the computer I usually average 18 or 19 MPH when commuting to work due to no lights, and light traffic. I'm closer to 17 to 18 when visiting my family due to hills and a traffic light what feels like every 5 feet. I'm just curious as to how others are performing.

sebring,I average on the computer about 17-18. Have managed an 18 mph over my usual 18 mile ride twice(18.1). I also have an Allez A1 27 Sport and a Diamondback Topanga. I did a 7.5 mile ride the other day and averaged 19.58. It had a few small hills.

Last year I averaged 27.5kph/17.2 for the entire year. All done in the hills, with only short flat sections. This includes every ride, solo, group, commuting, video store etc.

Set your computer to auto so it stops recording when stationary, or stop it manually. Don't let your average drop due to traffic lights, trains etc.

CHEERS.

Mark

I average 17 MPH WIth Heavy Wind and 20mph normal cruising for about 17 miles.

According to www.bikeprolog.com, my average for this year so far is 18.6mph over 2,614 miles. Gradually getting faster. :)

as of last night.. with about 50 miles ont he new bike.. i'm at 18.4 mph... probably a 70/30 split hills to flats

Jeff

Originally posted by Dutchy
Set your computer to auto so it stops recording when stationary, or stop it manually. Don't let your average drop due to traffic lights, trains etc.

Yeah, but if you keep the cyclocomputer running, you'll get the illusion that you're SLOWER than you really are, inspiring you to train that much harder, so you'll be stronger than you think you are. :D

Did 17.9 at 18.02 today. My personal best.

Under 15 mph.

Usually around 28kph/18mph on a 1-2 hour ride with a 20 minute warmup and 15 minute cooldown.

Originally posted by shokhead
Under 15 mph. FINALLY! someone about my spead - and able to admit it. :)

Originally posted by MikeR
FINALLY! someone about my spead - and able to admit it. :)

Hell I'll admit it--but today I reached Mach 1--16.2 mph on my 20 miler. So I'm faster than I was, as long as I treat every ride like a time trial. :(

I can go 17mph over 10 miles if I REALLY try HARD.

I don't know how you guys do it.
I would give so much to be able to fly like you guys.

Part of my slowness is cause of my bike.
But I'm pretty sure most of it is because of the body.

Part of my slowness is cause of my bike.

A heavier bike will a make difference to your speed. However, the difference really shows when the hills start. Riding a heavy bike is a bit harder than a lighter bike but the speed difference on the flats will only be small. In the hills the difference can be huge.

I ride a 1996 Giant to work with a good amount of climbing and my best time is 1hr 36min. On the new Giant it is 1hr 30min for 44km. The new bike it 2.5kg lighter, but isn't much faster on the flats.

Speed and endurance come with time, keep at it.

CHEERS.

Mark

My bike is very inefficient in general, I think. Its older... cheap... noisy. It probably has a lot more friction than a good new bike.

I think I'm going to get a new bike in a few weeks though. woohoo :D

It depends on the distance. My personal best solo century was done at 28.6 kph with just one short break. Usually I do that kind of distance at 25-27 kph.

I rarely get above 30 kph, even on my short 35k route.

This year I have done both a solo 330k ride and a solo (except the first 100k) 420k ride at 23.6 kph.

The overall average speed of a 17 day/1740k fully loaded tour in the Baltic states I just did with a friend was 19.5 kph.

My bike is a 15kg touring bike.

/Csson

My typical ride is about 26 miles. It's all fairly flat. The first hallf is upstream...(19mph)
utill I get to the end when there is a "nice" climb up the front side of a dam.(12mph)abut 2 miles.
Then the back half is a great down hill run down the dam.(23-25mph)
And the return home(22mph)
It'd expect to have a higher mph than I do, but there is also the mile I travel back and forth to the path that has at least two stoplights and which I use as a brief warm-up and cool down...
In the end, I average around 18-19.

But when I started in April I was at maybe 15 if I was lucky... A little hill training and simply getting out there and pushing myself has really paid off.
Rarely get out of the big gears anymore...

Raedeke,know where you are coming from. When I started this spring I was pressed to average 15mph. Got very little riding in over the winter,thyerefore I was way out of shape.

This morning I averaged 17.3 mph on my 10 mile commute. It was raining with a 20 mph headwind and hail. Plus, I was bare-footed, and my rear tire was flat. Would not have been too bad, except for that dog that got caught in my spokes of the front wheel. If that hadn't happened, I probably coulda managed 17.5 mph average.

Grins,
Dave

Hi all

I haven't got a computer for my bike yet but on my Mountain I manage a measly 15MPH... Hopefully I should be faster on my road bike it always feels faster!

Anyhow sorry to change the subject a little but what computers do you guys use ? and how accurate are they really ??

Tim

raising a hand at the back of the room ...ermmm... 10.5?

I'm using a Velo2. Have no idea how accurate it is, but it's probably close enough for me at this stage (the "just happy I can stay upright" one).

Jen

I was just wondering, how fast do you think the average pro racer can complete a century?

I average 16.5mph on a 20 mile ride somewhere at 1:10
Best time in last 15 rides was 17.2mph avg. on a 24.47 mile ride.

I'm between 16 and 17 depending on how much energy I have after work. I go 30 three times a week, can't wait till life settles a bit so I can add a few more days in there

I was just wondering, how fast do you think the average pro racer can complete a century?

This is depressing! The Pros have finished 164km stages in the Tour Down Under at 44kph/27.5mph, over hilly terrain (no mountains). Doing it solo they could still manage 40kph. Just look at some of the breakaways in the Tour de France.
Stuart O'Grady and another rider had a 199km breakaway, got caught just before the finish and the stage average was still 44kph. So Stuey and the other rider rode the entire stage together and still managed an amazing speed.

CHEERS.

Mark

It doesn't seem to matter how long my ride is .. always seems to be about 13 mph if I go 12 miles or 60 miles. Very hilly here in central Mass and always seems to be more uphill than down when out on a ride :) .

Plus, I am not great at it yet and I weigh 250-ish. Heavier is better, right? ;)

Heavier is better, right?

well you do hve more momentum donw those hills ;-)

I average 16-17.5 mph on flat terrain with small hills, like over passes. on really hilly terrain like clifton its more like 15 or less.

if i really get rolling with people then 20 is not that hard to do. my first ride I met two guys that were doing a century, and followed them for a little, they were push 20 for 45 min and i stayed with them, till our route went another direction.

I donno, i still think that the guys in the tour are insane because they can average over 30+mph in TT's and still ride a billion wills a day at a high rate of speed.

I have a 13.5 mile loop that I like to do a few nights a week to check my average speed and see how I'm progressing...

Last night I averaged 18.8 mph, which is my best time so far this season. And that's on my stumpy mtn bike w/ slicks mounted up on a second set of wheels.

I'm finally getting a road bike next month, so I can't wait to see what I can do with that. 20 mph average here I come!!! :)

-Mike

I and 57 years old, 240 lbs and ride a Trek Navigator 300 comfort bike. I have averaged 14.1 mph over the last 50 days, an uptick from last year (My biking year begins on May 22.) I can maintain nearly 20mph on flat ground for about 30 minutes, but them hills just flat kill me!

Next riding year, I will be on a roadie and I know my speed will improve just because of that, plus I should shed an additional 20 lbs by then, too.

I am 20 years old and in Boston, they have these police RADAR guns. But this particular one is a stand-alone unit that is placed on the side of the road where people speed often. This stand-alone unit has giant LEDs to tell you what your on-coming speed is.

On my 1996 Specialized Stumpjumper (MTB) I got up to 35mph (56kph). I was amazed myself. :D

-Dan the Man-

Originally posted by ockey53
I am 20 years old and in Boston, they have these police RADAR guns. But this particular one is a stand-alone unit that is placed on the side of the road where people speed often. This stand-alone unit has giant LEDs to tell you what your on-coming speed is.

Unfortunately I had to go slowly in order to take the picture while at the same time riding.

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/2003STP-1/PICT0041.jpg

I wonder if anyone has any suggestions for taking pictures while moving at high speeds. I'm still new to snapping shots on the move.

Originally posted by khuon
I wonder if anyone has any suggestions for taking pictures while moving at high speeds. I'm still new to snapping shots on the move.

Are you using a disposable or film camera, or a digital camera? If it's a regular film or disposable camera, I'd recommend getting the Kodak Max camera. It is excellent for moving photos. I'm quite the photo bug myself.

-Dan the Man-

Originally posted by ockey53
Are you using a disposable or film camera, or a digital camera? If it's a regular film or disposable camera, I'd recommend getting the Kodak Max camera. It is excellent for moving photos. I'm quite the photo bug myself.

I'm using a digital camera... Minolta DiMage X. It's small and slim with an optical zoom that's not protruding (all internal) so I can easily tuck and stuff it away in my jersey without worry that it will snag on anything. Also, a digital camera has a lot of storage capacity (I also carry a spare battery pack). I tend to take a lot of pictures of the same thing since I'm never sure which shots will come out. There are several models of the original DiMage X out now... DiMage Xi is an improved X with better resolution and interface. The Xt has the same resolution as the Xi (3.2MP) but is even smaller and has a few more features. The X20 is pretty much the original X (2MP) with a couple of extra features and is the lower end offering in the lineup. I don't think they make the X anymore and I only got it last year. :)

Originally posted by khuon
I'm using a digital camera... Minolta DiMage X. It's small and slim with an optical zoom that's not protruding (all internal) so I can easily tuck and stuff it away in my jersey without worry that it will snag on anything. Also, a digital camera has a lot of storage capacity (I also carry a spare battery pack). I tend to take a lot of pictures of the same thing since I'm never sure which shots will come out. There are several models of the original DiMage X out now... DiMage Xi is an improved X with better resolution and interface. The Xt has the same resolution as the Xi (3.2MP) but is even smaller and has a few more features. The X20 is pretty much the original X (2MP) with a couple of extra features and is the lower end offering in the lineup. I don't think they make the X anymore and I only got it last year. :)

I know exactly which one you're talking about. My friend has it. Hmmm... you can manually increase the shutter speed and try it. But you can't really do that on the move.....

I know I love digital cameras over film cameras, but for moving pictures, film cameras take the cake.

-Dan the Man-

Originally posted by ockey53
I know exactly which one you're talking about. My friend has it. Hmmm... you can manually increase the shutter speed and try it. But you can't really do that on the move....

Actually my main problem is not blurring as much as it is trying to find a secure way to hold the camera while still maintaining a position to hold a high speed. I usually end up shooting from a more upright position while riding one-handed. I can ride one-handed at high speeds fine but trying to aim and work the camera at the same time seems to break my form. Perhaps I need to rig a helmet-cam. :)

Yeah, you just might have to figure that out youself.... nothing I could help you with.

-Dan the Man-

for the first 100km i did 29.9 km/h average - after that I slowed down for the last 20km and total was something like 29 km/h. The terrain was totally flat. Due to heavy traffic and some turns - I had to slow down few times. It was solo (I ride a 5200 Trek)

When I ride in pack - 10-15 riders - after the warm up - we do for 50km an average of 36km/h - all in pack.

On time trials - the best pros are doing something like 45-50km/h averages - so there is some place for me to improve :). With a little bit of good wind - I can go 45km/h but only for few km.

Last year I was averaging just under 20 mph for rides 40 to 50 miles in length. This year, I have started pulling my dog behind me in a trailer (combined weight of approx. 70 pounds). For 40 to 50 mile rides without the trailer this year, I am down a bit to 19 mph. Average speed while pulling the dog seems to be 14 to 15 mph.

Yesterday as the temperatures started to climb into
the mid 90's (mid to upper 30's for you centigrade types).
I'm pretty sure I was doing a steady - 2.6 mph
(negative 2.6) on one of my few uphills.

Marty