Fifty Plus (50+) - What is your ride level?

Beginner (5-9 mph average)

Energetic beginner (9-12 mph average)

Intermediate (12-15 mph average)

Advanced (15 mph-18 mph average)

Super Advanced (what?)

Cool! I'm up to "energetic beginner" and slipping into Intermediate on a good stretch! You made my day, Alicestrong!

Oh, and I did 23 miles yesterday!!!

Good thread. I moved to advanced about 2 months ago on the road bike.
Of course on a mountain trail you would have to start a new catagory "under 5 MPH, Walks With Bike"

Good thread. I moved to advanced about 2 months ago on the road bike.
Of course on a mountain trail you would have to start a new catagory "under 5 MPH, Walks With Bike"

Come on- One thing you never do on a mountain bike is walk.:rolleyes::rolleyes: You may change the route to cut out the 25% when it is mudddy- or modify it so that you go down it- but Walk-Never.

Have to agree about the Under 5mph bit though Especially up Ventoux.:eek::eek:

This is a reply that is from an experienced Mountain biker that stopped walking after his 3rd year. Untill then it was look at the hill and see if there were any gears left. If none- then get ready for a walk by unclipping.

And I just slip into the advanced group on the road but On the offroad- I'm still an energetic beginner.

Come on- One thing you never do on a mountain bike is walk.:rolleyes::rolleyes: You may change the route to cut out the 25% when it is mudddy- or modify it so that you go down it- but Walk-Never.


I walk plenty on my MTB, never on the road.

If by changing routes you mean by taking different established paths, OK. But one thing never to do is to make your own side paths around tough parts of an established trail. Especially in muddy conditions. That's a good way to get yourself banned from a trail.

I am totally confused. This is based on what? Road or Mt. Hills or flats? Rail trail or roads?

Interesting.
Usually on my local ride with wind, hills and stoplights I average 13 plus a hair.
On my first century last weekend, riding with almost no wind, hills or stoplights (and not drafting at all) I averaged slightly over 15. I was surprised to see my computer reading 18 so much.

So I'm not sure where I fit on your scale. You tell me.

I average about 20mph but I do it all on flat roads.

Oh, these are road rides..

I walk plenty on my MTB, never on the road.

If by changing routes you mean by taking different established paths, OK. But one thing never to do is to make your own side paths around tough parts of an established trail. Especially in muddy conditions. That's a good way to get yourself banned from a trail.

Hill goes up and you know you will have a problem so Go round it. Where I live- There are so many trails that skirt the hills that You can easily take an easier Recogised Trail round the steep bits.

Funny thing is- If you Look at the Muddy puddles on the trails- Horses Go through the Mud- Cycles go through the Mud- The path is made wider by the Hundreds of walkers that do not want to get their boots muddy.

In fact the walkers have so much pull with the authorities over here- that a lot of the more used Paths- Like the South Downs Way will soon be covered over with gravel and rolled flat- Just so they don't slip in the muddy puddles.

I do the intermediate...that would be the 13+...but I don't push myself a whole lot either, However, I do get exercize... :)
peace

My ride a couple of days ago was 34 miles at 15.6 mph. I'm surprised that that puts me in the "advanced" level. I feel much more like the lower end of "intermediate". I'm going to do my first century tomorrow (I hope!), and I'll be happy if I average 10 to 12 mph on that!

I'm easily advanced, but considering how many others blow by me....we might want to change our numbers or create some new levels: hyper-advanced, ultra-super, god-like, etc.

On my Dahon, I ride as an advance and on the Trek, an intermediate. I have not found out the difference but I know the Dahon is faster despite having 7 speed. Trek is heavier and tires are fit for road and trials.

On downhills, I'm super advanced. :) Otherwise, I'm an energetic beginner (according to that list).

I did 90 miles today and averaged 19.2 mph. But those are pretty flat miles, probably only around a thousand feet of climbing. Hills make a huge difference for me.

I climbed a 15% grade today to the top of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I know it was slow. Thankfully my computer wasn't working. It may have been faster than walking. I've been a beginner for about 30 years now.

To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, "I'm an old man but a young cyclist." (He was speaking about gardening).

I would think that terrain plays into things a great deal. As does whether one cycles alone or not. I'd have thought going with my wife would be faster. We're both well into advanced on solo rides over our rather broken up terrain, lots of short steep hills etc. Together we're down to about 15 mph - I think we talk and loaf along too much together! On the flat with no wind we're up at about 20 most of the time. The hills seem to break things up much more. I end up more tired for a given distance.

Oddly enough, the mountains seem to not have as much impact. I can get into a nice climbing groove. The drops aren't so technical and my speed is up. The rapidly rolling curvy country roads seem the slowest. Rough surfaces, blind corners, etc.

Anyone have data or thoughts on the terrain effect?

She's not 50 plus though, only 43.

Beginner (5-9 mph average)
8%
8% [ 2 ]
Energetic beginner (9-12 mph average)
41%
41% [ 10 ]
Intermediate (12-15 mph average)
37%
37% [ 9 ]
Advanced (15 mph-18 mph average)
12%
12% [ 3 ]
Super Advanced (what?)

Cool, Alice!

Last year I was a definite intermediate. This year I have moments of advanced and super advanced (can we call this "hammer monkey" or something more to teh point?), tho my average is still in teh intermediate range.

I did 90 miles today and averaged 19.2 mph. But those are pretty flat miles, probably only around a thousand feet of climbing. Hills make a huge difference for me.

Don't think she scaled it for 'bents, or is that jsut an avatar, blazing?

Hill goes up and you know you will have a problem so Go round it. Where I live- There are so many trails that skirt the hills that You can easily take an easier Recognised Trail round the steep bits.

What's the challenge in that? I keep trying the hill, going up as far as I can, until I finally make it to the top. The ones I have to walk are usually very steep and technical. Steep I can usually handle. But add in roots, rocks and tight turns between trees, and I sometimes have to come off and push.

As for the (almost) poll, advanced. 15-18 is about where I usually ride on the road.

Let me quick go see the speedo,,back in a short,,,,,18 on the road bike and 22 on the dirt, so it says,,that was a short ride.

Don't think she scaled it for 'bents, or is that jsut an avatar, blazing?

Nope, that's me. The scale looks good to me, regardless of the bike being used. After all, most bents don't have a huge aero advantage, regardless of what they'd like to think. Mine does; it's about equal to having a 3-man paceline, which is pretty common for riders in the 20 mph range anyway.

I am about as aerodynamic as a brick, even on my bent:D

I am in the advanced group. I let my Cateye run continuously (as opposed to only when the wheel is turning). For a 41-mile out and back, with 1700 ft of climbing to the turnaround, I will average 16-17 mph. I can average a little higher for shorter rides. For Tour de Tuscon last year (109 miles, hilly) I averaged slightly over 16 mph.

I will be 55 Friday, btw.

Advanced

Intermediate here.

I am in the intermediate, but only barely.

I'm a high intermediate, but every now and then creep into the advanced category if I get a tailwind or someone to draft. My bike is better than I am.

I'm super advanced on my terrain. However, if I rode with jppe in his neck of the woods, I'd probably slip to beginner.

Energetic Beginner - at about an 11 mph average in very hilly terrain. Of course I go up at 6mph, but coast back down at 28mph, so maybe it evens out. I guess that's appropriate, since I just started riding back in April or so.

Intermediate, but on a good day , I can do advanced. Training to me does not so much involve speed; but, taking on that impossible grade.

All I know is that compared with my son on MTB's I am slower than he is currently and you put a trailer on his bike with my grand son in it and me on my Bent, I can blow the kids away! LMAO! Actually, due to coast down and drag, I am faster on my Bent.

Chris

It really does depend on the climbing involved! On a seven mile climb at 5 and 6% I'm only good for between 8 and 9 mph.

On a double century with 12,000 feet of climbing (Knoxville), I'm intermediate (14.5 mph average). On a flatter doube century like Grand Tour Highland (8,000 feet of climbing), I was 15.6, so into advanced. My quickest double (lately) was Solvang Spring 2006 at 13 Hours, 15 minutes, but that was only 6,000 feet of climbing (albeit with seven hours of rain!).

I'm 57 now, and much slower than my first double century (in '84) which was under 12 hours, in very flat central IL!

Rick / OCRR

I guess this puts me in the intermediate category. On most of my longer rides, 40-50 miles, with some decent hills, I average 13.5 to 14. Shorter rides on mostly flat with a few small hills thrown in, I can do 15-16. Just got back from a 25 miler, and averaged 15 flat. Funny, I don't feel "intermediate", still feel like a beginner.

I'm a high intermediate, but every now and then creep into the advanced category if I get a tailwind or someone to draft. My bike is better than I am.

+1 and double +1 on the bike. I did a 58 mile group ride this weekend on some fair hills (3200 feet of climb) in Maryland. Got with a "moving along" group and ended up averaging 17.5 for the entire trip. Then today went out for 62 solo and could only manage 16 mph with just 2500 feet of climbing. Groups make a difference. I am definitely NOT an advanced cyclist...maybe "nearly competent intermediate" at best...but mostly I fall into the "working hard just not to get dropped" category.

In our local club I'm considered a moderate rider @ 18-20mph average on our flat Florida roads. Guess that makes me advanced here.

None of my ride is level.

Intermediate -- solo rides. The last 280 miles on my Garmin (20,000 ft of Elevation Gain) average out to a .71 -- nearly all "hilly/climbing" rides according to the two classifications below, with some "torturous fun" thrown in. But those only seem like "fun" a few hours after the ride, looking back on it with a cold bottle of IPA, rarely during.



These classifications that were posted in another thread, might be interesting/handy guides for some. Posted earlier by MikeR and Ronjon10.


POSTED BY MIKER
The general clasification is:

Flat is < 50 feet of climb per mile
Hilly is < 85 feet of climb per mile
Verry Hilly is < 100 feet of climb per mile
Mountainous is > 100 feet of climb per mile


POSTED BY RONJON10
(#Feet/100)/Miles
So, a 10 mile ride with 500 feet of climbing comes out to: (500/100)/10 = .5

0 - .3 = pancake flat
.3-.5 = rolling hills (or maybe one steep climb and otherwise flat)
.5 - .7 = hilly ride
.7 - .9 = climbing ride
> .9 = torturous fun

I consider myself intermediate, but I'd be advanced by your chart. In my part of FL, the roads are flat, so I can keep a higher average speed. Hills would be different.

Intermediate. I'm typically 14-15 mph on flatter courses.

Some days Intermediate and others Energetic Beginner. Adding running is making Intermediate more realistic.

Beginner (5-9 mph average)

Energetic beginner (9-12 mph average)

Intermediate (12-15 mph average)

Advanced (15 mph-18 mph average)

Super Advanced (what?)

Well, Alice Goddess of Quads,

I'm Intermediate over say a continuous hour, Advanced on level ground when all is well ('bout 18 mph).

shouldn't the ride duration and terrain affect the results?

Well, Alice Goddess of Quads,

I'm Intermediate over say a continuous hour, Advanced on level ground when all is well ('bout 18 mph).

shouldn't the ride duration and terrain affect the results?


We really are 50 plusses! I replied to this thread three times!

Come on- One thing you never do on a mountain bike is walk.

HAH! back in my mountain biking days I frequently wondered to myself why I bothered to bring a bike along since I spent so much time carrying it up the hills.

When someone claims an "average speed", I'm never sure if they're talking about what they can do for an extended time on a long, flat stretch, or if it's a true average for a long ride over varying terrain and unavoidable slowdowns (stopping at intersections, big hills, etc.). On my rides, it seems like every time I look down at my speedo I'm going 17-20, but then my average for the ride is more like 15. I think it's partly because I only look at my speed when I feel like I'm really cookin' along, and don't pay attention in all the places where I'm slow. ;)

Beginner (5-9 mph average)

Energetic beginner (9-12 mph average)

Intermediate (12-15 mph average)

Advanced (15 mph-18 mph average)

Super Advanced (what?)

These speeds almost match the different ride classes for our club. I would fall in the intermediate range.

Even though I average 15 -17 mph I still consider myself an intermediate. And have been for 20 years.

I am totally confused. This is based on what? Road or Mt. Hills or flats? Rail trail or roads?

My thoughts exactly. 18mph on the flats or grinding up hills all the time. Average speed can be very misleading. I stopped the other night on a group ride to hook up with the MUP. About 40 yards from the road to the trail. Someone from the group yelled "your going to kill your average speed(walking bike to the trail)". True statement.

My ride-all-day-hills-no-mountains pace is 14 or 15. My only-have-an-hour-to-ride rate is 16 to 18 depending on the day. Age 61, ten pounds of extra lard, on a trike.

My best solo pace is whatever feels just right at the time. My best group pace is whatever pace my smart and beautiful wife wants to set plus or minus zero MPH.

George