Road Cycling - average speed

when you ride long distance AND take a break or two do you take into account the rest time in your average speed? speed is distance over time so i might lean toward thinking it's cheating to stop the clock then start it again when your back on the bike. just curious on what you guy\gals do?

My computer (FlightDeck) automatically stops when I stop ... :D

My computer (FlightDeck) automatically stops when I stop ... :D
Ditto w/ my cateye!

Why stop?

Why stop?
Good point.

Why stop?

Water? About the only reason I can think of.

Water? About the only reason I can think of.
Team car and domestiques?

You could always calculate both: overall average and rolling average.

BTW: I need to look into the team car and domestiques thing. Streetdog, where did you get yours? :-)

I don’t believe in water. The extra weight just slows you down. After I sweat out about 5 pounds of water, I really start to fly. If things get too bad, I just suck some sweat out of my bandana. :D

Special edition Colorado Cyclist, on the page after the last page. They have lots of Spanish riders and cars cheap. The total collapse of the Spanish teams has to benefit someone.

i use auto-start on my Astrale 8... i figure all the slowing down for stop signs and redlights make up for my mini rests/breaks :D

i use auto-start on my Astrale 8... i figure all the slowing down for stop signs and redlights make up for my mini rests/breaks :D

yeah my average speeds are always really low because i will slow down to 5km/h so that i dont have to unclip at traffic lights. one day i would like to not have any traffic lights so i can know what my average speed actually is.

what you could do is pop a wheelie while at the stop light.


yeah my average speeds are always really low because i will slow down to 5km/h so that i dont have to unclip at traffic lights. one day i would like to not have any traffic lights so i can know what my average speed actually is.

Average speed means average speed which includes stops because your highest speed of say 30mph is averaged with your lowest speed say 0, thus your time to go a certain distance is your average speed...anything else is cheating-sorry guys.

I always include my stops whether stop signs or rest breaks. I rarely take a rest break, but when I do my 100+ mile rides then I may stop at a store to buy more food. I allow myself X amount of time to get from A to B, the average speed which includes stops tells me if I'm ahead of pace or need to pick it up in order to make it there in X time.

Average speed means average speed which includes stops because your highest speed of say 30mph is averaged with your lowest speed say 0, thus your time to go a certain distance is your average speed...anything else is cheating-sorry guys.

I always include my stops whether stop signs or rest breaks. I rarely take a rest break, but when I do my 100+ mile rides then I may stop at a store to buy more food. I allow myself X amount of time to get from A to B, the average speed which includes stops tells me if I'm ahead of pace or need to pick it up in order to make it there in X time.

i tend to agree with this. i posted the question after i heard that someone rode an "average" 18 mph on a century. i found this hard to believe given that the guy was in about the same shape i was in and i knew he made pit stops. i believe he can ride his bike at 18 mph, but to sustain it over a hundred miles is something different entirely. i think it's misleading in a way.

I always limit my stops to do what I need then back to pedalling. I do not like to "rest" because my muscles cool down a bit and it is like starting all over anyway.

I'd say it is not unreasonable to exclude the stop times when done in this manner. The pros don't have to stop since they have domestiques and team cars.

Keep the stops under a few minutes at most.

i tend to agree with this. i posted the question after i heard that someone rode an "average" 18 mph on a century. i found this hard to believe given that the guy was in about the same shape i was in and i knew he made pit stops. i believe he can ride his bike at 18 mph, but to sustain it over a hundred miles is something different entirely. i think it's misleading in a way.

Another take on this is the folks who say they rode a century in 4 hours at 25mph that are not seasoned racers.

In my best shape when I was racing I could in fact do a solo century on hilly terrain and end up at or close to 20 mph/ 5 hours. Occasionally I'd ride with one of those 4 hour century chaps who could not keep up a 20 mph average pace for more than about 15-20 miles when it was just the two of us. Once they had to work and not just sit in the middle of a fast pack they blew up and died.

I'd be very lucky to do a 18 mph century right now but for racing cyclists 20 mph or higher solo century speeds are common. I trained for a while with a fella who was a category 2 racer in 1995 and we turned some seriously fast rides but we never did a full 100 miles togather. I'd have bet money he could have turned a 4.5 hour century solo. We regularly combined our efforts to turn 50 milers in a little over 2 hours.

what you could do is pop a wheelie while at the stop light.
haha....i cant believe i didnt think of this:D

I always limit my stops to do what I need then back to pedalling. I do not like to "rest" because my muscles cool down a bit and it is like starting all over anyway.

I'd say it is not unreasonable to exclude the stop times when done in this manner. The pros don't have to stop since they have domestiques and team cars.

Keep the stops under a few minutes at most.

Well put. I try to stop only long enough to get food and hit the can. On group rides we might make 2-3 quick stops in 100 miles. If I stop for too long my legs tighten up. On TOMRV (Tour of the Mississippi River Valley) last year our average read 19.6 mph over 108 miles (5h30min). We left at 8:00 and arrived 1:50, made 4 stops (about 20 min total). If you add those in 20 min our actual average was still 18.5 and I know that there were faster riders out there. But really none of these averages take into account hills, headwind, riding in a paceline or solo.

Just get out there and do the mileage and enjoy yourself. If you want to keep score fine but to talk about 'cheating' is silly.

i believe he can ride his bike at 18 mph, but to sustain it over a hundred miles is something different entirely. i think it's misleading in a way. Hey I average 30 MPH - - - down hill :D


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haha....i cant believe i didnt think of this:D
prob is astrale 8 has rear wheel sensors :D

Hey I average 30 MPH - - - down hill :D


this made me think of something. is there a computer out there that will give you averages based on wheather you're climbing or decending?

Hey I average 30 MPH - - - down hill :D


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Then stay off those brakes! :D

Water? About the only reason I can think of.

Water and other fluid management duties!

this made me think of something. is there a computer out there that will give you averages based on wheather you're climbing or decending?


I suppose you could use the lap or interval feature on some of the heart rate monitors (HRM) to give you that information. They can tell you your average and max speed for each lap. Of course, you'd have to press a little button at the bottom and top of every hill to tell the HRM to start a new lap. Probably more work than it's worth.

There's also fancier HRMs that will give you altitude and weather info. So, you could probably get temp and feet/meters climbed/descended. I don't know if they'll tell you the grade/pitch of the incline/decline though.

prob is astrale 8 has rear wheel sensors :D

waht you can't pop a front wheel weelie? hell your no rider.

prob is astrale 8 has rear wheel sensors :D

the rear wheel sensor is an option. i have a front wheel sensor. so no stoppies for me. wheelies all the way. haha

I don’t believe in water. The extra weight just slows you down. After I sweat out about 5 pounds of water, I really start to fly. If things get too bad, I just suck some sweat out of my bandana. :D

Typical Marine! :D
Don't go for too long without water.

Semper Fi

There's also fancier HRMs that will give you altitude and weather info. So, you could probably get temp and feet/meters climbed/descended. I don't know if they'll tell you the grade/pitch of the incline/decline though.
they work on air pressure so no they won't do pitch, infact if the weather changes much the altitude can be thrown off several hundered feet due to the low or high pressure systems moving through, it's not usualy a problem on a few hour ride unless a storm rolls in suddenly.

As for speed I usualy stop the counter for breaks but not for stoplights(they're part of the ride, breaks however are optional) and use that as ave.mph but I also note total time(time I leave to time I'm home, on a clock or watch) and distance(note odo at start, I've bumped the trip reset but the odo takes a whole reset process). This way I can compare the two for my own training and have backups if I push the wrong buttons.

average speed is pretty meaningless training metric, anyway, so why does it really matter?

average speed is pretty meaningless training metric, anyway, so why does it really matter?

Depends what your training for I guess...

For me I'm trying to lose weight, but at the same time I'm always looking at my average speed. To me it's a guage of whether I'm getting fitter and able to see it increase. For the in-shape riders I bet you look at this metric completely different.

the problem with average speed is that it is very dependent on environmental variables. is a 26 km/h average speed over rolling roads with a broken surface the same thing as 26 km/h on a flat, well-maintained road? is it the same as 26 km/h in very hilly terrain? is it the same thing as 26 km/h on a windy day? is 26 km/h on a short ride comparable to 26 km/h on a century?

the important metrics in training are power -- but it costs a lot to get a good power tap -- heart rate -- but this can also be variable, depending on everything from how much sleep you had the night before and how much training you've been doing and ple -- perceived level of exertion.

average speed only matters when you're trying to keep to a schedule [how far you can go in a given number of hours] and describing what kind of pace you want to keep in a group ride. too many cyclists get too hung up on average speeds.

[QUOTE=capsicum]they work on air pressure so no they won't do pitch, infact if the weather changes much the altitude can be thrown off several hundered feet due to the low or high pressure systems moving through, it's not usualy a problem on a few hour ride unless a storm rolls in suddenly. QUOTE]
Actually there are at least a couple, including the Cyclosport and the Naviion that do %grade after the fact when you download to your pc. So far my Naviion has been quite impressive (<2 weeks however so I'm still evaluating it). On a 22mile ride with 1000 ft of climbing, it was off 1ft from beginning to ending elevation and yesterday for the Davis Double it was off by +68 ft, beginning to end. I think this is extremely impressive for a barometric pressure sensor saw over 7500 ft of climbing and that started the day at 51 degrees under cloudy skies, saw 88 degrees in crystal clear sky mid-afternoon, and back to 70 at the finish. In reality a GPS system, while more acurate beginning to end (though my Magellan Sport Track gives altitude reads that vary by as much as 20 feet in the exact same location), is less accurate for the duration because of all the dropouts due to trees, cliffs, mountains, etc.

the problem with average speed is that it is very dependent on environmental variables. is a 26 km/h average speed over rolling roads with a broken surface the same thing as 26 km/h on a flat, well-maintained road? is it the same as 26 km/h in very hilly terrain? is it the same thing as 26 km/h on a windy day? is 26 km/h on a short ride comparable to 26 km/h on a century?
i agree with you. the only time average speed is acurate is if you ride the same route everyday (and any traffic lights you may encounter are always green.).

I think average speed is much more usfull than the ol' "feels" faster or more efficiant method. Yes it must be compaired over the same course but you don't have to ride it every day, besides how many courses could there be that are really bicycle worthy near your homebase, get an aveerage on each.
Ave speed can also be used to compair two bikes for efficiancy if you use a heart moniter or the same bike and rider at different points in training or the same bike with different riders(a truely equal race). There are few if any stoplights on the routes I take around here though so I'll stay out of that.


Actually there are at least a couple, including the Cyclosport and the Naviion that do %grade after the fact when you download to your pc. So far my Naviion has been quite impressive (<2 weeks however so I'm still evaluating it). On a 22mile ride with 1000 ft of climbing, it was off 1ft from beginning to ending elevation and yesterday for the Davis Double it was off by +68 ft, beginning to end. I think this is extremely impressive for a barometric pressure sensor saw over 7500 ft of climbing and that started the day at 51 degrees under cloudy skies, saw 88 degrees in crystal clear sky mid-afternoon, and back to 70 at the finish. In reality a GPS system, while more acurate beginning to end (though my Magellan Sport Track gives altitude reads that vary by as much as 20 feet in the exact same location), is less accurate for the duration because of all the dropouts due to trees, cliffs, mountains, etc.

Ah I didn't even consider it keeping track of climb rate and comparing it to forword speed and all that. I'm little behind the times on cycleputers I guess, it didn't dawn on me that the comps were storing extra info for download, my old(5years) just does the basics and displays the numbers it's self; speed, ave speed, trip odo, time, stopwatch and odo.

That day was a fairly stable day from the sounds of it. Pressure changes from climbing, desending and weather don't affect the accuracy of a barometric device's sensor, its just that changes in weather can cause false readings. I've seen high end altimeters that weren't set for several weeks that said I was 100 feet below sea level when I was at a known 300ft above because the weather was very cloudy and warm when it was set then got cold and partlycloudy. They do quite well as long as they are set the day they are used, most hikers set them every few hours when ever they come to a known elevation point incase a low or high ridge rolls in.

My computer automatically stops when I stop. The "riding" time is what I put in my training log. But when I quote my century time, I quote the total elapsed time.