General Cycling Discussion - MTB Commuter cruise speed

I'm now curious as to your average or cruise speed and what distance you maintain that over. I find I can't come close to averaging mine out at this time because I don't go far enough. I figure in a month or two I'll be going out of my way to get a longer ride. Problem here to is the hilly terrain.

Haggy, last year, I knew the answer to this and many other questions. I clocked all my mileage and even did a personal time trial every week. It was sort of interesting, but like you mentioned in another post, it's easy to get hung up on numbers and forget to enjoy the ride. I also ended up with some back problems after a summer of pushing my times and distances to new personal highs.

So this year, when my computer battery died, I decided to take it as a sign. I don't know how fast I'm going or how far I'm going. On the other hand, I'm actually looking around more and focussing on the flipping computer less.

i'm slow on my MTB, average around 12 mph

MTB average is about 10-11mph in TN...it'd be faster if I didn't have to deal with gigantic hills

Here are some of my cruising speeds that I've copied and pasted from another thread. The outside data is for a Specialized Sequoia Elite with 700x38 tires. The trainer info is for a Specialized Allez Sport with 700x23 tires. These are probably my best rides but my typical speeds aren't too different.


Last August I was doing some test rides to see how efficient I was on the flats. The conditions were sunny, hot and very little wind.

On August 6th I was able to ride for an hour with an average MPH of 14.23 with an average heart rate of 116 BPM (or 60.73% of my known MaxHR of 191).

On The 8th I rode 14.8 miles in an hour with an average HR of 115 BPM (or 60.21% of known MaxHR). This is my personal best for that HR.

On the 9th I rode 15.19 miles for an hour with an average heart rate of 125 BPM (or 65.44% of MaxHR). This is my PB for this HR.

This year on my trainer I've done 14.4 MPH for an hour with an average HR of 121 BPM (or 63.35% of Max).

Also on the trainer I've done 15.6 MPH for an hour with an AvgHR of 135 BPM (or 70.68% of known max).

I don't think my fitness levels are quite what they were last August/September though. These are all at pretty comfortable effort levels. Going from the 14.5 to 15 MPH range to the 17 to 18 MPH range is really difficult for me. It's like night and day. 20 MPH just seems so far out of reach but that's my goal. 20 MPH for 50 miles on the road not the trainer.

my commute is 16 miles and it takes me an hour to get in in the morning and about an hour fifteen or twenty to go home. slightly more uphill on the way home. trek 950 with semislick tires, ~80 psi

no major hills

I average about 18 mph on my commuter. Without really pushing it too much

22-23 km/h (13-14 mph) over 13 km (8 miles).

This isn't exactly crusing speed but on my 1993 GT Corrado mountain bike with a pair of Kenda Kross tires I did a 5 mile TT with an average speed of 18.4 MPH last August. My previous year's best was 18.1 MPH on the same course with the same bike and tires. At least I'm seeing some improvement.

I have a cousin that is extrememly fit and can sustain 18 MPH for a couple of hours on his MTB with knobby tires! I don't see how he does it as he doesn't specifically train for cycling. He just trains for all around fitness.