Air

I've never seen my average go up above 14 and change. The other day, rode from the train station to my folks, stopped off for a haircut. Didn't let it get below 17, was mainly around 22 mph or so which for me was hammering for the hour. Get back - 14.1. How fast are you guys going when you have a 16, 17, 18 mph averages? Keeping it around 28mph the whole time? Or does your computer cut off if you drop below a certain speed (I have two computers for three bikes, they always seem to add a few seconds when I get to 0)?

Scummer

The computer stops counting time when I'm stopped like at intersections or so.
I normally go 19-22mph but I have not been able to get it higher than 17mph on avg. I guess I have too many intersections along my bike path where I have to slow down for the stop or to coast across the street.

Terrierman

I worked pretty hard to hit a 15.1 average the other day on a 20 mile route. It didn't kill me, but I definitely pushed harder. Just this side of having a stitch in my side the whole ride. I ride a Coda Elite which is not a drop bar road bike, but is a fairly aggressive flat bar bike, albeit with a steel frame and disc brakes which definitely add weight.

Mr. Beanz

I timed myself form a dead stop to a sead stop. flat no stop ride. 22.6 all out effort, my best.

On an all out flat ride no stops,19.0 for a 42 mile ride. Out can be 17-18 average as low as 17 into the wind. On the return maybe speeds of 24 with a final of 19.0 average.

When I'm doing the 19.0 pace, I'm dropping riders like flies, especailly into the wind when riders can find a good draft.

I've talked to many people that say they solo aveage 26 into the wind but can't seem to keep up with my 19. I say lots of BS out there!

Shubox

I cant wait to get a road bike next year (since I bought the mtn this year) so I can hit 22 at a constant I am looking into converting the mtn into a hybrid but have found it will never work.

Turboem1

lol I agree. Ill be doing 18+ for an entire ride and when I check my average its like 14.7. I dont get it.

UtRacerDad

I converted a Mtn bike in to a hybrid/commuter, but in order to do it effectively I had to upgrade to disc brakes. that way I can run 29'er rims on the 26 inch frame and still get the brakes to work. the only other thing I had to do was change the crank from a 44/32/22 to a 48/38/28. It's a steel frame but it's great as a commuter, I just added a rack last week, hopefully soon I won't be using my backpack.

Pinyon

I think that the reason that the average speed is so much slower, is because you spend more time going up hills than you think. I also to suffer just enough to NOT look down and notice the spedometer as often when I'm fighting a hill or a head-wind.

Wogster

I think a persons speed on a bike, is a lot like the size of fish that a fisherman caught. That 3g minnow ends up being a 3kg Pike.....

keithm0

Is it possible your cycle computer is malfunctioning? I had a wireless CatEye model that started freaking-out after about a year of use. Cruising at 16-ish MPH the display would often fluctuate wildly -- showing 15.9, 11.5, 15.5, 9.6, etc. After riding a very familiar 22 mile course, it would sometimes show 22 miles, sometimes 17 or so.

I ensured the spoke magnet was properly aligned with the sensor -- no change.
I replaced the battery in the display -- no change.
I replaced the battery in the transmitter -- no change.

One fateful ride, I got so angry with the thing I ripped it off its handlebar bracket and threw it as far as I could. The next day I bought a wired model, and I've not had any problems since.

(51)

The computer keeps running when you stop the bike. That "0" mph is averaged in. If you stop for long periods of time you might want to disconnect the computer while you are stopped.

Terrierman

You can usually program how long you are stopped before the computer times out and stops averaging in the zero. I think mine is something like 15 seconds.

KingTermite 

Yeah....I noticed this long ago. It counts those super slow speeds almost down to 0 as your stopping. The computer doesn't seem to stop averaging until you actually stop. I get similar issues....I'll ride 14+ for the entire ride and get 12.5 mpg avg.

Caincando1

I just got back from a 26 mile ride and averaged 13.8 MPH. I never stopped except for traffic, but had to slow down about 10-12 times to cross roads and what not. The slowing down really kills your average speed, but then again, that's why they call it "average". Plus those 35mph dive bombs down hills really help your average. I'm not sure about other brands, but my cateye can be ran in auto mode or manual mode. In auto mode it automatically stops timing when you come to a stop, but I think its only when you are completely stoped. In manual mode it won't start and stop recording unless you hit a button. I'm sure you could get a killer average doing this, because you could stop it every time slowed down for a stop.

jaxgtr

I think it has a lot to do with the point at which your computer is capturing the speed. On my Garmin, it captures every 6 seconds so I have a fairly accurate time, but my Polar was only grabbing the lap time, in my case, each mile. So if I had to slow down on the mile mark, it would pick up the 9 or 10 mph versus the 15 mph I was riding before that. I am going to switch my Garmin to record every sec and see how much of a difference it is.

ronjon10

Careful not to do that on a long ride, you may have troubles uploading the file to motionbased. I had a 3 hour ride recording every second and I had to have them upload it manually. It doesn't like having more than 10,000 trackpoints. That's about 2.5 hours or so at 1 second recording.

I found it really didn't make a difference. I've used a stopwatch and known distance before to gauge the accuracy of the garmin, it's pretty much spot on with the every 6 seconds or so recording. It's accurate because it takes measurements every second and records data when something changes. So, if you're changing speed rapidly, say accelerating, it's recording more than once every six seconds.

Anyway, give it a shot.

As for the gist of the thread, you really do spend a lot of time below avg speed when you're on public roads with all the inherent obstacles. I notice I slow down in traffic, when there are potential troublespots on the road, when I see a dog, almost anything abnormal. I just know too many people who get in accidents going 20+. Cars think you're going 12 and cut in front of you accordingly. Plus I can't stop quickly if I'm going that fast.

The garmin let's me measure time spent in time zones. I take the time spent going 8+ mph to get my real moving average. That's shows me something much closer to how fast I feel I was going.

jaxgtr

No was just going to do it on a short 5 or 10 mile ride. Hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow so I can ride outside.

Bill Kapaun

I'm kind of having the opposite problem.
Today I just ran errands/grocery shopping. I probably do about 13-15 on the flats with minor wind. A few stops and lots of slow downs at intersections etc. Checked my time vs distance and came out at 13.2. That was packing 35 lbs. of groceries up a slight hill on the way back. I simply don't believe it!
The other day I went for a 5 mile "pleasure ride" to get the exercise. It was just a big rectangle, so I should have had equal head/tail winds (light). Then I averaged 13.5, which did sounded very reasonable. It had a couple stops and all right turns.
I'm wondering if maybe my indicated speed doesn't round up? IOW, 13.99 registers as 13, not 14. That would make things closer to reasonable.

socalrider

the slowing down/stopping for lights just kills your average.. I have a garmin and set it to auto pause below 4mph.. This seems to help a little bit with the average when riding the streets.

We are lucky here in so cal that we have too fairly long river bike trails, one in Orange County and the other in LA, that you can get a true average since there is no stopping..

I like the Santa Ana river trail for riding..

Air

I'm sure the slowdown kills it - but when people report averages does that factor in or it depends on the computer? Mine ticks a few seconds of 0 but does stop...eventually. If I get a computer that cuts off say below 4 than I'll have a faster average? Seems like cheating

solveg

The 50+ people are so cool....

Here's the answer to your questions, grashopper.

https://www.bikeforums.net/fifty-plus-50/326372-average-speed.html

dahoss2002

slowing down, turning around, stopping........On a local bike path I ride, I have to keep the speedometer above 20 when not turning around or avoiding pedestrians to average 17 mph for 25 miles.

markw

I'm usually running around 17-18 average. Last weekend on the coast century we were around 18mph average going up and 16 coming back. As for drafting at 19?? Draft? We don't need no steenkin draft...