ch0mb0

Since getting the track ride, I've been working on a medium-speed leisurely pace that flows with the traffic and with very few stops.
If the traffic pace picks up, so do I. Sometimes as fast as the cranks will allow...



Isn't that just flat out absurd? I cannot stand the morning train commute, esp. using the trains what pass thru the Atlantic Ave. hub.
I'd rather ride for 40-50 mins in the cold than spend 90 minutes on a crowded stinky slow-ass train.

HereNT

I learned to time all the lights on my route when I was riding brakeless - there wasn't really an option of hurrying into the stops. I think the avg speed is higher when you don't stop at all. I altered the route some (turning a block earlier, etc) to make sure that I hit as many green lights as I can...

It's usually between 15-20min to get to work (3.75 miles) which is 11-15mph.

PaulH

My commute is about 5-6 miles and takes around 30 minutes. There are about 20 stop sighns and stoplights on my route. Therefore, my speed is something over 10 mph. Beyond that, I don't know.

Paul

BostonFixed

In the morning I book it to about 20mph+. I usually weave through cars/traffic and don't stop for any stop signs or redlights. I can do my whole commute without putting me feet down.
Of course my commute is short around 1.5mi.

OldShacker

On my Cannondale R300 road bike I have good days that the average speed is 18-mph, however, on windy days (in my face all the way) I can get a light-speed average of 10-mph, ok make that 6-mph. I have one hill that I like to push my self and the most I got was 40-mph with loaded pack and without my pack 45-mph for about a half a mile at most (I do stop at the lights so my average will drop). Then on the bike path I try to keep it at 20-mph. The turns slow me down.
I am lucky that some of my commute is bike path by a nice river, there I have to slow down for the geese and ducks that enjoy the path as well. If it is not the birds, its all the crap they put on the path.
My wife and I like to keep the tamdem speed at an average 17-mph but we do not go further than about 18 to 20 mile round trip.
One day on our tandem (cannondale RT1000) we came across a local team of cyclist and found ourselves pushing it at 30+ mph and really enjoying it. Thank god we only had 4 miles at that speed. It was fun. We held lead a few times and each time they would form 2 draft lines behind us and load up on their water and eats. I felt we help in some way.

notfred

So I finally got my computer, hooked it up, and went out for a short 7 mile ride, and averaged 14.3mph. I guess I'm slow.

Becca

My average speed is 10-12 mph. Top speed downhill ever was 35 mph: Randolph Road heading for town from Wendover Road. Whatta rush! ...and the cagers were looking out their window at the biker keeping up with them!

bnet1

Notfred, that is not too bad for the distance. I average in the 14's myself over 17+ miles during my commutes. Not fast but just steady.

'bent Brian

xylog

Depends on the weather mostly but I did a "time trial" run on the last work day of the year in 2004. My door to door average was 16.5 MPH going in and 15.5 MPH going home. Most of my ride is on trails until I hit the bridge into DC then its all city streets. I was averaging 18.5 MPH before I crossed the bridge then I hit a couple of lights and it was all over. :-(

Anthony King

I don't have a computer, but I can figure my average on my most frequent commute at 16mph. 4.1 relatively flat miles with one decent hill each way. 9 actual stop lights, 5 effective stop lights (right turns that I rarely have to stop at, parking lots that I can cut through). One heavy commuter bicycle. Don't really want to know how heavy--heavy enough to make an lbs guy go "damn!" when he tried to pick it up loaded. Books are heavy. I know the ride seems much easier than when I started riding/commuting a few months ago, and now I do the same ride a couple of minutes faster.
Sometimes when I try to arrive without sweating at all I will go at what feels like a crawl, but I find it doesn't take much longer. I think this has something to do with wind drag increasing exponentially as speed increases. Does anybody know where to find stats on that? or have a physics degree they'd like to put to use? Just curious.

bostontrevor

Wind resistance increases as the square of velocity. Not exponential but polynomial which is still pretty heinous.

As for slow versus fast, it's probably largely an artifact of a 4mi commute. At 16mph it takes you 15 minutes to cover 4 miles. Drop your speed by 25% and you cover the same distance in 20 minutes, a 5 minute increase. You might spend that 5 minutes in the bathroom plus an unluckly stop light, so it's not really such a significant increase. But I know what you mean about feeling like you're just crawling and finding out that fast or slow are pretty relative things.

jimhens714

Interesting discussion. Depends of course on terrain, wind, amount of junk..er ah stuff carried. One other factor that makes a huge difference is whether one's computer is auto start or not (assuming a computer is used). My commuter has an old Cateye Micro that has a start stop button and no auto start. With stop signs and lights and rolling terrain I average about 15mph over 10 miles. I tried stopping the computer when waiting for lights at intersections and restarting again on the green and my average bumped up to 17. Auto start computers usually do just that.
Interestingly enough I can increase my average about 2mph in the heat of summer (I hate cold weather...).