Rootman

Funny thing, I can never seem to find any one sided hills, climb or descend and then go back to your starting point, what ever you lose or gain you have to pay back in the end

This last time the guy I was riding with actually lies to me and said we were NOT coming back the same way, he had an alternate way home with longer lower ascents. And I was just dumb enough to believe him. When I wasn't on the verge of soiling myself the steep descents were pretty fun though.

RaleighSport

Training, discipline, diet, natural talent.. very few people have the talent and even fewer meet the other requirements.

bbbean 

30 meters per hour? No problem for me! I can go all day!

rdtompki

All things being equal (as they say) including equipment, position on the bike, etc., 30 mph versus 25 mph requires a 73% increase in power output (Power = Force x Velocity) and Force (drag) rises approximately as the square of velocity (level ground, no wind, ignoring power losses in the drive train, etc.).

Rltot

Wind Sails

con

I have only held that type of speed for a good distance back in my racing days. Completely flat crits would see sustained speeds in the 30's for the entire race. Sounds difficult, it's not. When there is a peloton of 50-100 riders you get sucked along at stupid fast speeds with little effort. The only time I get that feeling now is when I'm running back down the coast with a 20 + knot tail wind

I will say, the sound of the tires and drive trains in a large peloton moving at that speed is truly intoxicating. It has been decades since I have experienced it and I can still remember the sound and I miss it.

fietsbob

How do I? step 1, change the unit of measure to KM/Hr so 30 of those,

it turns out to be less than half that Miles -per, rate of speed ..

then halve that again Im back at the 7.5mph, A pootling pace ,


or sitting at the sidewalk cafe watching those 20~30 y.o. kids all race by.

CarrollB

I use to feel bad reading a thread like this when my average speed is 12 mph. Since buying a HRM I no longer care as I know I'm riding at a speed where I'm getting the benefit I want better health. At 67, and having only been riding a bike for 18 months I will never see 25+. If I want to ride faster than my 12-15 mph I jump on my Harley and can ride it at 75+ up a mountain road if that's what I feel like doing.

JamieElenbaas

The key is to have four strong 30 year olds in front of you...

It happens a couple of times a summer at the end of the Tuesday night worlds where the last 4 or 5 flat miles hit 29-31 mph. Not only do the stars all have to line up in terms of 'having legs' that day, but for me at least, my brain has to be there too. The mental concentration needed to handle the bike that close others when I am totally gassed is as difficult as the physical effort.

Ah, but those few evenings are the magic payoff for working so hard the rest of the year.

StanSeven

Just about anyone can get to 25 mph with lots of training (mostly lots of miles). I built up for a week tour of 600 miles. When I finished I could hang with anyone/any group. I did interval workouts with a group that hit 35 mph in the paceline after that week.

So it's really whether you have the time and motivation to put in the big mileage base and a little speedwork. It takes a lot of effort and devotion to go from 80-100 mile weeks to 300+ miles. But if you decide to do it, 25 mph isn't unreachable. 30 mph is for a small group of elite pros and 50% of the BF posters.

Mountain Mitch

But at sea level you have all that thick rich oxygen. Up here in the mountains you have to have the capability of absorbing the O2 out of thin air.

I find the best way to sustain speeds over 30 (or 40 for that matter) is when no one else is around to record the event or witness it in any way. Then get on the computer...

Sixty Fiver

I used to ride 10,000 miles a year... at that level hopping on your bike and doing 25 miles in an hour becomes a nearly daily event and I had a 25 mile loop I would ride that wasn't flat which really adds to the challenge of making time.

The wattage numbers I posted do not factor in grades or wind... both will substantially increase the power output you need to ride at higher speeds. Rider weight and the bicycle weight do not contribute nearly as much and don't even make a lot of difference on climbs as it is all about power and aerodynamics.

Most fit cyclist can generate and sustain 180 watts which is good for 15-18 mph on pretty much any kind of bike, it is when you cross that line that you really have to start working a little harder and smarter and learn how to push the limits of your body.

The greatest cyclists also had something besides freakish genetic gifts, trainers, and the best kit... they also have incredible pain thresholds.

Merckx spent the better part of his career riding in extreme back / hip pain that stemmed from a heinous crash on the track... he finished second in his Last TdF and rode most of that with a broken jaw and on a diet of liquids.

contango 

That helps.

I've managed to cover a mile in 1:54 riding solo but the first part was a 10% decline and the rest of it was a very slight decline. I was very selective exactly which 5280 feet I chose from the track log.

How it's done on the flat - easy (in principle) - use a nice big gear and spin the pedals very fast. It's more than I'm physically capable of doing though - I can sprint to about 30 but can't hold it for any length of time.

Hermes

I will give you a serious answer. It depends.

Some of the UCI pro team members can time trial at 30 mph average speed over a course. However, a lot has to do with wind and terrain as well as weather. Low pressure, higher temperature and higher humidity are faster atmospheric conditions. UCI pro teams routinely keep pelotons at 30+ mph and trade off lead riders but unless there is a feature of the course such as wind (at their back) or terrain (slightly down hill) that is a hard effort for them to maintain on road bikes.

Amateur races and hit 30 mph but in general do not average 30 mph. It is more like 24 to 27 mph. I was on a ride along the coast in SoCal on Sunday and we hooked up with some strong riders and cruised along the coast with a mostly cross but slight tail wind and we were going along at 28 mph and my power sitting in was 200 to 225 watts. However, at those speeds, the power spikes if there is any slight change in terrain or wind that goes against the group.

30 mph solo is just not that difficult and most can do it with practice and training. Sustained solo 30 mph + for any distance is very difficult.

Shifting into a big gear the trying to do 30+ mph is too hard. I do flying kilos at the track in 92.4 gear inches at over 30 mph which means my cadence is much higher.

Here is another way to work on speed.



I set the motor at 30 mph + and every third lap, I dropped down and rode a lap by myself. The motor went behind. After the lap was done, I pulled up and the motor went underneath and I got back on for another two behind the motor. The guy behind me stayed on my wheel or rode behind the motor. I just keep working on speed speed speed and it starts to feel easier.

Speed is like anything else. One has to work on speed and make it an objective.

You may be wimpy, but that is another matter.

jdon

I did a 26 mile ride a few years ago with 14 others. All were A group riders, some Cat 1 racers and one former pro. We had a nice country route, no wind, minor climbs and descents and the objective was speed.

At times we were cruising at 45 kph and at other times 74 kph. The ride ended with a 3 km sprint that splintered the group. The fastest time was 59:00:20, the slowest (me) was 1:00:49.

At 50 years of age, riding 300+ miles per week, it wasn't in me to average 30 mph. I barely made 25.

John_V 

There is one area that I ride annually that I have reached 36.2 mph while pedaling. It's the downhill portion of the highest hill on the route. At 67, it doesn't really matter what speed I'm going as long as the bike is moving forward.

Sixty Fiver

If you train at altitude and then compete at sea level you get a little boost but riding at high altitude decreases wind resistance considerably and this is why Merckx made his hour attempt in Mexico city... it reduced his wattage requirements considerably and he still said this was the hardest thing he had ever done and would suspect that the altitude affected his aerobic ability. He had demonstrated how hard and fast he could ride in previous races where his numbers were not far off his hour record and these efforts were sustained over much longer distances.

When my friends and I get into somewhat geeky discussions on speed we make it clear that how fast you can ride down a hill has nothing to do with how fast you can ride on a relatively flat course in good conditions... I can do 90 kmh on my bike if the grade is steep enough.

mprelaw

You need to re-do the conversion.

30 kph = approx. 18.5 mph.

Waxbytes

30 pounds lighter would help too.


I can easily hit 35 mph on a downhill but you can time me with a calendar on the uphill.
Riding in a group is the secret of faster average speed.

Mr. Beanz

It's actually pretty easy to do 30 mph miles on end.

Unless you post proof via Strava or similar. There is a segment on Strava that is flat and a tailwind most times. It is 7.4 miles long, there are nearly 4000 riders and posted times.

But there are only 7 guys that posted averages at 28 mph and I'm betting these guys were drafting with others in a group.

Seriously, I know a few guys that average 26 on this entire ride of 42 miles but can't keep up with me when I average 17.

freedomrider1

Chris Horner was on the Harpeth river ride a couple of years ago ,hilly course and he did the 100 mile route in 3:58,i guess he did it solo as his team mates had mechanical problems.Needless to say he won. LOL

Kai Winters

Work very hard, get very strong and pedal really really fast...easy peasy

Dudelsack 

Don't get weird about it.

The Masters Nationals were held in this area a few years ago. I rode down and watched some of the action.

The winning time trial speed in the 55+ age group, won by a guy on a TT bike worth thousands of dollars, and dressed in a skin suit with and aero helmet, was 29.5 MPH. I believe this was on a 40 km. out and back course.

I pay attention to Strava speeds around here, as it does tend to compare apples to apples. No one here, not the cat 1 racers even, average all that high.

I was once chased by a bad ass mean dog, and I may well have sprinted close to 30 MPH to get away from it. I wasn't paying close attention to the bike computer at the time.

Allegheny Jet

I can ride for 30+ mph for about 2.5 minutes then collapse into a ball of self induced near death. I'm 60 yrs old and train seriously for races and track racing. My track race training includes intervals of riding 30" at 30+mph with 30" recoveries then back to pace again for up to 6'. I recently did a 1.2 mile TT in 2:40.5 that averaged 28 mph which included a standing start from 0mph. For me in the aero position it takes around 400 watts to ride 30 mph. In the race I referred to my 2nd 300 meter lap was 32.7 mph which took about 520 watts (not intended!).

apollored

The guy who runs the Community Bike Shop where I get my bike fixed said he frightened himself to death almost riding over a small humpbacked bridge at 45 MPH.