Bianchi 30 Mile

Say, for 20 miles or so. I usually start out at about 7:30 AM here in Orlando. My best average speed is 17 on a 92 Bianchi Virata. I'm 42, so I'm pretty well happy with that. There are things that impede your progress on the bike path, such as walkers and dogs, but at least it's a bike path of considerable length.

Mr. Beanz

Depends! On a solo 100 mile flat trail ride, 17.3. On a 10 mile flat TT effort from a dead stop, 22.6. On a 100 mile with 10,000 ft of climbing, 13.8. On a flat group ride, 19.6. I'mm 220-240 lbs and 45 yers old so I'm happy too!

envane

On a flat, windless road, my cruising speed is 17 mph. Meaning, that is a speed I could hold indefinitely.

Rogue Leader

I hold about 20-21 on something like that, but unfortunately around here thats rare, and the wind usually knocks my speed either down to 17, or up to 23!

Zan

for my usual road loop which has a few hills + stops to slow down at, i average 30km/h, or 18.75mi/h. the loop is maybe 30 - 40km depending if i add the extra leg or not.

i can hold 26km/h (16.25mi) indefinitely on somewhat hilly terrain.

i've been riding seriously for one season, am 5'8 @ 130lbs. my bike is a POS @ about 30lbs. road bike, though.

StephenH

Riding around White Rock Lake on my cruiser, the best I've ever done was 16.0 mph for 22.5 miles. It's normally slower than that, though, and that might have been a rare time when I had a tail wind in both directions.

joelh

My normal ride is about 20 miles of rolling hills in central NC. I am at about 16 mph. That is up from 14 when I moved from a hybrid to a road bike.

Bill Kapaun

This 60 year old overweight guy that's been smoking for 50+ years does about 12 MPH indefinitely on his RockHopper, sitting very upright because of a bad back, with bad knees and no wind.
If the ride is an hour or less, I do about 13 MPH. More than that, and the wind resistance starts to eat me up. Headwinds kill me!

operator

Average speed is completely useless as a metric for performance, only noobs will use this for anything but comical value.

chipcom 

One MIIILLLLLION miles per hour

Doug5150

Yea but if you never ride with others, it's one of those things you tend to wonder about.

I can average around 17 mph over a 20-mile distance, at my "typical" pace, on a long-wheelbase recumbent. This bike is fitted out more like an RV than a race car and so the weight and (particularly) the gearing is not optimal for maintaining higher speeds.

I'll also freely admit that I could average faster on a normal upright road bike back when I owned one, and it would probably still be faster even now--but then I also wouldn't be nearly as comfortable.
~

chipcom 

Get over it. If you want to use your average speed to gauge your personal progress, cool, just make sure you are comparing apples to apples because there are so many variables involved...which is why trying to compare to others is futile. If you want to compare your speed to others, do group rides or, better yet, go out and race. Unless you are racing, the only person you need to be concerned about is yourself.

Podolak

On my daily rides probably 16 or 17. My weekend rides (which are longer consequently) are around 18 or so.

Dewbert

About 1/2 way through this season I started using my big ring (triple) rather than my middle ring. Amazingly enough, my average speed went from around 14-15 to 16-17 without a noticeable increase in effort. Don't tease me! I too am astonished at how much of a simpleton I can be sometimes!

croscoe

It depends on the distance. On short rides under 20 miles, I usually average 16-17 mph. On longer rides I usually average around 14 mph.

JanMM

My average speed riding to work with a tailwind is 18-19mph. Wow. Don't ask about without a tailwind.

KZBrian

16-17mph over 20 miles. It (seemingly) takes an extreme amount of additional energy to bring the average up 1 mph past that.

tntyz

I like this question! I don't ride with groups b/c the slowest group rides in the area advertises a moderate pace of only 15 mph over a 35 mile ride. That'd kill me and doesn't sound like my idea of a good time. Sorry!

17 mph on rides of ~20 miles. Over that I shoot for 13-14. I'm 51 on a hybrid. Headwinds kill me; worse than hills any day.

My limiting factor is keeping my heart rate in a "safe" zone. The nurse at work doesn't thinks it's a good idea for me to sustain a heart rate of 185 for extended periods.

MN Bianchi

Yesterday after work I rode just short of 20 miles with 6 others. The temp was in the upper 50's and the wind was blowing in excess of 25 MPH. We averaged just under 16 for the ride, which I thought was pretty decent considering the wind.

bengreen79

12 mph (25 mins for 5 miles) on my daily commute. Anyone slower than that?

spinnaker

Oh no, not this kind of thread again.

Who really cares how fast or slow anyone else rides. As long as you and your riding mates can hang together without too much trouble, that is all that matters. Just get out and ride.

As chipcom says there are far too many factors to make any kind of comparison worth anything.

bartturner

I very much focus on average speed. I also only ride solo. On my P2C, with aero helmet, tri suit, aero HED H3 wheel I average 23.1 mph, killing myself, on my 15 mile, flat loop. I have averaged 24mph on my 5 mile very flat course that does require a complete turn around. On my 24 mile, very flat, course without HED wheel, helmet or outfit I average 22mph and some change. On a very, very hilly course that is about 18 miles I average 18 on the low end and have averaged as high as 19mph.

My goal is to increase my average for all of these by 1mph by September 2009.

In the last year I have significantly increased my average speeds. Last year I could not break 18mph. It is funny how you can never be satisfied. My dream was to break 18mph. That was my goal I set September 2007 for the tri I did last week. If I only could do 18mph. Well I averaged 22.1 mph.

For the same tri in September 2007 I averaged 15.8 mph. So 6+mph improvement. Now all I want is a 1mph improvement for September 2009.

I plan on doing it by:

- Going to buy a solid back wheel
- Purchasing a PowerTap and really focus on fit as it relates to generating power.
- Also use the PowerTap to work on faster cadence. Mine is way to slow right now
- A lot more training. More miles. Regular spin class during the winter
- Smoke less

I am guessing increasing my speed by 1 mph will be harder than the increase of 6 during the last year.

Allen

I'm usually about ten minutes late.

Yan 

13.3 mph over 13.8 miles from the suburbs to downtown.

tntyz

'Cause I like to know how bad I suck?