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How fast do you all ride?

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

How fast do you all ride?

Old 07-12-16, 08:31 AM
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
I don't think you can export data directly from one to another, but what a lot of people do is track their rides with something like a Garmin (or, in my case, another app called Cyclemeter) which export ride GPS data in a format that can be uploaded to either Strava or Ride With GPS. If you wanted, you could easily upload to both.
Yeah, I thought about that. Currently Jones'n my wife for a Garmin 810 ...
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Old 07-13-16, 10:23 PM
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So many possible answers but still a good question! Don't know why every has to circle jerk on the "it's varies" bandwagon.

24-28 MPH average for Hammer rides that usually last between 30-65 miles. Surging up to 40 at sprint points and probably rolling as slow as 20 up some rollers.

21 Mph for group endurance rides on the weekend. Usually rides that last 60 miles plus
18-19 Mph when just cruising alone for endurance
15 mph on easy days

That about sums it up.
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Old 07-14-16, 11:20 AM
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Originally Posted by rrich49132
I just got my first Road bike a new Specialized Roubaix SL4 and got our over the weekend for 60 miles and my app had me average 14.9 mph. I did get passed like I was standing still by a few groups as I know I am super slow but am curious what many of you average for rides like 50-70 miles. This was fairly flat by the way not too many miles if any of you are familiar with the Washington DC area I rode on the W&OD trail.
Congrats on getting your first road bike, I am sure yo will love riding it. I am very familiar with the W&OD because I ride part of as my commute almost everyday. Depending on the section you are riding, if you are out west with very little stop signs and road crossings and not into a strong wind, 14.9mph is not that fast. But if you are in the Reston area or east of Vienna, then the stop/start will dramatically slow your average speed down, so 14.9 mph is not that slow. I think if just started road biking, for a out-and-back loop on W&OD, 16-17 mph should be your goal.
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Old 07-14-16, 11:46 AM
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Originally Posted by Corbah
So many possible answers but still a good question! Don't know why every has to circle jerk on the "it's varies" bandwagon.

24-28 MPH average for Hammer rides that usually last between 30-65 miles. Surging up to 40 at sprint points and probably rolling as slow as 20 up some rollers.

21 Mph for group endurance rides on the weekend. Usually rides that last 60 miles plus
18-19 Mph when just cruising alone for endurance
15 mph on easy days

That about sums it up.
People hand-wring over this topic because everyone defines "average" differently.

For example, someone might see your post and go, "My god! Averaging 25mph for 60 miles?? That's hard!" and they'd be right, but based on your Strava that I just stalked, your normal group rides are more like 19-20 mph average over 35-45 miles with some longer ones too.

That's just about normal for a fit cyclist once you take into account stops, climbs, whatever, and the pace on effort sections can easily be 25+ but that doesn't mean you're averaging 28 for the ride.

Just doing my part to stir the average speed pot.
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Old 07-14-16, 11:59 AM
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No one has ever conflated ride speed average and moving speed average.

No.

Never.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
People hand-wring over this topic because everyone defines "average" differently.

For example, someone might see your post and go, "My god! Averaging 25mph for 60 miles?? That's hard!" and they'd be right, but based on your Strava that I just stalked, your normal group rides are more like 19-20 mph average over 35-45 miles with some longer ones too.

That's just about normal for a fit cyclist once you take into account stops, climbs, whatever, and the pace on effort sections can easily be 25+ but that doesn't mean you're averaging 28 for the ride.

Just doing my part to stir the average speed pot.
I wouldn't look at the overall averages on my rides since they include a lot of stop lights just to get out of the city. I usually average like 14 before I get to where you can usually go due to having to stop for so many dang lights.

For example, if you look at the actual segments which mind you only include a portion of the training ride, you will see that my original post is correct.


Last edited by Corbah; 07-14-16 at 12:05 PM.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Corbah
I wouldn't look at the overall averages on my rides since they include a lot of stop lights just to get out of the city. I usually average like 14 before I get to where you can usually go due to having to stop for so many dang lights.

For example, if you look at the actual segments which mind you only include a portion of the training ride, you will see that my original post is correct.

Then that's not the average of your ride. I can post segments where I'm going 30+, but I wouldn't say I'm averaging that speed. Not to nit-pick and it looks like you have had some nice rides, just trying to be clear for newbs that there is a distinction there.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
Then that's not the average of your ride. I can post segments where I'm going 30+, but I wouldn't say I'm averaging that speed. Not to nit-pick and it looks like you have had some nice rides, just trying to be clear for newbs that there is a distinction there.
My original response meant to average those speeds across 30-60 mile segments of my rides.

I guess we need to get go backwards and define what a ride is now. What is a ride? When does one ride become more than one. If I ride to work, stop in for 10 minutes, then ride home, is that two rides or one?
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Old 07-14-16, 12:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Corbah
I can do a 25 avg on a 20 mile pancake too ^^^.

Why I might even get to a 35/40-ish avg on a slight downhill grade. (Ok, maybe a big hill).

But really it depends on the pizza at the end how hard I push myself.

Deep dish meatstravaganza? I dial my watts up to 500.

Thin crust veggy, notsomuch.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:21 PM
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I also only include the parts where I'm going hard/fast on my averages. Last Sunday I averaged 650 watts on my 65 mile ride.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Corbah
My original response meant to average those speeds across 30-60 mile segments of my rides.

I guess we need to get go backwards and define what a ride is now. What is a ride? When does one ride become more than one. If I ride to work, stop in for 10 minutes, then ride home, is that two rides or one?
You can define it however you want. I think most people define it as whatever their computer or Strava tells them their average was for a given workout, including stops and whatnot.

Again, this is why people get in a fuss about the "it varies" thing and have so many qualifiers- "You had a tailwind! You were racing! You weren't solo! You didn't climb!" ect.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Corbah
So many possible answers but still a good question! Don't know why every has to circle jerk on the "it's varies" bandwagon.

24-28 MPH average for Hammer rides that usually last between 30-65 miles. Surging up to 40 at sprint points and probably rolling as slow as 20 up some rollers.

21 Mph for group endurance rides on the weekend. Usually rides that last 60 miles plus
18-19 Mph when just cruising alone for endurance
15 mph on easy days

That about sums it up.

I also looked at quite a few of your rides,
& while they look good and some appeared to be hammer rides, the highest average I saw was 20.4 MPH.
I've never seen a Strava ride profile with 24 MPH average, can you link one?

OK, that's pretty fast for a 20 mile segment.

Last edited by woodcraft; 07-14-16 at 12:32 PM.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Corbah
So many possible answers but still a good question! Don't know why every has to circle jerk on the "it's varies" bandwagon.

24-28 MPH average for Hammer rides that usually last between 30-65 miles. Surging up to 40 at sprint points and probably rolling as slow as 20 up some rollers.

21 Mph for group endurance rides on the weekend. Usually rides that last 60 miles plus
18-19 Mph when just cruising alone for endurance
15 mph on easy days

That about sums it up.
Whoa, we got a pro in our midst.

Originally Posted by Dan333SP
People hand-wring over this topic because everyone defines "average" differently.

For example, someone might see your post and go, "My god! Averaging 25mph for 60 miles?? That's hard!" and they'd be right, but based on your Strava that I just stalked, your normal group rides are more like 19-20 mph average over 35-45 miles with some longer ones too.

That's just about normal for a fit cyclist once you take into account stops, climbs, whatever, and the pace on effort sections can easily be 25+ but that doesn't mean you're averaging 28 for the ride.

Just doing my part to stir the average speed pot.
Oh wait, we don't.

Originally Posted by Corbah
I wouldn't look at the overall averages on my rides since they include a lot of stop lights just to get out of the city. I usually average like 14 before I get to where you can usually go due to having to stop for so many dang lights.

For example, if you look at the actual segments which mind you only include a portion of the training ride, you will see that my original post is correct.

A 21 mile ride at 26mph on a pancake flat route, with a group of riders...wow, you're a badass.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:29 PM
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204 watts is proper World Champ powa'.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
I think most people define it as whatever their computer or Strava tells them their average was for a given workout, including stops and whatnot.
No no no... Average speed is subjective and open to interpretation!

Don't listen to that ol' computer or try to do any maths... that's too 'old world' logical.

Just come up with a number based on how you feel.

Today my average speed is...

42.5 mph.

See how easy that is?

And impressive?

Whoa!

God, I should get a trophy or something.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:41 PM
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Originally Posted by velociraptor
God, I should get a trophy or something.
Agreed. Trophy is in the mail.

Seriously though, it's useful to at least have a commonly accepted idea of the term because it comes up with group ride planning. The rides that Corbah is talking about would probably be described by a ride leader as "A pace, avg around 20" and experienced riders would know that implies surges to speeds higher than that.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:41 PM
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Originally Posted by velociraptor
I can do a 25 avg on a 20 mile pancake too ^^^.

Why I might even get to a 35/40-ish avg on a slight downhill grade. (Ok, maybe a big hill).

But really it depends on the pizza at the end how hard I push myself.

Deep dish meatstravaganza? I dial my watts up to 500.

Thin crust veggy, notsomuch.
If we could just move forward to a pizza based currency and measurement system, I think the world would be a better place.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:54 PM
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tour de france

In tour de France on the 3d day I think,the av.speed was 43km/h. The moderators and the cyclists said they were slow ,boring,like they were going to stop for a coffee on the way.They were saving energy for the next hard days. You imagine? These riders are like human machines. . And we go with 20/22km/h.

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Old 07-14-16, 12:55 PM
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Originally Posted by velociraptor
No one has ever conflated ride speed average and moving speed average.

No.

Never.
Really? I'm amazed.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:57 PM
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Originally Posted by PepeM
204 watts is proper World Champ powa'.

I saw a ride on the BF Strava club recently where one guy

showed 1,000 watts average for a 20 mph ride,

so we apparently do have some champs in our midst...
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Old 07-14-16, 12:58 PM
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Originally Posted by PepeM
I also only include the parts where I'm going hard/fast on my averages. Last Sunday I averaged 650 watts on my 65 mile ride.
One time last Spring, I averaged over 2000 watts for my 2 second ride.
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Old 07-14-16, 12:59 PM
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Originally Posted by woodcraft
I saw a ride on the BF Strava club recently where one guy

showed 1,000 watts average for a 20 mph ride,

so we apparently do have some champs in our midst...
That definitely wasn't Pepe.
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Old 07-14-16, 01:10 PM
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Originally Posted by velociraptor
No no no... Average speed is subjective and open to interpretation!

Don't listen to that ol' computer or try to do any maths... that's too 'old world' logical.

Just come up with a number based on how you feel.

Today my average speed is...

42.5 mph.

See how easy that is?

And impressive?

Whoa!

God, I should get a trophy or something.
If this was Strava I would give you kudos.
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Old 07-14-16, 01:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
That definitely wasn't Pepe.
I've never broken the 1,000 watts mark.

Must be my shoes.
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Old 07-14-16, 01:13 PM
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Originally Posted by PepeM
Must be my shoes.
Are they orange?
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