ancker

I started cycling about 8 months ago and have been getting more and more into it each month. I currently ride about 50 miles a week. (On a trainer now that it's cold.) I started out around 10mph and now can easily handle 16mph with intervals up to 22-24mph. I ride 30-60 minutes at least three times a week with a few spinervals and/or sufferfest videos thrown in and a longer 60-90 minutes ride at least once on the weekends.

I see other's, who I presume have been riding much much longer, easily reach and 25+mph average over an hour.

I don't expect to magically jump up to a 20+mph average but assuming I continue riding at my currently pace and miles can I realistically expect to reach a 20+mph average any time soon? How much do I need to increase my riding to get there? Am I on the right track after only 8 months of riding?

umd

Not many people can "easily" average 25mph for over an hour. A 40K TT (24.9 miles) in an hour is a pretty good benchmark.

Note that because power requirements increase with the cube of speed, it takes nearly 75% more power to go from 16 to 20 mph, only 25% faster. You can play around with the exact numbers at various sites.

Standard advice is to not worry about your average speed, just keep riding, and eventually when you plateau, you can think about more structured "training" if that interests you.

bradtx

ancker, umd's last paragraph is dead on. In a way I don't know where to begin. When one starts riding, jogging or swimming there is a rapid advance, then a plateau. Join a bicycle club and ride with them, especially during the spring.

Brad

Accordion

I agree with both statements above mine. To provide some food for thought here are my stats:

We started almost the same time. I bought my bike on April 1st. I'm a football player but I cycled a lot in college. It's been 20 years. I'm 42 and was around 215 when I started. I'm 185 now. I'm still 42.

I have two loops I ride often - one is a 25 mile roundtrip to the sea and it's relatively flat (Edge 500 says 243 feet of climbing - mostly underpasses). My second ride is into the mountains and it's 32 miles roundtrip and the Edge 500 says around 2000 feet of climbing.

I started out on the beach ride averaging around 16mph. Sometimes 15, sometimes 16.8, but usually around 16mph. About two months later it started creeping up. For me the lightbulb was the Edge 500 Cadence meter and Heartrate monitor. I was spinning at 65-75rpm and my heartrate was at 130bpm average. I shot for 90rpm and 150rpm on the heartrate and really upped my cardio. The average speed started increasing.

I sent from 16 to now almost always at least 19mph with a couple 21mph averages. Some days there's wind, some days there's none, some headwind both ways and some tailwind both ways. After three times a week for 8 months you start to get some ideas. Seriously I think I have 100 rides to compare data. Because it's a pretty empty bike path I can usually take traffic lights out of the equation (minus one two mile stretch with lights). My cadence is now almost always 100rpm average and my speed around 19-20mph average. I've never had lower than 17.5mph in the past couple months. So there's a quantifiable improvement there.

My mountain ride has been even more dramatic. It used to be 14mph. It's now always 17mph and ONCE 19mph. I must have been on steroids that day. The improvement is really noticeable in the hills. A lot of that has to do with the 25-30 pounds I've lost. A lot due to my improved cardio. A lot just to being more comfortable on the bike. I was on top of the world when I hit a 90rpm average cadence on the mountain (okay, hill) ride. It's usually around 95rpm now.

So I'm up around 3-4 mph on my average speed on very familiar rides in the past 8 months. I expect to climb MAYBE another 1mph by next April 1st and then taper off to nothing. Without losing another 20 pounds or doing some hardcore interval training or riding with the fast group or racing I'm going to remain stagnant.

I'm a 42 year-old ex-linebacker so maybe I'll just be happy with what I have! A new carbon R3 should be good for another 2mph, right?

halfspeed

Don't believe half the average speed claims you read on BF.

No.

Start by doubling. Don't do it all at once, work up to it. Take days where you go easier. It sounds like a lot, but consider that the average American spends just over 28 hours per week watching TV. We're only talking about eight or so hours of training per week.

Yes.

Homebrew01

Are you talking about numbers on the trainer ? "25 mph" on a trainer is a lot different than the road, since there's no wind resistance or hills.

Anyway, don't waste your time comparing yourself to people on the internet. Ride with a group, ride on your own. Enjoy yourself, push yourself if you want. If you want to gauge improvement, you can do it my comparing your time over a fixed distance (time trial), and/or using a power meter .... but that's another topic.

Your rate of improvement is based on your time in the saddle, intensity, rest, recovery, diet, age, life factors (family, work), genetics, motivation etc ....

ancker

Yes, but on the trainer there isn't much opportunity for coasting or tailwind. I find it much easier to maintain a faster speed on the road because I can cheat on the downhill side to recover from the uphill. On the trainer to maintain speed it requires consistant and constant power.

I'm not just comparing to the Internet, especially BF. I have friends that are quite serious riders from which I've gathered data as well.
To be completely honest, I'm not comparing at all. Without having (or having a need for) a coach I'm having trouble figuring out if I'm progressing at an acceptable rate. Based on the understandably limited data I'm able to give, I was hoping to get a feel for whether my current training has me progressing adequately or if I need to change things.

In reading the responses it sounds like I could probably increase my saddle time a bit, but ultimately just keep riding. It's nice to hear that I'm likely not lightyears behind where I should be after 8 months.

[/QUOTE]If you want to gauge improvement, you can do it my comparing your time over a fixed distance (time trial),[/QUOTE]

That's exactly how I'm coming to my speed calculations above. The cycle computer helps a bit too.

slowandsteady

25 mph average is racing speed. Elite type riders not your average, but fit Joe.

I know it is winter, but try to get outside to ride. I would also try to up the mileage a bit more. I ride double what you ride and I am just a slow chick.

To get an idea of where you rank, look at club ride speed categories. This is from the Philadelphia bicycle club.

Class________Difficulty__________________Rate
Class A______Difficult, 45 to 100+ miles____18-20mph average on flat terrain
_____________________________________16-18mph average on rolling/hilly terrain
_____________________________________15-16mph average on very hilly terrain

Class B_______Advanced, 25 to 90 miles___15-18mph average on flat terrain
_____________________________________13-16mph average on rolling/hilly terrain
_____________________________________12-14mph average on very hilly terrain

Class C_______Moderate, 15 to 75 miles___12-15mph average on flat terrain
_____________________________________10-13mph average on rolling/hilly terrain
_____________________________________9-11mph average on very hilly terrain

Class D_______Easy, 10 to 25 miles_______ 8-11mph average on flat terrain
______________________________________4-7mph average on more hilly terrain

umd

No, "speed" on a trainer has no inherent meaning, especially compared to riding on the road. The nature of the resistance is completely different.

You can use speed as a rough proxy for effort, but only in comparison to other sessions on the same trainer. Some trainers (such as KK) have known resistance curve such that you can approximate power from the speed using formulas, but there is really no way to know how well your resistance is calibrated without actually comparing the results to a power meter (some people report theirs is accurate, others report that it is not).

Finally, assuming that speed on a trainer was comparable to the road, you should be getting faster speeds for the same effort compared to going up a hill and coasting down the other side. Take the trainer out of the question and compare going at a steady effort on flat ground to doing that effort uphill and coasting back down. The flat ground effort will be faster.

thesmoothdome

Now define hilly vs very hilly