DubT

I will add my 2 cents to this post. I am 67 years young and raced locally (Illinois, Indiana) for about 15 years, from the time I was 40 until I was 55. I raced "citizen" races for about 5 years and then when I turned 45, got my USCF racing license and participated in mass start races. I had more success in criteriums than road races but I was very competitive in my age group. I also rode with the kids that rode from the University of Illinois on Saturdays. After the second year I could stay with them and take my share of pulls at the front. My most notable success was a third place finish in the tandem nationals back in the middle 90's.

I said all of that to say this. Back in the 80's and 90's we did not train with power but always used a heart rate monitor and followed a regular training program. On a regular basis I would test my progression by riding a ten mile time trial course to see if my "average speed" was improving.

Today I always monitor my average speed, when I started riding again 9 months ago, after a ten year layoff my average was around 12 - 13 mph, I had a goal to ride a metric century in 4 hours, 4 months after I came back I did accomplish that goal, in fact I averaged almost 16 mph. My new goal is to average 18 mph. Will I do that everyday, no! But I will continue to ride and train, which will include intervals, 1 minute, 5 minute and 15 minute intervals.

So in answer to the original question, on a solo ride when I am riding for an average speed I want to average over 17 mph. Back when I raced the average race speed would vary from 22 - 25 MPH, typically. Sometimes in a road race the speed will really drop and then at other times it will get very fast, depends on the race.

Wayne