Originally Posted by
John Nelson
As long as you have some flexibility as to how long your cycling day is, it's really not necessary to do the math. You get there when you get there. You probably have some kind of an idea as to what your average speed is on the flats over distance. Just subtract a couple of MPH if you know it's going to be a hilly day, and/or add an hour or two to your estimated time. You got a bus to catch?
I totally agree.
However, if you want some statistics:
For 2010 so far (no loaded tours) my average unloaded road biking speed is 15.0 mph, with an average of 44 miles/ride and 2657 feet/ride. This doesn't really describe any particular ride I ever do, but it is my average, whatever that's worth.
For the 3 loaded tours I did since I started recording this stuff in SportTracks, I have an average speed of 10.6 mph, with 51 miles/ride and 2490 feet/ride. So, that means my loaded tours are a bit more hilly than unloaded, which isn't surprising since the unloaded number includes all the rides I do in winter when I can't climb. It also means I lose 30% of my speed by loading the bike. (eek!)
My actual speeds on tour ranged from 7.9 (5700 up, 950 down) to 13.5 (1600 up, 2500 down). 10.6 was both the average and the median speed for that trip. Other trips have been similar - 9.5 to 12 mph with the occasional outlier.
I don't really do flat, so it's hard to come up with a good number for that. I think the biggest takeaway is that your loaded speed will be quite a bit less than unloaded, and especially so for climbing.
This might be exaggerated for me, as I'm really small, so my power to weight is affected greatly by adding a touring load.
I have no idea if any of this helps, but I wrote it already, so I'm clicking the post button.
