Originally Posted by
1242Vintage
On my daily commute on my road bike I'm averaging 18 mph for a 22 mile trip. If it rains and I take the cross bike on the commute it'll knock the average speed down to 16 mph. On the weekends when I take the mtn bike out to hit the trails, average speed will be down in the 8 to 10 mph range depending on the amount of hills.
Highest average speed was earlier this month. I was lured into a 45 mile group ride that was billed as "in the 17-19 mph range". Well within my capabilities on the road bike. I held on to the back of the speeding freight train (never took a pull) for 44 of the 45 miles. Lost them on the last hill! Average speed was 22.1 mph for that ride. Took several beers and a few minutes in the spa to recover from that ride.
I've always wondered what real world advantage a paceline gives a rider. Thanks!
Two years ago at age 37 and 240# I started bicycle commuting a bit on my 20 year old department store mountain bike. At first it was 3 miles to the first bus, switch to the second bus, then 1.5 miles to work. Probably averaged 11 mph. Within a couple of weeks I was skipping the first bus, riding 7 miles to catch the second bus and averaging almost 13 mph. In the mornings I'd go at a good moderate pace, but after work I'd usually be huffing and puffing the whole way, trying to set a new
PR. Heck, that's pretty much the way I still ride. :-) Two months into this I tried biking home the whole 20 miles just to see how I'd do. Never used the bus again. I was probably biking about 3 times a week. By the end of the summer I was averaging about 15.5 mph and down to 220#.
Then we moved closer to my work, 11 miles each way, and now I'm biking to and from work 4 days a week on average. Despite biking 4200 miles last year, I still bounce between 210# and 220#, and average about 15.5 to 16 mph on my mountain bike.
Last fall I finally fixed up my '02 Specialized Allez road bike. Now I average 17 mph on my commute. Recently, just for fun, I went all out on my way home. I hadn't set a
PR in a few months and wanted to break that record. With no wind at all, but a couple of lucky green lights, I averaged 18.9 mph! I've never ever come close to that kind of speed before, much less while riding home from work with a backpack full of my work clothes.
On my solo weekend rides, I can cruise at 18 mph for most of a 30 mile ride if I'm pushing hard. I'd love to see what I can do on a club ride, but I'm always working on Saturday and Sunday mornings. :-(
BTW, all of my quoted average speeds are the Strava calculated "moving time" averages.
-Andy