Originally Posted by slim_77 Man, it really depends on what your goals are. If you like riding and are not interested in racing than what is wrong with 25kph? Seriously. If you want to race, that is another story. You are active and that is great. If you want to train for an event, determine what your goals for the event are, then plan your training.

Also, many BF posters are full of crap: some people are faster, some are slower, some lie about being faster and some hate anything about what one's "average speed" ought to be. I say it ought to be whatever makes you feel good and proud of yourself. Very very few of us are pro (not me).

Good luck!

You're right that most of us don't brag about our speed because, frankly there isn't much to brag about. But there are still many reasons why we like to train for speed. For one thing, it feels good to know that you're faster than you used to be, and to know that you worked hard to attain that added speed. Maybe it's unhealthy to always compare yourself to other riders, but I think it's useful to compare yourself to your past self, and even brag a bit about what you've acheived.

Even if your main goal is to get fitter, that still involves getting faster. The whole theory of progressive training is that you're challenging your body to keep doing more. And more means going either faster or further when it comes to bicycles.

Finally, if your main goal is just to have fun, even that might involve going faster. Speed is fun in and of itself, and it's also fun learning about training, conditioning and nutrition as you become faster.

I envy Zan (the young OP) because he's young and he already knows what his passion is. And who knows--maybe he'll be the next American to win the TdF.


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+100 to both of you. Get out & ride!