IAMAMRA

What is your Average speed for your average ride?

GuyWood

This will depend on sooo many things. I ride my MTB with semi-slicks as a road bike and have started to average about 15.x MPH on recent rides of 15-30 miles.

rdtompki

30 mile ride with 50'/mile I can average 16 mph. I've averaged 16 mph for a 100K with lesser climbing. There is no such thing as an "average" ride.

IAMAMRA

I average from about 10-12 normally..

KBentley57

your poll options are too wrongly spaced to get meaningful results. nearly everyone in the entire BF will choose the 10-15 or 15-20 option.

IAMAMRA

Good point, but can't edit it...

IBOHUNT

According to Garmin connect for the month it's 17.2 with an average of 63'/mile elevation gain and an avg HR in the middle of Z2 (Endurance)

Distance: 521.42 mi
Time: 30:21:43 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Elevation Gain: 32,988 ft


A lot of factors determine speed. My 15 mile ride on Saturday was substantially faster, about 35%, than my average and it was flatter... although all the gain was on the way back 7.6 miles at 32'/mile

https://app.strava.com/segments/2488338

WonderMonkey

I had to answer on the high side. My actual average speed is 13-15

Null66

Excellent! I have something to work for...

I run mid 11's when riding with SO and 12-12.6 when commuting.

I think speed work is in my future!

indyfabz

I don't do average rides.

mrodgers

To me, average doesn't mean anything. It's like talking about the average salary in the US. The extreme folks in the big buck CEO positions raises the average tremendously. As such, my riding through a half mile tunnel and back messes up my average in the low end tremendously.

No matter when I look down, I'm riding between 13.5 and 14.5 mph. But because of going through the parking lot and through the tunnel which is my turnaround point, it takes my average down to about 12 to 12.5. Thus, my average suffers on a 55 minute ride (moving time) because of a mere 5 minutes of riding. I'm riding almost completely flat, so the discrepancy of what I see on my speedometer and the overall average comes strictly from riding in the tunnel and riding through the parking lot.

Average works better the longer you ride. I only have a handful of longer rides than my daily 12 miles.

corwin1968

If I'm on the MUPS and it's not windy then I'm in the 10-15 mph bracket but closer to 10 mph. If it's windy I can drop to 8 or 9 mph. In my neighborhood my rides usually average less than 10 mph because I do a lot more maneuvering and slowing down and speeding up than I would on the MUPS.

Jarrett2

I've just recently moved from the 10-15 group to the 15-20 group with the purchase of my new road bike.

Pamestique 

I don't ride anywhere where I can have a consistant average speed... just too many factors - traffic/pedestrians etc to consider. If I do get a long stretch of open road I can generally do 15 - 18mph; alittle slower if there is a grade and faster if there is a downhill. But because of urban congestion, for long stretches I am barely making it up to 10 - 12 because I am always stopping then having to accelerate. Also I tend to, during the week, for safety concerns, use MUPs alot; with walkers, runners, dog walkers etc... my speed really varies. Plus I ride different bikes with different tires, all factors in.

Anyway who cares... everyone has to find their own speed at what they are comfortable at riding.

CommuteCommando

I put 10-15. This is taken with a grain of salt. If I were to catch every single light green (It is usually the opposite ), and have no hills, it would be closer to 16-17. My daily after work commute is 10 mi, half on an MUP that bypasses some of the nastier traffic signals. I can, and a few times have, averaged over 15. Once over 16.

Yo Spiff

My average centers around 13, depending on my route and which bike I am riding. It has slowly crept up to that over the last several years. My normal cruising speed, however, is 14-16, but necessary stops and slowdowns naturally take that down a couple of MPH.

In 2011, my cruising pace (with a good effort) was 12 and my average was under 11.

My wife has been riding with me for about a year and a half, and her average is now usually between 8-8 1/2 mph over a 20 mile ride. It used to be in the 6-7 mph range and 7 miles was long ride for her. Stamina for distance comes before speed.

jdfriesen

I commute by bike most days, so I'm doing the same route many times, so in those cases average speed does at least give me a good indicator of performance gains. However, the variables of stop lights can greatly change my average. Even on days when I am hitting most, sometimes I'm slowing down significantly beforehand to try and not have to stop completely, which brings the average down. Saying that, I generally average in the 18 - 19mph range on my commutes (9 miles one way). My commute has an elevation gain of about 40' / mile in either direction. My home and office are at almost exactly the same elevation (to within a few feet).

When I'm doing longer rides, which are usually in the 40 mile range, I average 17 - 18mph. My longest ride was 75 miles, with an elevation gain of 2400', and I averaged a bit over 17mph. My current goal is to average 20mph on my commute. Best so far is 19.5mph. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can pull it off.

For me personally, I find it incredibly motivating to see my average speeds increase on the same routes. I've always been like that though, I like to be able to benchmark myself. Primarily against myself, to see my own gains, but I also certainly like seeing where I fit in against other riders using Strava segments. There aren't that many on routes I do regularly, but there is one on my commute in to work that I managed to get KoM on last week. It's a short segment (1.4km) with a -0.9% average grade (loses about 45'). I managed to average 27.8mph which I was pretty happy with. I know I can improve that as well, as I had some heavy traffic I had to avoid at the end, that caused my average speed to drop a fair bit on the last 100m or so.

I certainly realize that if a serious rider rides that route, I'll lose my KoM in a flash (only 52 riders on the segment), and I'm totally fine with that, it would give me another goal to shoot for.

Tracking and monitoring speeds, distances and elevations is a big part of what drives me to improve. I think that can be a totally healthy thing, as long as it doesn't become obsessive to the point of self-worth, etc. being tied to how I'm doing, and how I compare to others. The important part to me is how I compare to myself last month, and the month before that, etc. My wife, who has exercised almost every day for as long as I can remember, has no desire whatsoever to track that sort of information. I can completely respect that, as for her, it would make it much more of a job.

Doohickie

Always about 13 mph, unless I'm riding with the wife, then it's about half that. There's usually some slowing for traffic and hills, otherwise I'd be a bit quicker. Right now I'm riding my fixed gear bike more than anything else. I might be faster on a geared bike but since I'm actively trying to lose weight I'm riding the bike that works me out more.

jsigone

I rounded up

Ronno6

I rate my solo rides in several ways:
STR (Smell The Roses) rides are normally taken on the touring bike, length varies from 35 to 60 miles or so, and average speed will range from 15 to 17 depending on terrain and wind. These typically get a rating of 3 out of 5 stars on my Sigma Data Center log.
EZ/Recovery rides, usually on the road bike, range in length from 25 to 45 miles, at 16.5 to 18 average. These also are 3 star rides.
Training rides will be on the road bike, between 25 to 45 miles at 17.7 to 19.5 average. These can get a 4 star rating if over 18.5 average.
Best so far this year was 21.03 miles @19.23 mph average.(Gettn' old........)

It has been about 7 years since I have hit the magical 20 for 20 ride. I may never see that again on my own..... THAT would be a 5 star event!!

IBOHUNT

I rounded up as well which is what got me to a Clydesdale status

Oh wait, different subject. Move along.

genejockey 

Hard to say what's average. Last week I did a 20 mile ride with 584 feet of climbing at an average speed of 16mph, and a 46 mile ride with 2526 feet of climbing with an average speed of 13.

longbeachgary

Oh good, another average speed thread. We haven't had a good one in hours...

Donald D

Typically 14 - 15.5 since June. I gained about 1mph avg per every 3 months of training since getting back on my bike in January.

MikeRides

I'll echo others in this thread and say: who cares?

To humor everyone, my average speed has been 15.x mph on my regular routes (10-15 miles) for quite some time. On longer rides, I average from 12 - 15 mph. A vast improvement from when I first started and did 10 miles at like, 8mph. Like everyone else, the wind speed/direction and traffic patterns affect my constant riding average greatly.