I enjoy riding fast and find it feels better in surrounding traffic that is moving 45mph+. Roads here are basically flat and straight, with traffic lights every .25-1 mile, about a dozen in my 9mi commute. My best auto timer average (doesn't count stop time) is 22.8mph, this required traveling above 28mph between every light. Best flat road time (with wind boost from passing cars) is 34.8mph. But typically I average between 21-22mph, which is cruising at 23-26mph between lights.

I find it very relaxing to put all focus into traffic, hazards, safety and finally effort. That leaves no time to think about the other life stresses.

I find I am less worn out after my 21mph average speed ride now compared to 1.5 years ago when I was out of shape and averaging 15mph on the same route. That 40min ride was much harder than the 25min ride it is now.

Al

Not everyone care for speed. As I pace myself at 21-22 mph I pass about 97 % of fellow commuters which seem to enjoy the scenery at lower speeds more than anything else.

Also about 90% of them disappear as temps dip below 50 degrees.

Yes, I get some kind of sick thrill out of pushing a bike that weighed 27lb. before the rack, fenders, lights, panniers, and cargo as fast as I possibly can. Year-round. Seriously. It's exercise (stuff the corporate gym-rats!), it's fun, and it's pretty much the only good physical exertion I get in a day. When I'm not commuting, I'm usually with my g/f or out in the great beyond somewhere checking out the scenery, so the speed doesn't matter. But I still treat commuting like an ITT.

My average today: 17.1 mph over 21.7 miles.

Yeah I used to drag my 35lb mtb around as fast as I could. Now I drag a 32lb touring road bike. When I get on my 18lb road bike, it feels like a feather.

I like going fast, there's no question. I'll go slow if I'm alone on a trail, but my commute is more thoroughly enjoyed when the maximum workout has been achieved. I agree with noisebeam entirely.

Nein ,Ich ist nicht ein speed demon.No i am not a speed demon

I have hit 49MPH @ 145 rpm in something like 52x13 w 27" wheels--going down hill. That was about 20 years back when I was a teen. Now I mostly ride 26 " wheel Gary Fischer and can spin that up to about 28 mph. The gearing is much lower. I routinely hit 30-38 on Pittsburgh's smokin down hills. But I love to ride and have other old Schwinns that I just love to cruise at 15-17. On our tandem I have hit about 40 but that is too scary because of how long it can take to stop.

I can coast down a couple not-too-big hills on my commute at 25, so 30 is pretty easy with just a little bit of extra push.

Faster means better exercise value, and less time with cars riding my tail.

According to all those "your speed is: " things they put out here that I play with , I can regularly do flatland sprints (no wind assistance) of about 26-27mph.

I'm not in super great shape or anything either...given I can't hold that for very long.

I can hold 20 for a few miles easy though....problem is most of this is based on my commute which always ends in a long straight with a good headwind...that kills me...twice even.

I was thinking of this thread on the way in today. I was trying to estimate my lactate threshold, so I was maintaining a good pace, and got in about 3 minutes faster than my previous fastest time. I still said hello other bicyclists, obeyed the traffic regs, noticed the sun and clouds and mountains: all the usual stuff. But I also paid more attention to how my body felt at that pace, and enjoyed pushing myself, and feel energetic and alive this morning. I enjoy training and the body awareness that comes with it, and that usually means going fast.

Ironically, my average speed seems to suffer when I push myself too hard. My commute is 15 miles each way which is a relatively short ride for me. When I push it hard, I tend to burn out and my average speed suffers later in the ride. Today I started out a bit earlier, so I was definitely in no hurry and took it easier than usual. It was too dark to see my bike computer. After 10 miles the sun came up. I looked down to see my average speed was 19.4 Mph which is way faster than normal.

I would say to take average speed claims on the forum with a grain of salt.

I've never had a computer so I'm not sure how fast I go. My speed is usually porportional to how sweaty I'd like to arrive at my destination.

Hi, I'm Caloso and I'm a speed demon. (Hi, Caloso!)

I just like riding fast. I always have. The faster I go, the farther I can go in my limited time on the bike. I figure that while I'll always be able to ride a bike, I won't always be able to ride it hard.

If I'm riding slower than 15mph, I'm either commuting to work in office clothes or on the MTB towing the twins' Chariot. (I'm teaching them to ring cowbells and yell "!Venga! !Venga! !Venga!)

I ride fast.

For fun.

I'm between 10-15mph most of the time, but only because if a car door opens in front of me, or if an a**hole driver cuts me off, I'm not going too fast to brake quickly and stop.
I like to go fast down the bridge, though.

I agree, definitely take the postings about average speed with a grain of salt. Average speed depends on so much more than just expertise on your bike:

- Number of intersections, red lights.
- Space between intersections.
- Road conditions.
- Traffic levels.
- Hills.
- Ambient temperature
- Wind
- Etc.

For what its worth, my average speed according to my computer is about 22 km/hr (about 14 mph). However, on straightaways between intersections where the road conditions are good, I average probably 32 km/hr (about 20 mph). Hills ... depends on the grade. Even with a combined average of 14 mph, I still pass 90% of other cyclists out there, so I believe an average 14 mph on my terrain is faster than the average bear. However, 14 mph for another cyclist may be slow because of the external factors that impact that cyclist.

I started tracking my average speed last year, then determined it was sort of a waste of time because of all the factors. Now I just enjoy the ride.

In NYC, you're basically slowing down to 4-5 mph in really heavy traffic, even if you can follow for miles at 25mph. And those single digit speeds cost you.

Good thinking!

I consider tracking speed while commuting a waste of time (for me) even without all the cited factors; maybe a-rententive types find such an activity useful.

I keep an average speed of about 20km/h on my MTB when commuting (planning to do constant 26km roundtrip commuting this fall). Safer, you rarely gain anything real by going faster in heavily urbanized areas, and not to mention it's less strenous so you won't exert a stench of sweat when you arrive.

I track my speed and a hell of a lot of other stuff by GPS! The coolest bike computer one can ever have

Who cares how fast you go? I ride because it's fun, good for me, and I don't have to take the car. Speed means nothing!

What's more fun then taking the lane in a remote area in a 45 zone, and then having to apply the breaks lightly as you're comming too close to the car ahead?

I generally don't push too hard, but it is good to be able to when needed. As a college student I had an internship 18 miles away(through hills) from the college last semester. There was also only an hour break inbetween the end of the internship and my next class. Trying not only to get to class on time, but also enough time to wipe down and change means I really needed to book it!

Riding a bike and being in a hurry just doesn't work for me. Well really, being in a hurry at all doesn't work for me. Going fast is fun, but if I have to get somewhere, I just allow enough time so I don't HAVE to ride fast. I use the ecospeed power assist on my recumbent, so I can really go as fast as I please with little effort, but mostly I just cruise along as if I didn't have power assist. The assist just compensates for my weak leg. I got rid of my speedometer a few years back.

Wow, right now I'd be happy to go along at 14 or 15 MPH. However, I am only up to 12. Of course, I have only been commuting for a week, and each ride my average speed has increased. I'm hoping to be in the 14 range by the end of July.

I am mainly concerned with my average speed because it show how I am improving over time.

Going slow doesn't work for me, unless I am riding with someone I can pace myself with. My natural state seems to be riding as fast as possible. I'm getting a little better at it, but even if I intend to do a relaxed ride, I always seem to end up hammering. I think I might enjoy the pain. I don't really know.

You can learn a lot and motivate one self by recording and tracking auto time, elapsed time, ave speed, max speed, etc. It a great tool that is useful for comparing point A-B travel. You can compare your own metrics on the exact same route and also compare different routes that also get you to the same end points. I even track the ratio of elapsed/auto and have found it varies with time of day, season (school in or not) and route. It ranges from 1.02 to 1.22 for me, current 1wk average is 1.05. You will find after only a couple weeks of data points that there is a consistency to traffic and stoplights that average out quite nicely.

Some may call it retentive, but it really only takes ~2min a day to enter the data into a spreadsheet. As I work with data all day, having less than 1% of it being for personal reasons it a nice change.

The key is to not be 'driven' by the data and let is affect your emotion - everyone will have bad days and days with massive tailwind. Instead use it for trends.

Al