bluefoxicy

My commute is 7.5 miles up and down hilly areas. I seem to go around 5-8mph up some extreme hills, but won't come down very fast; I guess that can be improved. Still, my flat ground speed and my speed off the road isn't great either.

What's the nominal for an 8 mile commute? I'm trying to do it bike-to-check-in in under 40 minutes--my time in the car when speeding (43 minutes when not speeding, why bother) car-to-check-in. Mind you in the car the parking is a third of a mile away, down a hill I have to walk up; the bike goes up in under one minute.

My cadence is pretty low, by the way, probably around 60 or 50 usually. I've seen mention of what appears to be using an exercise bike to improve that, but I'd rather stick to transportation for bike use; maybe I can use the high resistance on the mountain paths for a purpose (they're relatively flat and a mile or two long). Would an upgraded bike computer with a cadence monitor be a worthy upgrade if I'm trying to target this particularly? I think stamina may be an issue in any case.

Seattle Forrest

So, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to compare commute times. I'll tell you mine, since you asked, but I don't think the answer will help much. I can get home ( 4.6 miles, somewhat hilly ) in 15 minutes on the bike, if I push, and 20 minutes if I take a leisurely pace.

Cadence is different for different people, but a lot of cyclists are most comfortable around 80 to 90 rpm. This takes a lot of the burden off your legs, and puts it on your cardio-vascular system. It demands good fitness in general, but can be easier than "power lifting," especially since you said you live/commute in a hilly area. To practice this, you wouldn't want to power through the flats, though; you'd be better off putting your bike in a very easy gear on flat ground, and pushing the pedals as quickly as you can with no resistance. It's much, much harder than it sounds.

I like having a cadence sensor for the bike, but you can get by without one if you have a bike computer with a clock that displays seconds. Count pedal strokes for 15 seconds, then multiply by 4.

monsterpile

I take about 25 minutes to 4 miles. If I wanted ot go fast I probably could cut it down to 20, but some of it just depends on traffic and stop lights etc. Just keep riding you will probably shave off some time just riding more.

Sixty Fiver

Every rider is going to be different... I usually average 14 -16 mph on my urban commute and that comes up to 18-20 mph on my rural commute because I have 25 miles where I don't see a stop light and can maintain a nice cruising speed.

My old commute was 8 miles and the fastest I ever did this was in 22 minutes... at the time I was in training mode and was treating every ride like a race and had a very straight route with very few stops.

c3hamby

Definitely get a bike computer with a cadence monitor. I had one on my 1st bike for about a year, and then lost it and haven't had one for many years. But I know what 80-90 feels like. If I was spinning 60, my legs would be laboring, it would be time to downshift. Anything over 100 feels out of control. This doesn't count going uphills if you only have 2 gears to choose from on the front, you are going to have to do the best you can there. On flats and downhills, aim for 80-90. I have a triple up front, so I still maintain 80-90 if I can, but I was working on some hills in Arkansas last month where that just wasn't possible. I was hitting 5-6 mph uphill on those, and about 30 mph downhill. BTW, depending on the hill 5-8 mph isn't bad. How fast are you getting on the downhills?

As far as time goes, I wouldn't compare your time with others, but I would keep a journal, recording your stats. I like to look at average speed too. Sounds like you have some fun hills to contend with, but the upside of this is that with practice you are going to turn into a great climber, which is what I wish I was better at.

cyclist5

7.5mi for me would be about 30min. I usually do my 11mi commute through hilly areas in 45-50min with gear. Alas, I don't have a cadence measuring thingy but I do like to feel some resistance when I pedal otherwise it feels like i go really slow (and the cyclocomputer shows it)

pallen

You can get a cadence monitor, but you can easily get by without one. If you have a metronome, set one to 160bpm (I find its more useful to double the cadence and think of each foot making a stroke down with each click). If you dont have one, try this. https://www.metronomeonline.com/ Play it long enough to get a feel for the tempo and go ride. I dont think hitting an exact cadence value is that critical. The metronome technique will get you in the ballpark.

bhop

My ride to work is 10 miles. It takes me 45 minutes, roughly. Home is about an hour or so, all uphill..

Leisesturm

Post #2, but there is this: true, everyone is different but there is a 'mean'. Training narrows the mean even further. Among a large pelton of (presumably) trained riders you won't find too much deviation in cadence. Cadence is an issue of gearing. Most cyclists ride in way too high a gear and hence their cadence is too low, it isn't the other way around. Lower your gear. If you have a triple you should be on the middle ring most of the time, you should always be in your very small ring when climbing. Don't be ashamed to use the granny gear when climing long or steep hills. Keep your pedal speed high no matter what your actual road speed becomes. And, yes, the downhills separate the __________ from the ___________. If I lived in hilly country I would be using them to make up for the time lost climbing. You can make up a lot of time there and get that total time down to 40 minutes or so.

H

woodway

I go 18 miles each way. My Garmin says I climb on average 850 feet cumulative going into work and my average time is 1 hour four minutes. Garmin says I climb just over 1000 feet cumulative going home and my average is 1 hour twelve minutes.

scroca

Different terrain.
Different environmental aspects like weather.
Different logistics like traffic lights, stop signs, turns, etc.
Different bikes.
Different riders.
Different.

My regular 10 mile commute can vary from 35 minutes to almost an hour. Same bike, same route, same rider... different.

Winter and darkness slow me down the most. Daylight and wind speed me up the most.

tjspiel

You don't need a cyclocomputer with cadence sensor to figure out your cadence but having one makes life easier. With a cyclocomputer you can check it at a glance to see if you're not keeping it up where it should be. When you're counting you're focused on the cadence and may be subconsciously speeding it up.

If you're used to 50 to 60 then 80 to 90 might seem really fast and really tiring. Don't get discouraged if it takes awhile before that feels comfortable. Note: Although 80 to 90 is often recommended, for some people that may be unnecessarily high.

If speed is important, learn to use the downhills to your advantage. It's free speed, don't just coast. I don't know what kind of bike you have but aerodynamics play a bigger role the faster you go, so getting down lower can help.

2wheelcommute

I find that this one may make the biggest difference of all. My commute has a lot of lights and stop signs (and I actually stop). I can clear about the same distance in 1/2 to 2/3 the time on a MUP where I don't have to stop constantly (I don't particularly mind the stopping--gives me a chance to catch my breath and then practice sprinting). Even with all the stops, my hilly 5.6 miles takes just over 30 min, so the time frame you're shooting for should be very do-able, even in city conditions.

Seattle Forrest

If you'd like to make it home sooner, try leaving work early.

Andy_K 

How long have you been biking?

When I started biking to work, there were a few hills that gave me serious trouble. I generally had to stop for a minute or two at the top to catch my breath. Most veteran cyclists wouldn't even have considered them hills (1/4 mile @ 2-3% grade) but for me they were monstrous. Within a year, it was no problem. Within two years, I could do that route on a fixed gear bike. Now (four years later) I'm climbing a 15-20% grade hill every day at the end of my 10-mile ride home.

What I would say is, don't worry about the numbers. If you want to improve, you probably can.

A computer with a cadence feature helped me a lot. I also found that reading advice on hill climbing really helped. One thing you'll see is that you should go up hills in a gear you can spin at some prescribed cadence. That's good advice if your fitness and the size of the hill are compatible with that thinking. I can't maintain more than 40 rpm in my lowest gear on my steepest climb. There are just going to be hills that force you to mash. Over time, the size of the hill required to force you to do that will grow.

FWIW, I can do my 10 mile commute in 40-45 minutes. A few years ago an easier route (about the same distance) took me about an hour.

Mr IGH

Great advice, OP, I'd get your local LBS to install a nice cadence computer like the Cateye RD-200, then work on getting your cadence above 70rpm working to your optimal range (whatever that turns out to be), it'll help your speed greatly.

Praxis

The variance caused by traffic lights is generally higher for me than the variance caused by my own speed. How many lights are there? Are there alternate routes that can help?

The good news about a route about lots of traffic lights/traffic is that the bike time can be really competitive with the drive time. The bad news is that there's only so far you can improve without running into the delays caused by the lights.

You'll probably have to give us more stats on the hills to tell us what's "nominal", which varies wildly. In general, though--yes, you can go faster.

I find that my speed in the "city" (more suburban, really) averages about 10-11 mph. This includes traffic lights, everything door to door. A bit higher if there's less climbing or lights, probably a bit lower with more climbing. My 5.5 mi AM commute has about 500 feet climbing (most of it in about a mile, cumulative), and I average about 30 min. Plenty of lights on that route, though it's no city center with lights every block. My ride home is about 25 min, so the elevation has some effect.

I don't think, personally, a computer will help much. I had one for a while, but it's not like I can't figure out that I need to pedal faster when I'm slacking. I do use a GPS on my phone for kicks, but I don't look at it while riding. Just noting your departure/arrival time is probably just fine. You just need to push harder and go faster.

Grim

The more you ride the more you can ride (and the faster you will get).
What you ride has a LOT to do with your time. My hot rod I do a 20 mile hilly Sunday ride in a 1:35 and i'm not really pushing it. My 4.2 mile ride to work I do in 10 minutes. One of the hills I gain 130 feet in less then half a mile.

Mountain bike with slicks thats reasonably lite I'd say 50 minutes would be a good time once you get seasoned. Road bike you might knock 5-7 minutes off that time.

rando

I'd say you're doing fine! My 5.5 mile commute takes me 35-40 minutes.

Jarnett

I agree with the other posters, you will get faster the longer you ride. When I first started my commute it took me 40 minutes to
travel 6 1/2 miles, now I can complete it in about 30. If you only spinning 50 or 60, your in too high of gear, try using something you can spin without so much effort.

HardyWeinberg

You can speed your cadence up by sticking w/ the lowest gear you can stand. Every stop light, go down to the very bottom, and only shift up as you spin out (pedal faster than the bike will move). Eventually you will be pedalling pretty fast in a moderate gear.

Bob N.

I have a 7 mile one-way commute very few flats and some lights. It takes me 35-40 minutes. Sometimes I'm slower, sometimes more lights. I have an app called RaceMe that tells me when I'm faster or slower than my ghostrider, how far etc.

MikeyBoyAz

my 11.5 mi commute takes approximately 35 minutes... no hills, only embarrassingly small rises for canals... that's with perfectly timed lights, else 40 min.

gerv 

My 7 mile commute usually takes me 35-40 minutes. A lot depends on wind and how you feel.

I always think you shouldn't obsess about time. Throw your watch away and enjoy the ride. Leave early so you can stop and observe something interesting. Occasionally, if I take the MUP to work, I'll see a hawk or a fox. Saw a mountain lion (I think..) once.

flammenwurfer

Sounds like you're getting good advice. I'm not sure what bike you ride or if your goal is to get in shape or just get to work. Or a combination of the two. I'm what I would consider as less serious cyclist. I ride a 3 speed Raleigh Sports wearing normal clothes most of the time. My commute is 4.1 miles and takes me 15-20 minutes. A few decent hills and I ride fairly leisurely but not extremely slow. Only having 3 speeds kind of forces me to change my cadence more than most people but it's not a big deal to me. Like others have said, just start doing it and keep doing it and you'll be laughing at what you used to think was hard in no time.