One day last week I averaged (Moving Speed, Garmin Computer) 20.2 on the way in to work, and 20.3 on the way home. It's a 5.3 mile commute each way. On the way in it's free sailing for 4 miles at which point I get into downtown and the traffic lights and stop signs start appearing.

On this day I had the good fortune of catching every green. I slowed to less than 5 mph for the stop sign (3 way stop), but there were no cars so I continued to roll and didn't unclick. The ride home is a bit more complex this time of year (tourist season), downtown is mayhem. That said, once I got out of downtown it was free sailing, and the prevailing wind was my friend not my enemy. I was busting my butt to do this to see if it could be done, and normally I don't like to push that hard coming into work.

As a side note, my average overall speed was 20.2 mph both directions.

I'm happy to do over 12 mph moving average on my 10 mi commute. But I'm also a Clyde.

I typically average 15-16 mph on my commutes, and I've found that it is really hard to top 17 mph average commuting due to red lights, stop signs, etc. I have topped 20 mph solo several times riding on back roads, but city riding is a whole other animal.

I track both - My computer calculates using moving time and my android app calculates using elapsed time. For the current month my average mph on my 20.5 mile commute is 15.89 moving and 14.04 elapsed. I seem to go slower in the morning and have my best rides coming home. I had a PB of 17 mph moving last Tuesday afternoon - it felt great.

I respect anybody who can hold up a 19 mph moving speed for any significant distance.

Commuting is about 95% of my riding, so why not monitor my progress, and ride it hard? Improving my average speed on my commute is my second-favorite thing to work toward, after the weight that I have been losing since I started exercising regularly. :thumb:

I'm a big guy on a heavy bike with loaded panniers but it doesn't stop me from loving to go as fast as I can.

My average speed is alwasy 2-3mph below my cruising speed. I often cruise at 20mph, but with stops, turns, and other reasons to slow down, speed up, my average speed tends to be about 17.

Interestingly, in my car, my average speed is 34, so my bike is exactly twice as slow as my car. A 30 minute car drive will take 60 minutes on my bike (and it does). The bike does have the advantage of not having to deal with traffic and parking though.

Things like triathlons and distance runs are interesting competitions because the elites are out there with the novices. So while it may seem like only a small % of riders are averaging over 20 mph, the elites as a group will be well into the mid 20s or higher.

Though a more ideal situation than a commute, a triathlon isn't perfect for top average speeds either. For me at least, I get up to speed at a moderate rate after getting out of the water and by the same token, I'm dialing it down a bit on the home stretch of the ride to get ready for running. I'm sure there are Olympic distance triathletes who do the occasional sprint and they probably can go full throttle for most of it.

20Mph is really fast, you are a really fast and strong rider to make it to 20mph average. I ride pretty fast and i only manage 15Mph on average in the city. My cruising speed is a lot higher , around 18-20Mph but the stops and start kill your average speed. Fastest commute (7 miles) i have done was 16Mph and i was really pushing it then.

My door-to-door average is about 13.4 MPH. Even though much of my commute is on a trail, there are too many intersections with cars to do much better than that.

I did a TT on a regular road bike last year and averaged 22.5 mph over a moderately hilly 12 mile course. The winner on a TT bike was in the 27s.

I did an A group ride in flat FL this summer and the first hour average was 24.2 mph. I was dropped shortly thereafter for the long, lonely ride home. It's amazing how quickly the group pulls away once you are dropped.:(

Fastest commute one-way was 19.8 mph for 15 miles on my road bike, but normal commute is in the 17-18 mph range on my commuter bike.

havent broken 19avg yet
 

I have a hilly but, unfortunately not rolling hills, 22 mile commute and the best I was able to do was 18.8 avg. That took all I had, it was nice and cool in the morning and I arrived with a shirt that had to be wrung out. I was not recovered on the way home and was nowhere near that fast. You are doing well to hold 17 both ways and not go home and immidiately start fantasizing about hammocks.

Craig:thumb:

I have only averaged 19 on a commute once. I had a crazy tailwind and hit a lot of lights green that day (then ran a couple because I was on such a roll). It was pretty much the ideal commute. I doubt I will do it again. I think I would have to maintain 30mph between stops to average 20 on a normal commute with lights and traffic.

I'm glad to see so many people be realistic about average speeds and actually have some numbers to back them up. I've seen too many posts where people seem to think their top speed is their average.

I hope you didn't say the bold part out loud to your wife!!!

A very short amount of time. How many rpms does whichever wheel you have your magnet on normally do?

We commuters are realists. :)

By the way, my overall (including stops) average speed this morning was a very pedestrian 13.4 mph. Much, much slower than my hammerfest on Saturday!

From my Garmin Computer, the last 9 days of commuting, AM/PM.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=215649

When I cycle out to visit a friend a little under 5 miles away I'm cruising at 18-22 for good chunks of it but if I can get my overall average speed (i.e. total distance divided by total elapsed time) up to 15mph I'm pleased about it. If I can keep my moving average much over 15 I'm happy, because the time I spend slowing for lights/traffic/roundabouts etc and then speeding up again counts as moving time.

I have a short 6 mile commute. Its downhill then uphill the whole way (effectively theres a 'dip' in between me and work) whether I'm coming or going. I record my runs on GPS, which doesn't adjust for time spent at lights/held up.

I tend to manage 16-17mph average going into work, and 17-18 coming back home. Unless its a night shift, i. which case its a tired 15mph ish!

My 10 mile commute takes about an hour on my commuter bike, and I can do it in about 50 minutes on my road bike in lighter traffic on weekends. That isn't very fast, but I'm also riding through Manhattan. When I was in better shape a few years ago I averaged 21.2 MPH doing loops in Prospect Park, over 15 miles without any stops (that's the best thing about riding Prospect Park, you NEVER have to stop.) That was an all out solo effort for me, and nobody else in the park was keeping up with me except for the real racers, not the wannabees. I was in my early 50s at the time so I'm not so young anymore either. The park has one hill up and on hill down, and since it is a closed loop, the net climb is zero. To do 21mph on a 10+ mile commute is just impossible if you ask me unless you have an uninterrupted trail door to door.

The absolute fastest I ever rode was my 4.25 hour century. That's 23.5mph. This was NOT excluding stop time as there wasn't any. It did include the slower start to the ride in Seattle, but once on the open road the pack just flew. The only problem was that it was a double century, Seattle to Portland, and I had to be peeled off the ground to do the second 100 miles. I did it in about 10 hours total which I still think is damn good and again this was total time start to finish, no exclusions. This was when I was still in my late 20s.

Tomorrow I'm going to commute on my carbon fiber road bike. I'll see if it makes a difference when I'm riding in the heavier weekday traffic. At least the stretch through the park and over the bridge will be faster.

Inspired by this thread I lit it up last night on the way home and got my best moving average speed ever at 17.2 mph. my average vs. elapsed time (1:16:42) was 15.66. That's about the best I can do on the open road with a steel touring bike & three bags. I'm still 90 pounds overweight, so my performance is subject to improvement as I slim down the engine.

You guys are making me really glad I don't have a speedometer on my bike. Speed doesn't kill but it hurts.

I consider it Urban Interval Training. Its really fun when the you see the light turn green way down the road and you know if you all out sprint, you might make it.

I've heard it said that when you start hallucinating that you still have about 2 minutes of oxygen left. :thumb:

I average between 13.6 and 14.9 mph on my 12.4 mile trip across Raleigh. Rolling terrain, all city streets. That's door to door on a Surly LHT with rear panniers-one with cloths and lunch for the day and the other with lap top and an accordian file, a few tools and tubes between the two.

The 0500 departure makes the faster time fairly regular. The evening traffic and headwind (occasional in the summer, regular other times), drops me to the lower number and occasionally slower. I can do the faster time in the evening, but I have to work late and treat the ride as more of a training ride. AM is very slightly more down the up.

I can average 21-22 on the flat with little to no wind for 30-35 miles on my CF bike, solo by way of reference.

JW

Ain't that the truth. I've got the the timing of the lights downtown all figured out (8 of them). It's guaranteed that the first or second light will be red. How hard I have to sprint depends on which one. If the first light is red, the third will also be red when I get there, and then it's an easy sprint to make the rest of the lights. If the first light is green, the second will be red, and then it takes every ounce of energy to sprint through to the end on greens. The last one is usually yellow before I clear the intersection.

:) I had a hard sprint to the finish today (see my previous post) and definitely was low on oxygen in the brain when I went to lock up my bike. I went to open the velcro on my glove, and unclasped my watch instead.

Today I tried commuting on my road bike, carbon fiber, Campy Chorus, Easton EA90 wheels..., It's a nice ride. Usually I'm on my old Trek MTB. Was it any faster? The ride in was actually really slow as I was being very cautious. I also had a laptop in my messenger bag, and it wasn't quite hanging right on me. Going up hills was not as fast as it usually would be, riding on the streets felt treacherous
The way home felt better as I left the laptop in my office and I probably shaved about 10 minutes off the ride. Still, 50 minutes to go 10 miles is hardly blazing fast. Once back in Brooklyn I was able to cruise a bit, I was doing 22-23 in Prospect Park on the flat, and hit 32 going down the small hill. The Manhattan Bridge was also much easier than on my MTB. I won't do it again though, it felt too uncomfortable.

I laid back tonight and sat up a lot,& basically took it easy - not loafing but definitely not putting the sticks to it. Average moving speed 15.6mph. My total moving time went up by 8 minutes. My total elapsed is out of wack because I got stopped by a flat.

http://app.strava.com/rides/1178873

That's with stopping at one light and slowing for two more. And yes, a net descent, but a couple of hills in there.

I'm sure I've gone quicker without the weight of the Garmin...

Yes it is. All of my commuting (fixed gear) has inspired me to race, and I've made it up to the "Elite" level at the local track. There is nothing like riding to and from work every day to make sure I stay in shape, and as is mentioned: it can be great interval training.

I did 24 miles in one hour in my first time trial, so 20-21 is fine for street cruising solo.

But - I purposely find parks, and green spaces on my ride. Watching the sun rise over a field, early morning fog over a river, bunny rabbits darting out of the way - these are some of the things that make the ride special. Doesn't help my average speed, but helps make a memorable ride!

I only managed a few commutes with a 20 mph average. Longer commutes = more difficult.
Honestly I think those days I had the assistance of a spectacular tailwind.