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.

I averaged a whisker over 30mph on my ride yesterday. Admittedly that was measuring from the top of a big hill for a mile (specifically to the point I had to stop at a red traffic light) but... you know... it's a nice big number and if I retell the story enough times I might look like I gave Mark Cavendish a good run for his money.

input your computer in a wheel size half of what it is,

it will tell you a white lie, but you may feel faster.. :innocent:

Doesn't work, I use a GPS. Although it did clock me at 243mph very briefly, after I emerged from a long tunnel.

Hell, for me, 10mph average is tough to do :lol:

http://runkeeper.com/user/coreyr/activity/47919711

no sweat riding
 

I’ve checked my speeds against Google maps and they use around 19Kph for calculating times. This is very reasonable considering that many of us commute in urban settings. I don’t know about you, but I tend to time the lights so I’m always riding on green. Depending on” line of sight” conditions, this allows me to conserve my momentum. Grade can affect this as well. A drop of 4 or 5 feet over a mile can reduce rolling resistance, considerably, and make for a sweet ride without breaking a sweat. These postings are great and give me food for thought when calculating traffic volume issues. Now, if someone can design a bike route that goes downhill both ways, you’re on to something. Come to think about it, when you consider the amount of earth they move making roadways for motorized vehicles, designing a roadway with a 4 or 5 foot drop would be cheap and very encouraging for “low wattage” riders.

the fastest overall average i've mustered for my 14 mile commute is 19 mph. and that was with a really nice tailwind, hitting all of the greens on the 3 super-long lights along my route, and really, really exerting myself. to get up to a 20 mph overall average, i'd have to find a way to shave 2 entire minutes off of my fastest ever time, and i just don't think that's possible for me along my given route, even if everything goes right.

20.1 MPH was my average on the way home last night...I had a light tailwind helping me but it was still a struggle. My fastest time ever is 50 minutes...and I was at 51 minutes last night. I usually roll right around an hour for my 17.3 miles...to get up over 20mph for an average I have to constantly remind myself to go faster and that gets harder to do as the week goes on.

I had a very copacetic bike trail/bike lane commute in Colorado with only one traffic light forcing me to stop for any length of time. My ride home was always about 5min faster than the ride to; probably due to favorable net elevation change and having more vigour, in the afternoon. Anyway, except in adverse conditions, my homeward ride was typically 35-40 min. gross elapsed time on a 13 mile distance. There were 3 significant hills along the way, and though it seems counter-intuitive, I think now they made me faster overall due to the long-term strengthening effect. The reason I say that is now I have a basically flat bike trail commute in MI, again with only one significant traffic light, and a distance of 11.5 mi, and I think my fastest elapsed time so far is around 39 min, with 40-42 being more typical. To be fair, there is one area of bridge construction where I have to slow way down, but I doubt that is even costing a full minute.
My conclusion is either that the distances reported by GoogleMaps are not accurate, or more likely that I have not built up to the condition that I was in in CO, in my current MI commute.

Yeah, I take google times, and subtract 30%. If they say the ride is 1 1/2 hours, I figure it will take me an hour. Your milage may vary...

I average right around 14mph on my 10 mile commute to work...and I'm riding a mountain bike with 2.1" tires and I weigh ~280lb.

Coming home I take it easy and average around 12.5-13.0mph.

My commute is pretty much flat except for a couple of freeway overpasses.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7...0elevation.jpg

I also commute with my LHT and 13 to 15 mph is about what I can do. My standard commute route is about 9 mi. I've done a 15.6 mph ride home but along a different route. Longer (12 mi) but with longer stretches of open road. I'd like push my average up but it's hard. Maybe if I train but then it's work!

I've thought about buying a light road bike to see if my average would improve. My LHT is weighted down with racks (front and back), fenders, panniers (same sort of stuff PeregrineA1 has) and fitted with 26x1.5 tires. But maybe it's just wishful thinking.

At my age, I just want to ride. Not injure myself trying to do something my knees are not capable of.

AMEN! Stop and smell the sqrlz!

Yep. I learned the hard way (knee injury) and had to take it easy. Until I looked for other validation than trying to beat the number, was pretty boring riding. Now, I sort of realized what I had been missing.

J.

I can't do moving average because I have no bike computers. I usually do about 13 mph average (including time stopped in traffic). I think my fastest trip was 18 mph (I was late for a Habitat for Humanity meeting.... but when I got there, it turned out I was on time!) Heading through some sketchy neighborhoods to get there probably helped my sprint at the end of the ride.
'

Some days My Wind Speed is a lot faster,
but the ground speed drops off to compensate.