20 MPH average on a commute is hard!
 

I know I'm not the fastest guy out there, but I ain't the slowest either.

Today (Saturday), I had to run an errand downtown, not far from where I work. About 29 km (18 miles) round trip. I told my wife, "I'm going to take my bike - it'll be almost as fast as driving." "Really?" she asked, skeptically.

It was a beautiful morning, with just a breeze from the south-west. For this trip, that meant a bit of assistance going downtown, and a bit of hinderance coming home. I would take a minimal amount of gear, and ride my lightest, stiffest, fastest bike. I would also take a mostly urban route, sticking to the roads for the most part, taking trails only where they afforded a shortcut. This also meant avoiding any climbing since I wouldn't be going through the river valley. In short, conditions were pretty ideal for a fast trip, save that I would encounter some stop signs and traffic lights along the way.

My commuter bikes don't have cycle computers, so I don't have a good sense of how fast I normally commute at. My weekender bike does have a computer, so I would be able to keep track of my speed. I kept an occasional eye on the speedometer, and on the way downtown, I was able to consisitently keep up a speed of 35-37 km/h (21.75-23.6 mph), hitting a top speed of 49.4 km/h (30.7 mph)! (That didn't last long.) The way back home was, as expected, slower, and I felt like I was expending more effort to keep my speed above 33 km/h (20.5 mph). Overall, I know I worked significantly harder than I do on most commutes.

When I got home, I checked my average speed according to the computer: 30.7 km/h (19.1 mph). And that's my moving average. My overall average would be less of course, though I didn't keep track of my overall time. But the conclusion as we all know is: It's the stops and starts that'll kill yer average speed.

I know this isn't a revelation to most of you; it isn't to me either. But it's a question that comes up periodically on this forum, and I thought I would put some real numbers to the topic.

Post script: When I got home, my wife commented, "Huh! that really didn't take very long." Told ya! :)

Post-post script: I know I haven't asked a question, so before someone points that out: Would anyone else like to share their similar experience?

All I will say is that I'm happy to average over 20 mph in a triathlon, - and that's with police blocking all the auto traffic.

The best I've been able to do on a workday commute is between 16 and 17 (closer to 16 but 17 sounds better).

I've also wondered if the way the computers calculate "moving average" is standard. How long do you have to be stopped for them to not count that time?

I usually take the distance and time and calculate the time. It takes me about 17 min to cover my 3mi commute, 10.6 MPH, and about 50 min to cover my 8.5 mi, 10.2 MPH. I have two work sites depending on where I need to go. Not counting stops, I have no idea how fast my average speed is.

Still slower than a car, car saves me about 5 min on the 3mi commute and 15 min on the 8.5 mi commute; but faster than bus at 45 and 55 minutes respectively. Not typo, 5.5 miles longer trip really only takes 10 minutes longer on the bus due to the routing.

On my computer, only a few seconds I think.

Yeah, I always get a kick out of all the guys who'll claim a 5 hour century at Hotter 'N Hell next week, something I can't do. But then, if I get to talking to them about it, it will turn out they finished an hour after I did. On the bike average and overall average can be two very different things.

Much like you say. My GPS records moving average and overall average and I think it regards anything over 0.5mph as "moving". The trouble is if you stop at a red light you don't go from full speed to stopped instantly or from stopped to full speed instantly. When I approach a red light I slow early in the hope it will change and not require me to actually come to a complete stop. If it works out I have to get back up to speed but not stop, if it doesn't work out then I've lost ever-more from the speed I had been doing.

Ultimately you just have to accept it. In the car you still have to stop, it's just a question of whether you're going fast enough for long enough to keep the average speed high. Where I live is a big city so regular motor traffic has to stop at traffic lights and whenever there's a tailback, whereas the bike can zip past slow-moving traffic and go straight to the front at traffic lights. You still have to stop and wait for green (even if a lot of people don't) but you don't have to wait for half a dozen cycles of the lights to get past the junction like you do in a car.

Cyclecomputers typically only track the time that wheels are spinning... Not while you're stopped.

Riding in traffic, it's hard to keep a high speed average, what with stop signs, red lights, etc. So I just ride, and save the real training work for longer, open-road rides on the weekend.

They also wait a bit to see if they missed a few revolutions of the magnet. By playing with the speed at which my GPS doesn't record anymore, I can really mess with my average speed - and that's on a rural ride with not a lot of stopping.

J.

You are a pretty strong and fast rider... and humble too.

Maintaining 20 mph in an urban setting with traffic and lights is really freaking hard to do and over most distances one should be happy to average 20 kmh when you factor in stops.

Fastest commute I have ever done was over my 10 mile commute from the north side to the south side at 6:30am on a Saturday where I hit every light and had some long straightaways... came in with an average speed of 23mph and was topping out at over 30 mph on some stretches.

The only "hill" I had to deal with was coming off the bridge heading south and there was virtually no traffic and it was essentially an urban time trial over a route I knew like the back of my hand and had ridden 100's of times so I knew every spot where I might have been slowed down.

I also did this when I was able to knock down a sub hour 40 on the road and was in much better shape.

Now I am pretty happy to average 20kmh on any commute... :D

I simply would be a fool to try to average much more than the 15 or so on my commute - too many chances to gain road rash from the off-angle RR trax, get doored, get head-on wiped by idiot riders going the wrong way, etc, etc, etc.

Commuting, to me, takes too much focus to ride fast like a training ride, I have too many hazards compared with a workout ride out in the country. I can push a bit more on the afternoon return home, due to the route I take home, but still the stretch through town is too dangerous for trying to ride too fast.

I'm using an old Avocet 20 cyclometer - must be over 25 years old. It calculates average speed by telling me how far I went and how long it took. Then I do the calculation in my head, or if I really want to be accurate I break out he calculator. Moving average can be done, but I have to remember to stop and start the timer. The distance logger actually stops when I am not moving ;). Anyhow, I average somewhere between 13 and 15 mph for a 6 mile (one way) city commute. It really depends on how many lights and stop signs I encounter. Road surfaces are pretty rough, too. I notice that the smoother stretches are good for a few more mph.

-G

I pulled off a moving average of 28.1km/h on my commute to work yesterday, over a distance of 23km. The return trip was quite a bit slower due to a headwind, though. That 28.1 was the fastest commute I've ever done (though not quite as fast as the 28.2 I did over 75.5km a couple of weeks ago on a much more suburban route with a lot less traffic and traffic lights) and let me tell you, it was tough. Stop lights and traffic really does make it hard to maintain an average even close to 30km/h.

I wonder if I was riding a drop-bar rode bike rather than a road hybrid if I'd be able to put my average over 30km/h, but as I don't like drop bars that point is rather moot. :)

My average commuting speed is 14 mph over 11 miles, give or take. This includes some massive hills and general run of the mill, open country riding.
Feel happy for your 19mph.

19.1 is a respectable average moving speed - you're definitely a strong rider.
Above 17-18mph the air resistance dramatically influences things, and even elite racers might average 22-23mph on solo training rides (faster in groups).

Well done! :thumb:

I haven't used a computer in many years - since I stopped racing - but I tend to ride pretty hard on my commutes, gauging how I feel day to day in a given gear. Some days I feel like I am effortlessly spinning the same gear that I struggled to stay in the day before.

I used to time my commutes, back in my first year of cycle-commuting (I'm now on my third). It was fun then, watching the improvement. But after a while, I stopped improving, so I stopped timing myself. Occasionally if I'm feeling energetic, I'll still check my watch at the start and finish. I still generally push myself to ride as fast as reasonable, 'cause I like going fast, but I don't concern myself with how long it takes me anymore.

I've never used a cycle computer on my actual commute, so I don't know my best actual commuting moving average speed. The fastest door-to-door time (including stops) for my 9.6 mile commute that I'm aware of is about 35 minutes, giving me an average overall speed of 16.5 mph. Today, I pushed myself harder than I ever have on a commute, under much more ideal conditions and on an overall faster route.

Today was really just a fun experiment: Is it possible to maintain an average moving speed of 20 mph in an urban setting? The answer, as far as my abilities are concerned, is still no.

Maintaining 20mph in a busy urban setting on a regular basis would be very difficult... there are too many variables.

My fastest average for my 12.5 km commute is 33.1 kph. I start off in urban stuff, then get to more open roads with giant intersections and little traffic. I dont stop for lights, and try not to stop when there is traffic, just adjust my pace to pick the gaps. Stopping kills my averat tooo!

z

I have a 46 mile loop that takes me about 2:45 (lots of hills). my average speed is usually between 16.5 and 17.

Averaging 20mph is hard... period.

Averaging 19mph on your ride rates as being fairly awesome.

My overall commute average for my 12 mile route on my "fast" bike is 15 mph. Best ever was 18.4, and yes that was with a stiff tailwind.

Pick up the $12 wired Schwinn comp (or the $20 wireless Bell) at WalMart. No worries about a nice comp getting stolen, and you've still got the benefits of basic info right there. IIRC, the Schwinn doesn't have a thermometer or backlight. Don't recall if it has a clock.

When I'm riding, I figure 13 MPH average. Including stops I figure 10 MPH average. I usually do a little better, but that gives me a good baseline to figure time. I'm not fast, and I probably never will be. I'd rather enjoy my rides every time (almost) than train.

I have the $12 Schwinn speedometer (with clock) and it works pretty well.

Go look at bike times/speeds from sprint distance triathlons. Granted, there's a swim first and a run after, the level of athlete varies significantly, and the courses may range from hilly to perfectly flat, but there are usually a small % of riders over 20mph for their ride. That's a non-stop traffic controlled ride where the rider is probably riding pretty hard, for ~ 12 or 14 miles depending on the race.

Sixty is making me feel much better about myself :D.
I was getting upset about not being able to top a 20 mph avg.
Last year my commute was an even 10 miles, and my best time was 30 min.
I was late and rushing and couldn't believe my 20 mph avg.
This year I'm 12.3 miles away, and while I've done plenty of longer rides, that extra 2.3 miles took some getting used to. My average speed this year was between 16.5 and 17.5 mph. But I recently swapped my trek soho s for an 84 bridgestone ss with a lower GI. I thought my commute would be much slower due to the added weight and lower gearing, but lo and behold I'm getting consistent 16.5 mph avg's, and my butt and back aren't sore anymore. YAY ME! :thumb:

I average 13-15 Mph computer on my 26 mile commute, but budget 10 Mph "real" time.