PaulH

61. I commute year round and it takes about one hour door-to-door, office to home, ten miles. No computer.

Paul

HAMMER MAN

57 yrs old and ride in the spring and summer 100-135 miles a week 3-4 days
Winter is anywhere from 60-90 miles a week 2 -3 days per week
all of this depends on family time and weather conditions.

average mph is anywhere from 14.5 to 21.5 depending on wind,weather,rides and how I actually feel and the routes I take. As i have gotten older sometimes just riding and enjoying is more important than how fast or far. depending on how i feel designates the kind of ride,strong tempo ride, recovery rides, or fast hard hammer rides. It all comes togeather and a ride is a ride regardless of speed or distance.

az_cyclist

I forgot to add, I am 56, will be 57 in July. Have been a cyclist since 1983. in the summer I will ride about 125-130 miles a week. In the fall and winter I will ride 80 miles a week (weekends) and I run about 9 miles on weekdays.

HenryL

Interesting topic 54 YO male

Rode 4100 miles last year
Commute to work is 23-25 mile RT avg 15

Group rides on weekends are in the 55 - 75 mile range each day with avg in the 15-16 but that includes differing terrain and paceline work that can be 25-26 MPH in season. Avgs don't mean that much, more an indicator of how hard you are working on the ride.

solo rides on the recumbent are in the 30 mile range and will be about 14 - 16 mph, 18-20 on the flat route

wrobertdavis

Please submit your notarized sworn statement with two adult witnesses. Are you a professional racer?

bob

wrobertdavis

I am 60. My last "fast ride" was on Jan 3, where I completed 28 of a 50 mile ride. During 8 miles of that ride I rode 22-24 mph continuously. My brain blew a fuse, better known as a cerebral hemhorrage.

Now I am in recovery mode and restricted to keeping my heart rate at 120 or less. Yesterday, I rode 20 miles on a very carefully selected flat route and winds less than 10 mph. I average 12.3 mph with maximum 17 mph. It was definitely Sunday stroll time. If this is what I have to live with from now on, there's going to be a Cervelo R3 for sale and I'll get me an old man's bike.

But I am thankful to be alive with strong support from family and friends.

Bob

az_cyclist

I should have typed 20mph... sorry about that. I just edited the post with the correction

wrobertdavis

Whew! Thanks for bringing us back to reality. I don't know anyone who can AVERAGE 30 mph for 13-14 miles.

Bob

wobblyoldgeezer

Many numbers here, OP, and all on this forum I'm sure wish you well in your cycling, as do I

One thing that hasn't maybe been said - I'm sure that those inspirational people who ride quick and far, have a bike that they really really like.

I know that "its not (supposed to be) about the bike", but a bike that fits and pleases you makes it so much easier to add speed and distance.

Those who have bought the bike of their fantasies (me included) will probably have stories about more miles, more speed and more smiles (me included!)

Comfort and enjoyment of the machine first, miles and speed are unavoidable later!

Enjoy

stapfam

My first main ride is a 40 miler in April and this is the start of my summer riding. Not a hilly course but plenty of rises and turns. I do this in 2 1/2 hours so average of 16mph. From this event on I will be doing 100 miles a week. 60 at the weekends at an average of 14 to 15 mph but I do have hills. Then in the week I get a couple of 20 milers in the evenings. A 20 miler taking in around 1500ft of climbing and I don't care how slow I go. The other ride is on a flat course and around 20 miles again and done around 16 mph. Then there is the summer riding and I aim for a few Metrics at around 16mph and a couple of 100 milers at around 15mph. Then at the end of October and it is down to the weather and I still aim for the weekend ride and a couple in the week but speed and milage will be down.

That is on the road- But still get offroad occasionally but average speeds and distance are way down. Average speed will be about 12 up to about 40 miles and then it will drop. Last 100 miler I did was at an average of 8mph and I won't doing one of those again. I don't like riding for 12 hours non-stop.

Rick@OCRR

No Garmin because the battery only lasts 8 hours, so no good for double centuries, at least as slow as I am! Also, back when I did my 24 hour rides, Garmin didn't exist.

Rick / OCRR

HAMMER MAN

quite sure in time you will be able to increase your speed and rides.

i understand what you are saying before I had too have an angiogram i had to do the same style riding,in all honesty it was like WTF,I can walk faster than this. I was lucky though it was figured out to high blood pressure. Hang in there everything will get better as well as your rides

CACycling

When I returned to cycling around my 48th birthday 16 months ago, I started riding 3 - 4 days a week and my distance slowly increased from a starting point of about 4 miles a ride. As the months went by, frequency and distance increased and my wife and I started taking the occasional longer ride (20 miles or so). I was riding on an old MTB at the time.

Now I shoot for 100 miles per week, I commute most days (10 mile R/T) and try to get at least one 30+ mile ride in every week with an occasional 50 mile ride. Average speed is around 15 on my commute or riding with my wife, 18 - 20 riding solo.

wrobertdavis

Hear here! My weekly mileage went up dramatically when I finally got my saddle situation sorted to a respectable comfort level. My average speed went up when I bought the bike of my dreams (which included a very careful fitting and lots of trial rides).

Bob

RonH

I'm 64 and as soon as the doc says I can dump the arm sling and ride again I'll be doing at least 27 miles 4-5 days a week. When summer gets here I hope to be up to 40-45 miles (20 miles of climbing) 4-5 days a week.
Average speed depends. Some days it's 13+, some days it's 18+ .

BlazingPedals

Yes you can, you just do it differently. Lots of bent riders never learn, though. As far as speed on the flats, you obviously aren't riding a fast enough 'bent. Mine is good for an extra 2-3 mph in cruising speed over my old road bike.

Randochap

It helps to set goals.

It's interesting that you begin by talking about mind/body interaction. This is where a lot of "computing" happens. It's also where "program" incompatabilities turn up, which is what you are experiencing. The trick is to be patient while the body is building the appropriate "hardware", so to speak.

We often find as well that we are of two (or more!) minds. That is, we might say: Today, I'm going to do this (ride 20 miles, give up cheeseburgers) and tomorrow we find ourselves doing the opposite, because another mind wanted to sit around and pig out.

With equal parts patience and will, in due course, you will find the harmony and the mind/body will carry you into realms you never knew were possible.

The trick here (and their are many approaches) is to keep the competing "minds" in harmony. It's usually a give and take situation, but sometimes the wimp has to be kicked to the curb.

I'm not advocating the HTFU approach here though. The most important training excercise is of the horizontal variety. Rest.

That's what I'm doing today, after yesterday's 115 kilometre (71.5mi) 772 metre (2,533 ft) ride at an average 25+kph (15.6mph). I did that on my usual Wednesday group ride (followed by a slower ride downtown to lunch). At 57, I'm one of the younger members of this group, with several in their mid-60s and one 70 y/o phenomenon -- ex-racer/Olympic coach. In summer our average speed will peak somewhere around 28kph (17.3 mph) for the whole route, with paceline speeds of 40+ kph.

On shorter (say 30-50k) solo rides, I average around 30kph.

As a randonneur, my goals for next year will be another Super Randonneur medal, a fleche and maybe a 1,000k brevet. These, in turn, are part of the long-term plan to return to Paris-Brest-Paris, in 2011.

As a cyclist in general, my ultimate goal is to just be on the bike, as I was yesterday, rolling through the coutryside. Yesterday, the temperature hovered around freezing and fog billowed around the seashore and farmland valleys. It was beautiful!

(Check my website for definitions of unfamiliar terms)

danny124

Well I'm 57 and have a 20 mile route I ride 5 to 6 times a week. I checked my Cyclestats and it indicated I averaged 15.6 mph last year.

Applehead57

Good question to ask. I'm 51 and have been serious for about 6 years now.
I rarely go out unless I have a hour available to ride, either doing hills or flats, usually 3 times a week.
I thought I was somewhat hot until I entered my first race. Wow, so depressing....
Younger riders fly, us "mature" riders" get tired.
I can keep up with most anyone, until we hit a hill, and well....then it's not so good.
Don't worry to much about speed, keep pushing yourself and it will come.
I ride with everything I have, when I'm done, just standing up takes concentration (somewhat kidding).
Enjoy and maybe I'll see you out there sometime.

MNBikeguy

How fast do I ride?
Slower than a Minnesota re-count..

BluesDawg

Ain't it funny how we are so concerned with how we compare to others and how far and how fast they ride?

sauerwald

I remember a few years back going on a club ride - we covered 17 miles over rolling hills and did it in just over an hour. That was the day that they had the time trial up Alp d'Huez, for the TDF and Armstrong did his 14 mile ride at about the same pace that we managed, but he did it up the side of a mountain!

stapfam

Several of us have had a few serious medical problems and come back from them. Of course it did hit our speed- endurance and mental state for a while- but gentle re-introduction and gradual build up and we are back to where we were. The one to watch out for is the mental state- After all- you have just had a serious problem- pehaps its a warning- perhaps its time we slowed up or gave up- Rubbish- Thats the way to sit back and enjoy the rest of your life sitting in the armchair---but it won't be for very long

cyclezen

Oh
My
Gawd!
...gettin in touch with the monkey-ness of your backside!

sleep on your stomach for a few daze ???

Jet Travis

I do have a go-fast bike with a computer that I ride once or twice week in the warmer weather, trying to hang at a mid-pack speed with the local club. But most of my riding is on older, slower non-computerized bikes. I have several slower partners, whom I'm happy to roll along with at a moderate pace.

I also like to faff along on my own with the camera, stopping as the whim inspires me. I know I rode a century and a bunch of metrics last year. Beyond that, I can't say. This is not a knock on those who log their speed or distance. I'm just not very good at or interested in keeping track of things. In fact, if anyone's seen my glasses please let me know.

I just realized that my sig--from running coach Joe Henderson--pretty much sums it up for me.