15 mph Average Speed - A first for Me!
 

Yesterday I clocked an honest 15 mph average speed on my regular 26 mile ride. A long way from 30 mph peloton speeds but I'll take it because it proves a definite improvement over the past two months.

Awesome! Remember, it is easier to ride much faster when you've got guys in front of you breaking the wind and setting the pace. Plus those 30 mph peleton speeds can drop off drastically in long, steep climbs. 15 mph average ain't bad at all.

You know what you have done now of course----- That speed has to be kept up for the next year till you have an excuse to reduce it as you are a year older.

Have to admit that I have to be fit to get that average on a ride. Normally comes at the October Metric when its cold and raining and windy and "Why did I enter this ride as it's always cold and raining and windy so I'll have to put a spurt on to get back to the Dry warm last check-in point where the Pie and Tea is."

Good average for a "Normal" rider.

Congratulations! Even though not all future rides will be that fast, it puts you comfortably in the mix for general group rides.

According to some training books I'm reading (my best is just over 16, so I'm not an authority!), doing full-power short intervals once or twice a week is the best way to increase your speed. And high cadence is supposed to help (I'm a novice, I start to bounce above 104, but I averaged 90 RPM today - it seemed to help).

Good luck hitting 16 in the next month or two!

Like the ciocc_cat said it's a lot easier in a big group. Solo is tough.

Tough to fight the wind by yourself.

Tough to motivate yourself.

Tough not to share a great ride.

If I have missed this forgive me:

What is your history with serious riding sculptor? How long have you been at it/back at it. Are you in this for fitness? weight loss?need for speed?

The guys in the road forum think "average speed" is this total fred concept. I disagree. Like you I ride regular routes solo and I am always looking at my average speed and using it to if not improve my performance but to keep me from slacking off and work just a little harder.

I'll play games with myself like resetting my computer after I'm warmed up. I'll ride enough uninterrupted to establish a "new" average and then work to not let that drop. If it does I have to bring it back up.

Exactly how do your intervals go? I may give it a try myself.

Back to the original poster:

Do you count warm-ups and cool-downs?

What kind of terrain do you ride?

Will Floyd Landis have anything to say about this?

I've broken the 15 MPH average speed barrier a few times (a racer I am not) which includes start to finish and stop lights, before I started Garmin-doping. However, I achieved those mind-boggling speeds by getting behind some diesel and hanging there for dear life.

To answer a few questions:
My background is having ridden a short commute to work for a number of years (6 miles round trip) before I retired 10 years ago then taking up riding again a year ago last spring. The terrain is relatively flat although there are a few hills to make it interesting. In figuring my time there is no warm up or time spent winding down after. I just get on the bike and go. There are a few places where I am forced to slow down because of bad conditions in the road and a few intersections that deserve a little respect but only one traffic light and two or three stop signs.

As to intervals I am not disciplined enough to follow any regime but I do find that if somebody sails by I can't help going all out to try to catch up.

Being in New England it is hard to avoid hills, what may be a small hill to you may be a mountain to a Floridian. 15MPH average on New England terrain is quite good.

Why bother about discipline? Some riders do best with a very specifically planned training routine. I never did. I think one would work against me. Instead, when I am training for some particular reason, I set a sort of bench mark of things I want to get done in any given week. I just do them on the days that I feel like it. So if I feel antsy on one day, I might do a really hard ride or intervals or something. If I feel a bit worn, I just recover. I figured out a long time ago that no one is ever going to pay me to ride my bicycle so I am going to do what I want.

Nice job Sculptor. :thumb:

I was averaging in the high 14's in January and after 3200 miles this year I'm in the low to mid 16's. About a month ago I started to end my rides with a sprint up the hill on my street...it climbs about 85' in .25 miles, not killer, but I hit it as hard as I can and have seen improvements in all aspects of my rides.

I ride solo too (club or group rides almost never fit in my schedule these days), so I use average speed as an indicator of improvement. Since I mostly ride the same route on my solo "training rides", this works for me.

As for the "Road Forum" . . . uh, on second thought "no comment".

great! thanks for sharing. I love it when I gets those occasional training surprises. you never know when they'll come along. good job!

Gratz!