"how fast should i be able to ride 30ish miles and feel good about myself that i'm a bona fide cyclist? "...

Like the others have said, there are many variables to consider here but if you are on a road bike on relatively flat terrain with little wind you should be able to average between 12 to 15 MPH fairly easily for someone over 50 and under 200 LBS.

Definitely. Ever see a pro cyclist up close? Most of them are tiny people.

With hollow bones.

somewhere between 10 and 25 mph would be the answer.

I averaged about 16 mph on the commute into work this morning. (A bit of a tailwind)
My fastest ride of any distance has been about 18mph.

if your off the couch and on the bike, that's plenty fast. i ride almost every day. couse up hill is a little slow on a ss/fg but hey, i'm riding.

When you ride 30 miles and say, "That was fun, let's continue" you are a bona fide cyclist. If you fail that test and still ride a lot, you are still a genuine cyclist.

Riders ride. I think it is that simple. Most bike owners do not use them. They are owners but not riders.

ride your age until you hit 38 then subtract 1 every two years.

Did a pretty flat 30 mile loop today and averaged 18 mph, but I'm not 55. I'm older. I average 16 mph on somewhat hilly 25 mile loop with a 2100' elevation gain.

sweet

I'm 56 and used to race, but not any more. I quit riding for 17 years and returned to cycling in Spring 2009 to lose weight (over 50 pounds) and get back in shape. Nowadays I typically average apx. 17 mph on my 20-mile solo "training rides" in mostly flat to rolling terrain.

An eminently practical bit of advice. I may post this on my refrigerator.

As mentioned earlier, speed is not a good way to evaluate performance. There are so many variables. You might think about a power meter -- a little expensive, but you can also find used ones on e-bay. You might also take a look at the book
"Training and Racing with a Power Meter." to see how they can be used. Anyone can benefit from using one.

You had to throw that second line in the data just to see if we were awake didn't you.
Assuming that was a round trip, 22.5 miles with an average grade of 10% and an average speed of 12.8mph for the total 45mile!
If we assume the ride was indeed 22.5miles at 10% up and 22.5 miles at 10% down, your max speed was listed at 34.7mph. If we assume your average down hill speed was 30mph (very close to your max) then you up hill speed was approx 8.2mph average. You are the man!, that's an amazing pace for 22.5 miles of 10%, I know I couldn't do it. Your a God!

I tend to run at about 13 mph. Doesn't matter which bike I'm on, either.

I just finished my first ride of the year, on the mountain bike with street tires - 15 miles at a hair over 13.5.

I'm fixated on this subject. Not fast just fixated. I started 6 months ago at 9 MPH. I've worked very hard at getting faster and now can do a flat 10 miles at 18.3 MPH. A flat 20 miles in the high 16s and can ride all day in the high 15s. My record for a pace line ride is 19.1 for 14 miles. I'm 53 y/o and an obese 5'8" at 225 ish. I've got a decent road bike and I ride about 100 miles per week.

I'm currently doing 1 mile sprints where I force myself to ride at least 20 MPH every 5th mile. I'm doing this to simulate pulling the line with the pace line group I ride with on weekends. I'm one of the weaker riders of the group and I'm unable to take the lead as long as other do. They never complain at all but it grates on me that I can't quite pull my share.

I'm not satisfied with my progress but I'm slowly getting faster/stronger as time goes on. I don't think there is any magic pill other than to keep pushing.

Part of the physiology goes something like this. As we stress our muscles our body adapts by adding muscle. Equally important is the vasculature our body adds to feed the new demands being placed on our muscles.

In my case, I sat on my fat a$$ for decades in front of a computer. Not much need for muscles or feeding them. It's just going to take time for my body to catch up with my expectations.

In the meantime I'll just enjoy the ride albeit slowly

Oh yeah, if anybody finds that magic pill please do share!

This is where I want to be!

Let me see. I am 106 years old. I average between 28.6 and 29.7 MPH on 30 mile rides. A little less on rides over 100 miles. Actually hilly rides do not slow me down. All the women run out to the street to watch me pedal past. If I had a better bike than this old beach cruiser I could do better.

Can I go to my room now?

Wind Sprints. 4 to 6 per each ride, 3x per week for 3 months. You'll be pulling the group all day.

OP:
Some of the more accomplished riders here can do a 5 hour century (non-metric) and then go dancing. But you do not have to be anywhere near that to be "real". There's obviously a pretty wide rage of abilities here and as far as I'm concerned everyone is real. There are no standard criteria for competence at this... that is very much a personal matter.

A good thing about being fast, other than vanity, is that you can ride with a wider range of companions if you want to.

The vast majority of my rides are alone. I do not worry about speed much. As Long as I enjoy the ride, well that is fast enough for me.

Fishermen (I refuse to use the PC term, "fishers") have fish tales.
Cyclists, well, they have vivid imaginations... How wet it was, how cold, how hot, how many watts, how far, how high, how steep... How Long is an oriental gentleman.

"That water sure is cold!" "Yeah, and it's deep, too!" - Richard Pryor

Well, that's not really what you want to know.

What you really, really want to know is:


Well, that's a good question. However, why would you ask strangers on the Internet to measure your performance if you haven't measured it yourself?

Off hand, I'd say you should be able go as fast as you rode last year. And I might add, you probably can't ride as fast as you would have if you would have tried as much at 50.

There's still time, still some chance that you can ride faster than you ever have in your life. But that depends on how fast you used to ride, and whether you can grip on what it takes to exercise for improvement, without the excuses.

Average speed is one of the worst indicators of fitness, though it can be used to compare the same route under the same conditions by the same person, sometimes. There's no magic potion to better fitness. It takes work and time and the older we get the longer it takes to see change. The key is to enjoy the ride however you do it. If it becomes a chore or a source of stress then the results may not come.

I averaged 12mph yesterday on my ride. 2 hours and 24 miles. I accomplished everything I had set out to do which was to ride 1.5 hours in a particular zone. Success. So I suggest one focus on each ride and not worry about the long term. Keep it fresh and ride consistently. Develop a progressive plan that will help you reach your goal and in time you will be a better rider.