I absolutely "get it." There is a primal beauty to pushing yourself to your limits. For me there's a joy in going faster than I've gone before. It will also make you a more efficient rider.

I started riding at around age 40 and got to the point of doing a 20 mi. ride (mix of hills and flats) on a 25 lb. bike with friction shifters in an hour. Then at age 51 I got off the bike and didn't get back on until around age 58. By then I had gained 25 lbs and was as out of shape as I've ever been. That first year back I didn't lose a lot of weight and was riding most routes in the 13-14 mph range. Around age 60 my gf and I joined a local club and I got to the point of doing 15 mph on 40 mi. rides. (This is in eastern CT so there are hills on every route.) At around that time I added a 15 mi. TT to my riding. By the end of that year, at age 63, I did that TT at 17.4 mph. The next year I rode less and didn't do as well but last year at age 65 I got close to 18 mph. Again, I wasn't riding as much as I should. We had stopped riding with the club and I was only averaging about 70 mi. a week. But, always riding that TT every week. My take away from this is basically that there are three basic things I have to do to get faster....ride hard at least 1Xweek (this is how Pete Pensyres set the RAAM mph record back in 1986), ride more and lose weight. That's my goal for this year. It might work for you too.

+1

Again +1

Nah! I think it would have happened with any new bike I would have purchased, it just so happens that I bought a Colnago. I went from an aluminum frame, 9 speed triple to a carbon frame, 10 speed compact double and noticed the difference on the very first ride.

I also thought of getting a road bike, so I could go faster on long trail rides. Last saturday I rode 48 miles on a charity ride, and quite a few riders older than I went right by me on mountain bikes. So much for that idea, so I'll just keep on riding and see what comes in another six months. I've only been riding six months now, and I've gone from 15 minute rides, to 3hr rides. From what I've read from the more experienced riders here, I just need more time in the saddle, so I'll keep enjoying my rides, and not care about speed for now.

I have a Fred Bicycle (Trek SOHO Deluxe). I use it for commuting. With my work gear and the heavier bicycle I get a good workout going to and from work. If I ride my road bicycle in the afternoon after work, I really notice a huge difference in my speed. I think riding the Fred bicycle helps me become a better road bicycle rider. I would suggest commuting for those who want to improve.

Why, thank-you for saying so! :) My philosophy is, the roses smell better when you're going faster. AND, you are able to smell more of them in your allotted time.

Another thing about going from 15 to 19 mph is, it depends on the "moderate hills." I've been in central Tennessee several times, and in lots of places, doing 19 mph overall can be an Olympic-caliber ride. So, my first advice is to choose your route wisely! If you want to improve your overall speed, you have to push yourself into your 'discomfort zone.' The payback is the endorphines! Nothing feels as good as the rush you get after finishing a hard ride.

There it is :lol:

I have a 20mi route and a 30mi route that I commonly ride just for TT's. Nothing casual about it. The 30 is on a MUP that is a scenic run along the lakeshore of Lake Michigan with twisty winding and hilly stretches. The 20 is on the fogline (highway). Love it.

The endorphins make it such a sweet exhaustion.

I wish I could, but I'd have a 20 mile commute and I'd be all sweaty when I got here :(

Funny you should ask. 15 is what I was comfortable with last year and this year it's more like 18. The first for me was losing 15 lbs. That made all the difference. The second is simply riding with a group that rides that fast. You may not be able to hang with them a whole ride but just forcing yourself to do it will eventually get you there.

[QUOTE=Jamesw2;14055804] My sprints usually happen while being chased by dogs. /QUOTE]

This really works. After outrunning the dog(s), I take a peek at my computer and I'm doing like 28 mph. Ride the route with the most angry dogs and you'll get real fast, really fast.

interesting thread. I'm convincec your speed is your speed regardless of your bike unless you make a jump from MTB to road bike. but once you are in road bikes, your speed is your speed. you can put that chevy 350 in a lamborgini but it's still gonn abe a chevy 350. I'm seeing some minor improvements with my new bike, but in fact they are still significant. a fabulous test would be to see my vareage on a MUP, liek a time trial on a fast course. start the computer when I start the ride not when I walk it from my car, and stop it and the end of the course. sure there will be hills and traffic situations but it's the best comparison I will have from the last bike to the new bike. I'll have to dig up my stats from last year but I have them kicking around the forum somewhere. from what I've heard if you want to go fast you have to be in a paceline. also us old guys, (just turned 53), just keep getting older. to reverse the affects of aging is very difficult, and then when you do, you kinda max out and start declining in performance again. I had a 5 yr stretch where I had contact improvements and then my age started to show in my stats again. now if you're 17 and working on imprioving your speed, well, then my friend you've got a shot at it. us? not so much. that's my opinion. am I still gonna try to see 40 mph again, oh yeah. am I still gonna try to see something over 33 oh yeah, over mid 20s or 27 on a sprint? oh yeah. sometimes though that dam computer is just a curse.

Or not.

So, any takers in my "quantum jump" vs. incremental improvement theories?

Wouldnt a quantum jump suggest a scenario like one day you wake up and ride like Lemond as opposed to having to work at it like the rest of us?

Is it possible to retract my first post on this thread? After reading all the posts I realize that depending where I am riding I like to go fast too! My problem being I always start from home so I have some slow riding before I get out of town, then my speed goes up and depending how I feel
averages 15 to 18 MPH.
This morning I paid attention to my speed and whenever possible it was above 15 and near 20, but when I got home my average was 12.7. My
apology if I offended anyone, that was not intended.

FOr me 15-18 is a quantum jump. So ....yes I believe.

A couple of points:

A. The whole KOPS thing is bunk. When you look at riders relationship to the spindle on bikes ranging from TT bikes to recumbents, you realize that it just doesn't matter. What your fore-aft saddle position does do is control the rotation of your body. Move it forward (like a TT bike) and you get huge aero benefits, at the possible expense of pressure on your hands. Eliminating that just requires some training, and of course the harder you pedal, the less weight there is on your hands.

B. If you want to improve your speed, you might want to consider more saddle-to-bar drop. You just might be surprised at how it feels for you. I ride with much greater drop than I used to, and my butt and back have never felt better.

Most professional fitters have the goal of their client saying "Gee, that feels great." But "Gee, that feels great" isn't always what you need if you want to improve fitness and performance. Sometimes you need to experience discomfort awhile to train up a muscle group, at which point the discomfort goes away. The fitter you become, the more your fit becomes based on performance factors rather than comfort. If you are fit, a wide range of fittings are comfortable.

I'm a big proponent of the quantum leap approach. If you are at "A", and want to get to "D", you can either go through "B" and "C", or you can go directly to "D". Examples:

A. Group rides: You can gradually move up from slower to faster, or you can jump in with the big dogs, get dropped repeatedly, but progress quickly until you can hang with them.

B. Fit considerations: You can either gradually remove those spacers under your stem, avoiding any discomfort, or you can just slam it to the headset, and work through the discomfort until it feels fine.

I typically prefer the quantum approach. I start doing what it is I want to do, and keep trying until it works out.

Gladly accepted!

To add one other thing I did when working to get faster. I had what I called my 80/20 rule: stay above 80rpm and 20mph whenever possible. But that was before I realized speed wasn't a great training goal. I got a heart rate monitor, and started focusing on cadence and HR. 80rpm also quickly became a pretty slow cadence. But the rule served its purpose for a couple of months.

Average speed is a function of terrain and wind. I have routes where there is 100 feet of climbing per mile and as little as 40 feet per mile. I live in a hilly area with a lot of wind. So I cannot say if 15 mph average speed is easy or hard, good or bad. I think all cycling is good at any speed. For me it is about goals and objectives which can be very broad including I have none, and I ride as I feel.

At 6' 2" 200 pounds, OP will lose a lot of time on the climbing sections of the route and will go slower and probably ride in a more upright position on the road bike. So there will not be much, if any, difference climbing on the road bike versus the hybrid. On the downhill sections, the road bike will have an advantage only if OP uses its more aero position. If not, the average speed will be about the same.

To improve average speed, OP will have to put out more power on the climbs. Since one has to push a volume of air out of the way, it is always faster to put out more energy climbing when going slower. It is always better to be more aero when on the easier or faster sections of the route and use less energy or power and try to get some recovery.

Good thing that's a simulation. I've bailed a lot of hay in my time and have never seen bales come out so in line. ;)

OP, good luck - I understand completely about wanting to be faster to complete a century.
In my area centuries are offered on only a few rides and there are enforced cut-offs where the route is closed and no support after a certain time.
Route organizers have overhead costs to provide SAG, security and medical professionals, venue rentals - money that is diverted from benefiting their charitable cause the longer the event runs.

The Wichita Falls "Hotter 'n Hell Hundred" diverts riders from the century route if you do not make "Hell's Gate" by their cutoff time.
The ride begins at sunrise. Last year they allowed an option to start in twilight to allow cyclists a better chance to finish before an early cutoff.
Most riders do not carry sufficient fluids/food to finish this ride unsupported and even if they can, it's still better to finish before afternoon heat sets in.
Many people finish this ride in the medical tents and SAG wagons due to dehydration/electrolyte imbalances/heat exhaustion.
The cutoffs are to encourage riders to finish safe and healthy and not attempt something they haven't prepared for.

I agree with what most have said here. I began ridding (again) last July. With saddle time naturally comes speed but the other side benefits of saddle time comes, for a lot of us, weight loss which perpetuates more speed. Like the dog chasing it's tail.

I've gone from a mostly 12-13 mph average last year to more 15-17 averages just by looking at my spreadsheet. A 15 mile ride last November was ~15 mph. March of this year that same ride will be ~17 and a cadence of ~90 according to the Polar HRM/cadence deal.

Look for climbs, sprint to the next mailbox, do individual time trials trying to beat your personal best, spin to get your cadence up, look for a group to ride with that's faster than you (my quest now).
All of these, in my opinion, will get you faster. I want to be the (old) guy that shows up for a 50 mile group ride on my 34 lb mountain bike and have a 16 mph average.

Then there's that going back and getting better genetics... I'd like to get on that bus trip.