2012 complete year data:
4167 miles
Av Distance 28 miles
Av speed 13.4 mph
Av HR 108 bpm
Combined age 145 years
This morning's ride on our tandem was 23 miles at 16.1, which is fairly typical. On bike rallies, with long, straight runs we average 17+mph on the tandem.

17-19 mph covers my road bike efforts. This time of year, however, I'm on my mountain bike with studded tires, pretty much confined to snow and ice covered gravel roads. I don't have a computer on this bike -- I'd hate to see how slow I go. But I still get my heart rate up and enjoy my rides.

4705 miles in 349 hours for 13.5 avg. All bikes, all rides, but mostly urban commuting

I donno. It seems that no matter how fast of slow I think I am going, 17 mph seems to always be the average. Except when I really want to cruise at a slow pace.

Incorrect. Time moving is precisely what does matter, IMO.

Meh... by riding occasionally with others I have confirmed that some riders are, indeed, faster and stronger than other riders. Not to say that conditions don't matter of course.

Well, yes and no. I move a lot faster while I'm moving if I stop occasionally. My average, which is total distance divided by total time, probably goes down because I'll never make up with higher speed the time I spend stopped. So if, say, I intend or need to ride 75 miles and I'm racing sunset (like I did 2 months ago), or I need to ride my 12.6 mile commute racing to catch a train, I'd be better off not stopping. My computer would say otherwise in both cases however.

As a measure of endurance, one can argue that either average or sustainable pseudo-average between stops is significant. But that's a whole different question. I can't maintain 20mph for very long, but I can ride all day if I go slower and if I stop to rest and eat. In a sprint from here to there I'd lose.

Of course some riders are stronger than others. My point was that my own indicated average speed varies strongly with terrain, even more than it does with how well I'm doing on any given ride. If I can't compare my speeds even with myself without taking terrain into account, then I certainly can't compare my speeds meaningfully to those of anyone else.

Yeah, I know, Omaha has some steep hills along the river. Would your speeds down to the river and back a few times be comparable to someone riding around, say, Lincoln or some place further west? Not that I can see. You certainly can't compare your speeds to mine on a ride through Carlisle, MA, let alone central New Hampshire. We have no way to accommodate the terrain differences.

If you ride X miles on flat terrain and X miles on very hilly terrain the hilly course will show a much lower speed.

About 16mph, mostly group rides with quite a bit of climbing, time in motion.

For the past couple of months, due to injury, my average speed has been 0 mph (or 0 kph if you prefer).

Riding mostly off-road, and computerless, it is very difficult to get a true average, but I think the above estimate is fairly accurate.

My aim for 2013 is to improve on this.

Lets see. About 1600 miles divided by 366 days.....................hmm, not very impressive.

Using only the data for downhill rides of less than one mile with a tailwind, it's 25.6 mph.

I had an 11.8 MPH average after a 112 mile weekend tour two years ago so it is creeping up. I haven't concentrated on maximum training for top performance. Just do this for my own enjoyment. I don't race. My only competition is with myself. A friend gave me some sage advice at the last KC MS150 to Sedalia and back: "Increase your mileage." He was right.

True, "average speed" is subject to how one approaches the definition. I selected 17-19 MPH because most of my road bike rides fit in that window. Of course, over the winter on a heavy bike with studded tires and variable surfaces, my rides are more typically 12-14 MPH. But though I love the winter riding (truly, I do), I think of myself as a road cyclist, so I think of myself as averaging 17, 18, 19 MPH.

Who's the champ who averages 25+? Kudos.

Probably one of the folks in this sub-forum:

https://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...Disciplines%29

I figure I can do 16.5-17.5 on my former rural commute - counting traffic lights. The 10.7 miles would take around 35-40 minutes depending on wind and traffic... My 'goal' was to do the first nine miles in 30 minutes (again factoring in the seven traffic lights/two train crossings), then a slower-paced 'cool-down' for the last 1.7 miles so I wouldn't be a sweaty mess when I got to work. For longer solo rides, I figure 15-16mph is a good 'average' speed.

If riding an organized Century in a 2x4+ draft pack, we step it up to a tad under 20mph. With the three scheduled stops (one being lunch) the total Century time is somewhere around 5-1/2 hours. Solo centuries are 6-1/2 hours.

I'm no racer.

For all of my recorded miles in 2012 my computer* gave me figures that averaged 14.03 mph for the year. That includes training and event rides as well as casual and utility errand cycling. Of course my usual training rides are faster than that figure.

*I know that there are those around here who don't approve of computer generated averages but that is what I use and I don't have the patience to grind all those figures. I just record the values in my spreadsheet at the end of the ride.

In that case, I think of myself as a pro roadracer, so I think of myself as averaging > 25 mph.

I also use the "total distance divided by total time" method. Works fine for me, as speed goes against all I love about cycling. Generally, with stops and all, my longer rides (5-7 hours) end up breaking down to 10mph. I suppose my daily commute is closer to 13-14. Any faster than that and I might as well just take the car.

I average 15.4-15.7. I've had a few rides at 16+, but it sure isn't the average. The thing most encouraging to me is barely over a year ago I was averaging 10-12 mph. I hope I progress as well this next twelve months!

The most important thing is to just ride.