I started riding on a 10 mile loop in George Bush Park next to my neighborhood. 4 miles gravel road, 3 miles trail, 3 miles paved. When I first started I could barely finish. I started going regularly a couple weeks ago and was able to do it in about 60 minutes. 2 days later I surprised myself by pushing hard and making it in 45 minutes. I assume that isn't to shabby on a mtb, especially since I pass road bike guys on the paved part already.

What time should I get to before increasing my distance? I was thinking I would work at getting down to 30 minutes, averaging 20mph, then increasing my distance to 20 miles and work hard to get down to 20mph average again with twice the distance, then repeat with a longer distance.

Is this a good plan? Anything I should do different?

I think if you could make it in 30 minutes that would pretty awesome. I do a 9.5 mile route and I can get it done in 45 minutes if I go fast, and an hour if I'm feeling lazy.

I seriously doubt you will get up to 20mph average, but good luck. I would increase your distance now, because a 45 minute ride isn't much of a workout. I wouldn't worry so much about distance, but if you can ride for 2 hours everyday, you will be in good shape.

is this all flat? if so you should think about switching up your route to get some elevation change in because it will help build up your strength a little better then just spinning on the flat stuff.

Best I do in N Florida's slightly rolling and sandy-soil woods is 10.5 mph ( 1:41 for 18.3 miles) based on riding time and about 9.9 mph based on total elapsed time. I used to run about 8 mph, but started pushing higher gears, upgraded my wheels and went to Stan's noTubes conversion to run lower pressures. Each change made a very measureable difference.

I'm lucky to average 7 mph in the N Georga mountains where I also bike a lot.

Al

I live in Houston, there is no elevation change!

You know Ive never thought about that. Hm

Why do you seriously doubt it? Is it because you can't? I don't know if I can ride that fast, but I at least deserve a shot before you tell me I can't do it, especially since you don't know me!

Heh, it could be possible. Maybe;p

I said good luck. I guess for 30 minutes on the pavement and gravel you're talking about would be easy. I generally ride quite a bit longer, on very hilly, technical trails, so averaging 20mph over 2 hours would be difficult, if not impossible. But again, good luck with your goal.

Well in a race I am happy to average ten to thirteen miles an hour around here. I'm actually happy if I can average 20 mph on a road bike ride. I guess I'm just slow. It all depends on your roads and course though, anythings possible.

When we ride gravel roads on mountain bikes, our rule of thumb is 4 minutes a mile. granted this is a fairly social pace. Trail riding is sloooooooooooooower

I have a similiar problem here in N Florida, yet I'm constantly going up to the mountains to bike for three to four weeks at a time. Riding as fast as I can and doing a relatively long distance (18 miles) in the flatlands works surprisingly well in keeping me fit enough to do 15 mile (single track) rides with long steep climbs.

Keep it up.

Al

Did they know you were racing them?

Low Cel got a point, some tracks will cause you to be faster while some slower. I love riding in Penang, Malaysia because the trail terrain are usually hard and a lot of uphills. I prefer to race with more uphills then downhills because I beat most people when going uphill. Need to improve on my downhill though but I got phobia of falling down :'(

It's hard to compare your ride to others because of the 3 mile section called "trail". Are we talking about smooth dirt with a few turns OR logs, switchbacks, rocky streams and plenty of snake biting roots?
But as a comparison, I take 46 minutes to ride a 10.5 mile, all packed gravel path that has 8 stops/slow downs to cross roads riding a hardtail MTB.
If you can do 20 MPH on asphault on a MTB, I think that's excellent. Time to buy a roadie and see what you can really do.

Good luck on your goal 911.....BTW what's a good quarter mile time on your 911turboS?

Comparing times seems a bit silly to me unless you are looking at the same 10 mile loop. With varying terrains, there is so much more to consider than just the distance you are riding. Not only do you need to consider a flat route vs. hilly route, but any obstacle in the trail could change those lap times drastically. In mountain biking, even looking at lap times for the same trail at the beginning of the season vs. end of season might not show much. With the wear and tear that the trail takes over the course of a season, it could be quite a different challenge in October from what it was in April.

You want to know what a good lap time is for the 10 mile loop you're riding? Any lap time that is faster than your previous lap time is a good lap time.

Best possible answer!

Only alternative would to be to get some fast guys out to do the same loop and see what their times are if you really want to see how you are doing compared to others.

Thanks for the replies, I was just looking for a general time. I was able to average 20mph on the gravel/paved part yesterday.

We average 10-15km/h on our trails. The rock gardens slow us down a lot. There is a portion where we ride from one trail end to another trail head that is on a downhill gravel road section. I've averaged 50-60km/h on that part.

So, on my rides it can take about 1.5 hours but my gravel/paved part is faster than yours.

See how pointless it is to compare one person's 10-mile ride to another?

I usually average about 10-13 mph so it would take me a little under an hour.

Usually on my everyday ride i do it in 1hr5minutes on the mtb which consists of 13 miles of pavement(with slight hilly area) & 5 miles of gravel road.