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Originally Posted by Trogon
Okay number fans - take a look at the graph I've attached and tell me what you think it says about me as a cyclist.
It's built from ~1000 road bike rides since 1998. I pulled all my MTB rides out of my data since they really mess it up. The line is a 5-point moving average of average MPH for all those rides. X axis is time, from July 1998 to 15 minutes ago. Y is aveage MPH Looking at the trend, tell me what conclusions you draw about my fitness, my ability and my progress. |
Really?
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Today I obliterated my avg. timie on a loop I reguarlly do, blowing past my usual 17-18mph avg. and going 21.6 for the duration.
Of course, I would never tell you that this is due to the lack of any wind today :D |
These type of threads just kill me, (and I contribute to it- LOL) average speeds can be both useful and useless depending on the angle of the dangle.
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Originally Posted by Trogon
Okay number fans - take a look at the graph I've attached and tell me what you think it says about me as a cyclist.
It's built from ~1000 road bike rides since 1998. I pulled all my MTB rides out of my data since they really mess it up. The line is a 5-point moving average of average MPH for all those rides. X axis is time, from July 1998 to 15 minutes ago. Y is aveage MPH Looking at the trend, tell me what conclusions you draw about my fitness, my ability and my progress. As for why...are you riding more hills? Or, longer rides? |
My average ride length has increased from about 20 miles then to about 40 today. My annual mileage has gone from ~2000 to over 8000 (last year.)
And, my style has improved from hammer all the time to varying by conditions. The most interesting thing about that graph, and average speeds in general is that they really say nothing. In 1998 I couldn't have ridden 50 miles without dying. Now, that's my minimum ride on both weekend days. Ride a century back in the period of my higher average - no chance. Today, sub 5 hours. Today was a prime example - 51 miles around town. Looking at the computer, I was riding 20-22, the average at the end - 17.2. Why - 16% hills at 8 mph, stop lights, citizens on the path, etc. That's really all I'm trying to say, average speed is so dependent on everything as to be useless. Unless you record specific times over a specific course under ideal conditions. Aside from that, it's cocktail party talk. |
^^ For similar reasons, this is why I also think that average speed -- without other measures of cycling ability -- is pretty useless.
When I started out about 1 yr ago, I could average 18-20 per ride, pretty impressive :rolleyes: ! But I was never going more than 10 or 15 miles at a time, a few days a week, on mostly flat terrain. Now I'm doing 20-30 per ride, 4-5 days/week, usually with several thousand feet of elevation gain per ride, and my averages have dropped down to 14/15. I am pretty sure I am much better off now :) |
I'm completely sure you're better off now.
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