This thread is so funny...half the people are taking average speed seriously, and the other half thinks it's crass and are being totally ridiculous, but it's going right over the heads of the "serious" set. Hehehe.

I have a few computers that stop when the bike stops. I just use my watch to measure total time of a ride.

One of my bike computers includes the time stopped into the average. I forgot about it the other day until I checked my ave. speed after stopping to eat, It was 2.5 mph

Great idea! I'm going to try this !!!!!

I don't understand why you would count the stopping time that you have no control over. It does not seem to provide an accurate assessment of your physical conditioning. Enlighten me please.

Knowing only elapsed time doesn't do any good, but knowing both elapsed time and moving time can help you understand recovery, freshness, stamina, and intensity levels as they relate to your performance.

Please report back. I'm thinking of writing a coaching book. That Friel guy could learn a lot from the 41.

As I said, it's just my preference and others may not share it.

The way I figure it, stopping is resting whether I stop because of a red light or a train or whether I stop to rest, it's all the same to me.

Also, If I don't include the time stopped, average speed becomes an indicator of traffic rather than my effort. If I go out at midnight to ride thirty miles, it takes me significantly less time than if I go out at 2 pm. But, if I don't count time stopped, my average speed in the afternoon is significantly greater because of all the rest I get at stoplights and such.

edit: Another way to look at it from my perspective (which is not shared by everyone) is that I'm interested in my average speed for a thirty-mile ride, not the average of the average speeds of thirty one-mile rides.

When I post my average speed, it is the average for the entire ride start to finish, including any stops that I may make or any slower rolling recovery time.

The rest is really only relevant if you are riding close to your threshold, otherwise it has little impact on the power you're putting out or the speed you ride. Most people aren't doing threshold intervals through the middle of town with stoplights in the way. In any case, even if you don't count stop time you'll be slower with a bunch of stops due to the slowing down and speeding up required at every stop.

I set my Garmin to pause at less than 5mph. If I'm rolling up to a light slowly, so that I don't need to unclip, it doesn't count that time or mileage.

Unless I'm riding 50 miles or more, I never need to stop for food or drink, so it gives me a reasonably accurate estimate of average speed for the time I'm actually riding, not including the time caught at traffic stops.

My edge 500 and 705 both show my average speed. One thing that is odd is that I can pedal for what feels like a long time faster than the indicated average and it barely improves. The moment I drop below the indicated average it drops like a brick. Example; indicated average is 17 mph. I get on a nice downwind sprint at 24-27 mph. The indicated average bumps up to 17.2. If I drop to say 15 mph for a few miles the average drops to 16 mph almost instantly.

Anyone else have have a similar problem?

The problem is the fast bits don't last as long as the slow bits.

What znomit wrote.

Ride 5 miles downhill at 30 MPH and 5 miles uphill at 10 MPH. Your average speed for the 10 miles is not 20 MPH.

All of this is why average speed is such a poor metric.

If you're serious about measuring and tracking your performance a heart rate monitor is the bare minimum. These have become far less expensive in the last decade.

A speedometer is fun to look at on downhills, but has no real use otherwise.
When training for racing, I would use a power meter for specific workouts, otherwise I found no need for speed or distance information.
Effort & time are important.
If you're not "training", then powermeter and everything else are just blinking numbers.
At least with a power meter you can see numbers directly related to you, not influenced by weather, tire pressure, terrain, bike setup etc...
If you want, you can push yourself a bit in a more meaningful way, such as "Maybe I can finally hit 800 watts on this climb ..."

I agree. Average speed is only useful for self comparison, and even then there are many variables that have to be considered.

What messes some people up is that most average speeds are calculated over time rather than distance. For example: If you do a 20-mile total out and back starting into the wind or uphill and average 10 mph on the way out and 20 mph on the way back, simple logic dictates that your "average" speed over 20 miles was 15 mph. But if you calculate based on time rather than distance you actually spent twice as long at 10 mph than at 20 mph bringing your average down to 13.33 mph. This can be demoralizing in that a relatively short hard climb, short section into a high headwind, or a bonk in the last few miles, can really suck down the average speed of an otherwise good ride. You'll really notice this in hills as the climbs may be the same distance as the decents but they take much longer so have a proportionally greater impact on your "average" speed over time.

BTW, my average on my road bike on a relatively flat course with minimal wind is in the 16 mph range for a 100-mile ride and about 18 on a 25-mile ride. I don't know if that is what the OP was asking, but there it is.

:lol: Excellent!

I can do in the 20's(MPH) on the rare flats and ubiquitous rolling hills; Mid 30's on descents; but ubiquitous steep hills at 4-5MPH really kill my average and bring it down to 15MPH. I'd love to do a ride where it's flat, to see what average i could maintain if I wasn't perpetually recovering from climbs! (That's really what kills my average- not the 4MPH climb, because that is compensated for by the 35MPH descent- )

When someone brings up Average speed I explain how I get mine. Everytime I stop the computer stops. So average is only moving speed. If you count lights, snack and anything else your average will be low. It's discouraging so keep it moving peoples.

This will make your moving average speed lower, probably a lot lower.

I've decided my new average speed to use is the one from my century ride yesterday on the flats before the big packs broke up.

In my mind the 27mph was all me and not the fact that I was nestled in the center of 150 people while barely putting out any effort.

In the long run, yes. Especially since most of my rides are less than 50 minutes. Gonna Strava my couch.

This is how people take strava KOMs around me.

Not really. It's just barely a leadout, even. Getting clear of 75, 50, or even 30 to snatxh a KOM takes a mountain of effort, impeccable timing, and great luck.