Baseline Data, Good/Bad?
 

I have been finally able to get some baseline data from my ride yesterday. I am getting ready to train for my first century ride (October) and was looking to see where I am at. Yesterday, that opportunity presented itself. So, here are some data points to build from:

Average speed: 17.4 mph
Top speed: 33.5 mph
Average cadence: 80 rpm
Miles: 20.4
Average Temp: 90 degrees
Number of crossings/stops: aprox 16 total

Are these decent numbers?

Keep in mind, that I am 50 (turn 51 next week), and recovering from a ruptured quad tendon (upper patella tendon). I am 180 lbs, and am getting in better shape every day (biking, spin classes, barbell strength class, and lifting). What are some respectable numbers I should be striving for? I have Boyd Altamonts coming in Monday (hopefully I will see average speed increase :)).

Thanks for your input. I am really looking to put up some strong numbers but want to be realistic.

Looks like a pretty good pace to me.

Best to find a group to ride with. It will provide some motivation to ride harder than you might otherwise and will get you comfortable riding in close proximity with others which you'll be doing if it's a decent sized century.

Your baseline numbers now are not really relevant. See if you can build up to riding 10+ hrs per week on a consistent basis. Speed will come naturally if you ride a lot.

What is the largest distance you have ridden so far? Going from 20 mile rides to 100 miles won't be easy.

It all depends on your goals. What completion time are you shooting for? If the course is hilly you need to be doing some hill repeats somewhere also. You are at a good starting point but you need to step up the distance and ride often, the clock is ticking .....

Did 43 miles two weeks ago. Plan another 40+ mile Sunday. I will add that after going 43 miles, I still had more in the tank, probably could have knocked out 60 that day.

But where is "total elevation climbed"? 17.4 would be flying if you had some decent climbing numbers. On the flats, still not too bad.

Good idea to have at least a metric century under your belt before going for a century IMHO. But that said, I've seen people who never ride get a bug up their ass about doing 100 miles for charity and just go out there and do it. ;)

Still it's a huge difference up to 100 miles...you may want to do at least one ride close to 100 already, maybe 75 or 80, and you still may find it hard to go the full 100.

I would love to finish in 6-7 hours with the planned stops along the way (I believe there are 4 stops on the course). I will be riding the Seagull Century in Salisbury, MD located on the eastern shore of MD. This is a fairly flat course, biggest obstacles are the wind and distance.

I am attacking hills in the neighborhood where I live as part of my recovery. Standing and riding (albeit hard) have really helped with the healing quad muscle/tendon.

This is going to sound really naive but I am going to say it anyway...by changing to the Boyd Altamonts, will speed increase? I am riding on Giant PR-2 wheels now.

This data doesn't mean anything, good or bad. I doubt very much new wheels will make any kind of difference that you can measure.

I will definitely redo the ride with the Altamonts on and see what kind of results I get. I do think that I will be able to maintain speed better with the new wheels but we shall see. In the end, I may be more comfortable riding, but the numbers won't change much. I was thinking that for the Century, being able to be comfortable for longer will help.

For a lot of people, comfort is more important than speed. In my neck of the woods, the STP begins tomorrow. That's a 200 mile ride from Seattle to Portland. Most people take the whole weekend, some do it in a day. Anyway if you're in pain you won't finish, if you're slow you won't be the first one to finish.

Your data would be much easier to make sense of if it included elevation gain, as mentioned earlier. You can capture that data (for free even) while you ride if you have a smart phone. The advice about riding with a group regularly might be a better way to gauge yourself, but if you prefer a data approach it's often the case that more data will shed more light.

If you ask me, if your goal is to ride a century, then forget what your average speed is and about the only relevant statistic I see is that you can ride 20-40 miles. I would say keep riding farther distances and work up to a century.


For example, I start out each riding season doing 30-40 mile rides in the spring, working up to 50-60 mile rides in early summer, and then 70-80 mile rides when I consider myself "in shape" for the season. If I can comfortably do an 80 mile ride, then go for 90-100, I typically don't do so well. I can go for 70-80 miles and not stop once (except for stop signs, red lights, and to refill water bottles), but if I go for 90-100 I sometimes need to go so far as pull over and lie down, and I've been known to even have a short nap. (Warning: other cyclists have a tendency to stop and check on you to see if you're OK when you do this.) And my average speed might drop 1-2 mph between and 80 mile ride and a 100 mile ride.


When I started riding more seriously, I thought that working up to longer distances made me a better overall cyclist. One summer when I worked from home, I did a little workout ride in the mornings to get out and get some fresh air before sitting in the house all day. Those rides were 10-13 miles on a particular route. Since I wasn't going very far, I found myself putting in more effort to ride faster. That summer I topped out at doing a 7 mile section of my route at and average 21.6 mph. I consider myself a 17-18 mph rider, so for me that was quite an achievement. I've never gotten back to that average speed since I don't regularly do speed training.


To summarize, speed and distance are two different things. If you're going to ride a century, then concentrate on distance. 40 miles is a long way from 100 miles.


-Ken

On the flats, no, but they would help on hills if they are a lot lighter than what you have now. I switched from Shimano RS10s to Boyd Vitesse wheels on my CAAD 10, and I really noticed the difference when accelerating and coasting (better bearings) but my average speed didn't change. It's mostly flat around here, so maybe if I lived somewhere with lots of hills I might have seen a small improvement.

Ken,
Thanks for you input. The terrain ridden yesterday is/was fairly flat. I'll have to go to the data on my home computer to look at the elevation gains but for the most part, the trail is mostly rolling hills and long straight aways. You are right, speed and distance are two different things. My friends (they don't ride) tell me not to worry how long the century will take me, to just finish. On the other hand, I do want to finish with a respectable time and one that I can use as a baseline to beat in future centuries that I would like to participate in.

I also have caught the cycling bug and look to get out as much as I can during the week and on weekends. I often try and guage myself against other riders that you can tell have experience. I find that I can catch up but cannot sustain the their speeds for long. That is what triggered the idea to upgrade the wheels (obviously, the engine needs continued work but why not work in parallel?) I am not really interested in doing club rides or races as I really cannot afford to get caught up in someone elses wheels and take another fall right now. I know there is an inherent risk in falling with all rides but if I can minimize my chances, I will. Maybe next year when I can say I am 100% I'll go there. So, competing against data it is.

I am hopeful that I can train (long rides and TTs) and bring up the speed to maybe 19 mph on average and increase my top speed where applicable, that would be good and would give me a better shot at completing the century in a little more than 6+ hours with the planned stops.

Sounds like that 200 mile ride is epic and I am sure picturesque. Wish I could do that!

Meh, I don't think so. I did my first century (100 miles, 6000ft climbing) in a little over 6 hours after just riding for a year.

Century riding is just about replacing the calories you're burning. Unless there are MAJOR hills, then you'll probably have to train specifically for hills.