Reynolds 

Let's just say I'm considered one of the fastest among the slowest.

Trsnrtr

That's fairly quote-worthy.

JBerman

Definitely quote worthy

DrIsotope

It's weird... I don't remember posting this, but this is almost exactly what would have come out of my head. Out of my nearly 600 rides logged on Strava, I could probably count the number with an average above 20mph on one hand. Hell, I even ride solo in Zwift. My averages around London are 17-18mph.

edcook

I started averaging about 12 mph when recovering from a knee injury in late 2008. I finished a century last year with an average speed of just under 20mph (non-drafting). I generally do 18-20 mph on solo training rides now.

Doge

You never went over 50? Must be messing with your bidon.

smarkinson

There is a Bike Forums club on Strava

https://www.strava.com/clubs/1488

For the last week the 100 riders who rode the furthest had these average speeds (the figures in brackets are the claims made in the current poll results):

<12 mph = 17% (10%)
12-15 mph = 27% (10%)
15-18 mph = 35% (42.5%)
18-21 mph = 19% (22.5%)
21+ mph = 2% (15%)

Bit of a difference between what we like to think we do and what we really do.

1nterceptor

There was this one time that traffic opened up;
I think I hit 8 maybe 9 miles per hour:

jamesdak 

Hmmm, I'm faster than some and slower than many. I pretty much always ride alone and on the same basic route which I add on to on days I want more miles. My base daily route is 23.3 miles. Sort of a loop in the valley. Each year my overall average is only 17+ mph over the 6000-8000 miles I do.

This is a typical day from the 23 mile route.



Yet, on a real windy day it can easily be 2 mph slower. On a calm day I can run this at over 20 mph. I also do a lot of climbing and that really kills my average. I suck at climbing, lol!

Of course none of this really means anything.

Flounce

I think this poll is interesting, but the question is not asked in a way that is helpful, I think.

For example, many of us do different types of training rides: I am not a fast rider, on a weekly 2-hour high intensity ride that is essentially a time trial on trails with a few stoplights and very little elevation gain, I might average 21 mph on a good day, but I am cramping at the end. I rode a flat 190 mile ride and averaged 15 mph. A hilly 150 mile ride, I averaged 13mph. In your poll, if someone indicates 13, 15, or 21 mph, it's hard to know what that means.

JBerman

I've done long'ish rides too where I only averaged 15-16 mph and I think I would consider my benchmark average to be a typical 30 mile ride that I did consistently. I think most cyclists can use common sense best guess capabilities of their average speed without factoring the extremes. It's not necessarily useful for anything other than curiosity however the latter portion of my inquiry of the rate of progression from the time you started to the time you obtained your peak could however be beneficial to others.

My poll description stated:

"comment what speed you started out at, how long it took you to reach your peak fitness level, and how long of a duration you can maintain that speed."

That should help with some insightful metrics better served than the generic poll results but I thought the poll itself might solicit interaction/feedback.

Doge

While the group is close, it is not the same. I'm active here, and not in that Strava group. I voted I was in that 19% group.

Like most these things it is hard to know what is being asked. I live in SoCal. If I go S after 5 min there are very few to no stops. If I go N I will stop 10 times in 4 miles. I guess the real test would be - How is your track hour record?

HTupolev

Well, selection bias, overestimation of performance, and sometimes even lies are definitely things in forum polls.

But, it also depends on what's being measured and how.

Last summer I had some 46-mile out-and-back flat solo rides where I focused on the middle 20 miles of each direction, with a cafe stop in the middle. When weather was calm and nothing held me up, I could average about 21mph during those 20-mile stretches. But the "Strava average" was much lower; with the bookends of each direction included, such rides would usually be sub-20, and if I didn't cut out the cafe stop from the recording, Strava could find all kinds of ways to break the stationary auto-pause and slash the listed moving average to bits.

When someone asks me how fast I am, I usually assume we're talking about the flat-ground cruising speeds I tend to sustain on rides of non-super-high distance, since that's the simplest thing that's un-vague enough to be even vaguely useful-ish in comparison.
In this case, the OP has also said to reference higher speeds if we paceline higher.
So, since the pacelines I ride in have no trouble exceeding 21mph on the flats (barring considerable headwinds), I answered 21+. But, in this case, I'm likely judging myself by an easier rubric than the average person who answered the poll.

"How fast are you" is a vague question.

Doge

My kid got a new Garmin 520, I got his old 500 something.
First thing I noticed is it auto-pauses someplace around 15mph.

All one would have to do is auto-pause at 21 and there you'd have the time in the top group.

Danny01

On an aero bike with ~60mm wheels, assos skinsuit and bontrager ballista aero helmet in full tuck position, I average around 12 mph over 30 miles.

Machka 

Depends if I'm going uphill, downhill, with a tailwind or with a headwind.
Depends if I've just ridden a hilly strenuous 200 km the day before ... or if it has been a few days since I rode.

And selecting an item on the poll would require a mathematical calculation ... too much effort.

kbarch

Still, this assumes one has a fixed understanding of "peak fitness level."
How long did it take for me to be able to ride for more than four hours? The better part of a year. It was fourteen months after getting a bike before I rode 100 miles (5,000' at about 14.5 mph average - have yet to finish a century in less than seven hours total including stops).
How long did it take before I got a bona fide KOM (1 mile, max 17%, average 3% - since lost, currently 2/1573)? Two years.
How long did it take before I could sprint (flat) in excess of 30mph, or finish better than mid-pack a race? Almost three years.

silversx80

I stopped worrying about speed numbers after my first race. Then it became, "how can I conserve enough energy, while simultaneously putting hurt on others so I can be the first across the line."

Still haven't figured it out.

JBerman

For poll purposes, I would think the speed answered would be your typical overall average across 30 mile rides then since that seems to be typical group ride distance. I did a century 3 weeks into road cycling in 6 hrs 24 minutes and I wasn't in shape at all so that definitely wasn't peak fitness for me. I think most "can" ride long if they want to but a century is highly mental vs physical. 3 months into group cycling where I was riding 19 mph averages is really what showed my improvements when factoring all the aspects of hills, wind etc.

indyfabz

I can do the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs. So there!

Trsnrtr

Smoking!

JBerman

Well, that isn't an indication of speed, but rather navigational skills. Still impressive.

DBak

When riding solo I typically average 20 or just over for anything up to 60 miles or so. Longer than that slows down a bit. My only century last year had about 2,000 ft of elevation and I averaged 19.9 mph with two other guys. Group ride averages are typically 21-22 mph for anything up to 60 miles.

kbarch

How long did it take you to develop those mad humblebrag skills?
Seriously, people who aren't in shape at all don't even get a quarter of the way into a century before getting exhausted, and lots of folks who are in excellent shape take seven hours or more to finish one. Its only the most well-trained ones who finish in five.
There's a difference.

Caymandiver1

I ride just fast enough to get dropped