Every time I think your STP ride, I'm amazed. I've made a lot of progress over the last year or so, but I can't even conceive of having this kind of endurance.

Several members here accomplished this - including Patriot, FormulaBen and Gonesh9. All of them were skeptical at one time. What they didn't know was the power and efficiency of pack riding and drafting.

I can ride at 20+ average in a pack with less effort than it takes to ride 17-18 by myself. Proportionately, everybody can.

55/Rad

52 and dont know my avg because i never check.

Hey Shok! Longtime no see. Hope things are well with you. Did you ever sell that straightbar Felt?

55/Rad

My wife and I ride together. She's 41 and I'm 50. Typical ride is rolling hills, 25mi - 30mi. Our average speed is 17-18mph according to our computers at the end of the ride.

Steve

LOL Yep. Love my Fuji Marseille but going for the Synapse next year but you know how things change.

I'm gonna be 42 in a few months - average about 15mph, 20 would be doable if no gravity was involved...I'd love to sign up for cat 5 races just to have a training goal (for fitness as much as fun), but I dunno if I'd even be able to keep up......maybe if I dropped the extra 20% of bodyfat I shouldn't be carrying? (5'8", 215 lbs )

I had a "friend" once who used to say. I don't like them average and I sure don't like them to go fast...I don't know how that applies, I just thought I'd throw a tangent in the mix.

Average speed means ABSOLUTELY nothing around a large metropolitan area. Imagine having to accelerate & decelerate every 200 - 300ft for traffic lights, stop signs, driveways, kids playing stickball on the street, etc.

20 years ago when I was 44 I would cruise on solo rides at about 32 k and average 26 k. Now I cruise at 26 k and average 22k.

Because of traffic, I fight with myself to keep my speed down. I have a tendency to want to go fast, to move at high speed. The difficulty is in trying to go slow, and being ever watchful.

I'm 48, been riding regular for about 1.5 yrs. Last weekends 48 mi group ride mostly flat total average through mixed residential/rural was 18.9mph. That includes all warm up, cool off and taking it easy chatting periods ... also some 27 mph streches trying like heck to hold a wheel

I'm 52, been riding for 2 months. My average is slowly creeping upward. Now it's
16-16.5mph range. My trips ar usually 30-50 miles. It seems the average goes
up along with the distance. True for all you guys & gals ???

You've just described me.

The Bay City Rollers?

I'm a converted cross country runner to cyclist at age 24 and started biking this summer on a 96 Raleigh R600. I just got a computer and it tells me I'm averaging around 16-17 mph on a 20 mile ride with rolling hills. I'm 5'11" 175lbs, any idea if I'm doing okay. I really don't know how to compare myself to others, or if it really matters.

shokhed's back? Neatness.

Speaking of the STP, I am trying to work on getting my average on the flats 20+ by myself. That way, I can hold the 22-23+ in a pack during the STP with less trouble. After mile 150, things start getting tough.

This is where commuting on my old steel beast comes in.

Age 45, with 3600 miles so far this year.
Typical solo ride of 20-70 miles is usually around 18 +/- .5 mpg.
This is the door to door average that my computer tells me, which is the only one that counts for an average.
I just did my first century (the Great Peanut Tour in Southern Virginia) and averaged 18.8 riding with 2 other guys. Drafting helps a lot!

You didn't ask for top speed, but mine is typically in the mid 30s. I can hit 40 if I really push it. When I read about riders who casually talk about going 45-50 I conclude that they must either have really big hills where they live, or are perhaps, er, prone to exaggerate a bit...

My average speed is different with every ride. Depends on what I am riding for, who I'm riding with, what terrain I'm riding, and what distance I'm averaging the speed over.

The real question is how you calculate your average. I can do 1 speed for a 30 minute sprint and another speed entirely on a 2 hour ride thru the hills. There is also the problem that the computer only calculates the average while the wheel is spinning.
If I leave my house at 8 am, stop twice for refreshments and get home at 11, my computer says I averaged 16 mph for 40 miles. According to my math, I averaged 13.3.

22 yo female, avg height and weight

alone, a few rolling hills, 16-19 avg. 16 for recovery, 17-19 for interval/sprint days
hammerfest (for me)/chill ride for the guys, 22-23 mph. Races are actually slower for me-around 21 or so.

In may I was usually around 15-16 alone, and 18 at group rides. I wish the next 5mph increase could be as easy.

I think I can confirm that my age has had an effect on how I go up Mt. Washington.












I take the train.

I have gradually forced myself to spin lighter gears in urban traffic (getting off the SS was a good first step ) and I am getting a much better workout now. I used to barely break a sweat getting to work and now I sometimes actually need a shower once I get to my desk (sorry, kinda gross....)...my heart rate actually gets up to ..... some percentage of maximum (I gotta get a HR thingy some day)

oh yeah, I am going faster now too! I think spinning at 80 rpm (as opposed to the 30 or so rpms I was doing a few years ago) has shaved at least 10 mins off my commute time. Helped me do my one long climb quicker, which is where it mostly pays off....

Whats a better ride. Cadence of 80@20 mph or a cadence of 95@16mph?

this past sunday was supposed to be a day off but my wife went for a walk with a friend & i decided to take a quick 20 miler & told her it would only take me an hour. i went 20.5 miles & it took 62 minutes. if i did the math correctly thats 19.9 mph average. the coarse (out & back) had no hills, mostly false flats (up & down). calculating my actual average gets tricky because the 20.5 miles were broken up with 25 stop signs. 10 of them were foot down stops (10 or so seconds waiting for cars) and the other 15 were 2-3 mph rolling stops. i also encountered a few peds/riders that i had to slow down to pass. this particular ride was on a local bike trail but i would love to do a non stop 20 miler to see an actual average. im guessing 23-24 mph? oh and im 43, smoker, 6', 200lbs. started riding aug 2004 on a cannondale multisport 2000.