An honest, anonymous confession about solo average speed
 

It seems that no matter how hard I ride, I can't seem to regularly average above 20mph solo. Some of my rides are hillier than others and I can sometimes break the 20 mph average barrier on a hard day or flat mileage but it is not too often. So, let's be honest, what is your usual average speed on a typical solo ride of at least 20 miles? Don't cheat by giving your fastest ride or by adjusting your average upwards to account for traffic or stop signs....these are all part of the ride. Honestly, what would you usually average on a typical day from doorstep to doorstep?

around 15.5 for me

15-16 mph.


I'm a monster. ;)

also, my usual 20 mile loop has about 2000 ft of climbing...

15.0-16.4 and lately I've been around 15.5

Flat as a pancake around here and my usual avg speed falls around 17.5-19 mph for my normal 30-50 mile rides.

Duping my post from the other thread:

I stopped using Average speed as a measuring stick. Too many variables involved, and none of them being the correct ones.

To be honest, the battery on my computer has been dead all year, and I really don't miss it...I suggest you try a ride with no electronics, it's quite refreshing.

I average over 22......................................................flat course no wind. I average around 18-19 with hills, wind and signals. Too many variables.

no way to measure mileage

My 8 commute rolling average is currently at 20.2mph (AT or moving time - stop time is automatically not averaged by cyclocomputer). The 8 commute average has been as high as 21.5mph before.

My commute is 8.5mi, flat and with 25 controlled intersections of which I need to stop at ~10 of them.

Otherwise I don't do many solo rides over 10-15mi.

Al

Around 17-17.5. Averaged 17.6 today for 32. No wind but alot of undulating hills and long inclines.

On my regular loop around 17.1-18.5

Map your route; trust me, it's easy.

When i'm doping 40mph+ on uphills of course

I hear that total milage is just as irrelevant as average speed.

All the cool kids just measure training time. And power. Definitely power.

Technically, unless you're in training for something, it's all irrelevant.

i don't know... i don't ride with any computers

The only true comparison of one rider to another is with power output (and even better yet, power output per Kg body weight). Anything else is pretty useless.

What do you mean by "usually"?

Where I live it is pretty flat. If wind isn't and issue AND I'm going on a hard ride then I can average 23+ mph for an hour solo. Then I hurt pretty bad the next day. I don't think that this is a "usually". For the record, when I do these "hard" rides i usually ride closer to 40 miles than 20 miles and I'll get home with a door-to-door average speed between 21 and 22 mph. That includes warm up and cool down so the main part of the ride is typically about 23 mph. For me these are hard and there is no way I can do them day after day.

On other days I might go out for interval training and crawl back home trying not to get my tongue between the chain and the chainrings and only average 16 mph. That is also not a "usually" day.

If I am in base training mode where I am just going out to put in mileage with the expectation of doing exactly the same ride the next day and the day after that and the day after that, I suppose I would ride about 20 to 21 mph if I was riding about 20 miles.

What about race results?

RE: Average Speed.

...a certain Bill Murry "Meatballs" quote comes to mind...

Over that distance, depending on where I ride about 14.5 mph

Edit: that's mostly hills with some flat, although tonight I felt good and averaged 16mph.

"What about race results?"

True but many race efforts are at power outputs significantly below ones potential due to drafting and strategy. Time trials though should correlate pretty closely to one's true power output as measure by a power meter.

My solo averages are usually between 18-20mph, but that includes traffic lights and other normal traffic obstacles. My cruising speed is almost always above 20MPH. If I could go non-stop without traffic lights, like in a real time trial, I am sure could average more than 20mph.