johnybutts

just so you know 7b, there's no argument against this.

Butcher

How hard is it to check your computer and see the average speed and post it? We all understand about the hills, wind, etc. but an average is just that. Post what your display says and be done with it.

halfspeed

When? When I'm doing hill repeats? Spinning on rollers? Riding in a group? On a rest day? At the end of a crit?

bent eagle

Anybody who rides faster than me is "obsessed." Anybody who rides slower than me is "a slacker."

heckler

well when you leave out the warm up in the beginning (at least i think that is what is happening assuming the blue is what the stats are for)

Nachoman

Well said.

umd

Because for most people there is no single average value that has any meaning. I could tell you that I rode 16145 miles in 897 hours last year, and you could calculate out that my average of all my riding was 18.0 mph, but does that really tell you anything about how fast I am, or how fast you are compared to me?

Does it change what you think of that speed if you know that the hours includes time on rollers and a trainer, but the miles do not? Or if you know that two years ago I did over a million feet of climbing? (I didn't track it last year)?

umd

It baffles my mind that people can't comprehend this...

Pedaleur

I know.

Machka 

The answer to a question of average speed is ..........

............ it depends.

There are too many variables for a consistent average speed.

Machka 

Go ride with other people and you'll find out.

v70cat

I track average speed over the same route.

Yes conditions change day to day but the increase and decrease is average speed with "average conditions" is still meaningful.

Yaniel

i can agree with this, but its not meaningful to anybody but yourself because none of us ride that route.

bobthib

I just love "speed" threads. They are so entertaining! :

Best of all, they provide Pcad with an opportunity to pump up his post count with inane self commentary!

v70cat

All I care about is if my training is improving my riding ability and physical condition.

I do group rides but that is a a different subject.

umd

But that's not what the OP asked, he wants to know people's average speed for comparison to himself. Your average speed on a single course over many many runs can give you an idea of your improvements (but even then there are many factors that can affect it other than your fitness), but provides absolutely no information in comparison to his average on a different course, or even your own average on a different course. Unless you are both riding the same course in the same conditions (hey, like a time trial!), it is pointless.

coasting 

i totally agree with you. there is a park i ride around which is flat and boring but i ride it over and over to see how my fitness is improving if at all. i can feel if it is easier or harder to ride a certain number of loops in a period of time. it is like a test track.

waterrockets 

This was a non-technical crit driven by two pros and a slathering of Cat 1s at the front. Flat. Only two turns that you couldn't pedal through. No brakes needed for any of the turns.

Aside from the fact that it's no longer the fastest TdF stage, keep in mind that 4.5mph on 30mph is 15% faster. Since power required to maintain a given speed goes with the cube of the speed, it would have required over 50% more power for our pack to go 4.5 mph faster. So, assuming the guys at the front are pushing around 400W in my race, that means they'd have to be pushing more than 600W to go 34.5mph.

Lemond was much more aero and much more powerful.

merlinextraligh

If you look at the bottom of the file, the total ride was 24.7 mph, i believe.

Personally, I think setting aside the time at the beginning and end where people are just socializing, cruising along, gives you a more accurate view of how fast the ride was. But even then the variance is only 1.3mph

merlinextraligh

If the goal is to get faster, this is the wrong way to do it. The workouts that make you faster are interval workouts, and they often result in much lower average speeds.

So if you try to go out and increase your average speed all the time, you're going to end up going at the same moderately hard pace, and end up plateauing, and not improving very much.

Also, unless you're riding this same course each time as a time trial, its not going to be very meaningful. And if you are doing it each day as a TT you're going to burn out pretty quick.

So measuring yourself by doing your own time tiral on a consistent course every so often (such as once a month) is not a bad idea.

But going out and doing the same loops all the time, and trying to increase your average speed each time is not a good training plan.

rmhaas

Not sure what all the fuss is about this thread but my average speed on an average ride for me is around 16-17 mph.

silversx80

A graphical explanation of why speed isn't the best measure (yesterday's Cat 4/5 race data, smoothed out graph from Garmin's Mickey-Mouse training center):

Speed v Elevation:



Elevation v Power:



Cadance v Speed (for a better look compared to power):


Point is, you can see how widely speed varies. Even power is all over the place. It's like trying to figure out how tough a ride is by assessing the average elevation. Although you may be climbing 1000-foot rollers, 20 times in 40 miles, your average elevation is only 500 feet.

Your best bet is to go out, ride and not worry about these things. Just enjoy it. If you want to see how you compare, compete (as repeated numerous times in just this thread). If you want to compete well, train (a different animal to just riding). Work your ass off and rest your ass back on.

deacon mark

Not many want to give an answer but make comments. I don't know if this helps but I ride in the flatlands of Illinois. I normally ride between 17-20 mph for anywhere from 20-60 miles. I am long distance runner and ride a bike too but I have never stop running to only ride. I can run for 1 hour at 7mph then ride a bike for 2 hours at 20mph. I suppose if I just did the bike and not have to stop for traffic and the like I could average over 20-22. I have never road with a group so have no idea how that would help. If it is like running and it is, then in a group if they push I could go faster. I happen to be almost 49 so that means the 30 years olds usually should be quicker.

Homebrew01

And most of our comments are more useful than a number, as has been explained many times already.

bismillah

If you have to ask, you're too slow.