Over the weekend i was on a few group rides and haven't been on one in a long time average speed was 25 mph with the occasional pickup to 30 and dropping down to 23 at a few points. The distances where between 35-50 miles. It was in fl so it is dead flat the only climbs where some small bridges. I think they consider these rides A/B. How do you consider them more b more a or even c rides. Trying to asses my fitness a bit as i want to start racing also would these speeds allow me to ride in a cat 5 crit with out getting dropped to bad? thanks

Only way to find out is to sign up for some races, if that is what you are interested in.

You can't go by "average speed" or A/B/C level because there is way too much variability.

Ride more, worry less.

ps if you are really interested in racing, join the local racing club and do some training rides with them. You will find out soon enough how good you are

You aren't going to get a good comparison to racing. Only one way to find out how you will do. Pay the fees and line up.

No hammer dropping or crushed souls, I'm going to give it a "2.5".

Pretty poor really.

What part of Florida? Largo/Clearwater?

I suppose group rides are kind of like sex. If there isn't someone crying afterwards you're not doing it right.

Since you asked a bunch of strangers on the internet, those speeds are recovery ride ones. HTFU and quit looking like Lance or I will have to use my amazing guads to drope you.


The Training and Nutrition forum and the Racing forum are better places to ask your questions.

This is the 41.

incorrect

Just to honestly answer your question, a ride averaging 23-25 would be an A+ ride in our club. The main difference is we make an effort to stay together. Racing will have a lot more surges and they are actively trying to blow you up and spit you out the back.

You computer displayed an average speed of 25mph over the duration of the ride? That is pretty decent speed; especially, if you had to deal with lights and traffic.

Thanks for all the responses I Know its the 41 and i don't expect much lol. I was in the bradenton sarasota area. The ride had very few lights and stops it read just over 24 so i added a bit to account for a few of the stops or slow downs. Thanks for the info on the n&t forum next time ill post there. There where only a few surges and and one or two sprints i also had to bridge a decent size gap at the start to switch from the slower group up to them. Once again thanks!

Corrected.

Corrected

An actual average of 25mph with warm up and cool down is anyone's definition of an A ride. Our Tuesday night world championships, with about 100 riders, including a spattering of Cat 1's, National champions, and a former Olympian, typically doesn't top 25 mph when you include the entire ride.

Another data point, this weekend's masters race in the Tour of Bahamas averaged 25 mph in the Circuit Race.

That said, average speed doesn't begin to tell the story.

Now why can't they put "average speed" in the censor like they do for *** and ****??

I am all for banning that phrase. Or at least boycotting any thread that mentions it.

One sample: https://www.lehighvalleywheelmen.com/...%20Ratings.pdf

Translating the OP:

" After we rolled out, we were cruising around 25mph on average for most of the ride, with surges above 25, and dropping to 23 at times."

This does not equal " we averaged 25 mph"

Typical cruising speed of 25mph is much different than the average speed for the ride was 25mph.

25mph average over 50 miles is pretty good in my book. Now a race could be a quite different story.

A-ish?

A ride like this typically leaves me with a driveway to driveway average speed of 19-21 mph, depending on if I hit lights or lollygag on the way home. And as other have pointed out, this doesn't really tell the story. Depending on the wind and if the big horses come out to play, a 19mph average day can be super hard and a 21 mph average day can be relatively easy.

great question, because the difference in altitude between Largo and Clearwater is significant and altitude in a race is something to consider. High altitude, thinner air, colder temps, etc.

WUT?

Largo and Clearwater border each other. The reason I asked is because the ride the OP described sounds like a ride close to me that starts at a shop in Largo and goes through Clearwater and back. There are bridges like he described. But he already said his ride was in Sarasota/Bradenton.

How many 35-50 mile group rides do you typically take over a weekend?

Wut?!

What group ride and where in FL? Oh, just read above, Bradenton? Was it Palmetto? My bud does a group ride on Saturdays around there, it is Cat 1/2/3/4, one group.

In Tampa area, we typically have have A and B groups. Anybody else grouped up, is doing their own thing.

B-group is usually Cat 4/5 pace/level. A-group Pro 1/2/3 type.

YMMV.

You ride fast to keep from being nailed by buzzed out old folks in SUVs?