Gramercy

I have no idea how fast most people ride; I know in my area I seem to be on the slower end, but the NYC area is full of hyper-competitive people. Elevation is obviously an important factor in average speed but I'm not sure how people measure that. On my ride last weekend I went down about 600 feet and came up back up, so I don't know if that counts as 600 feet of elevation change or 1200 (not counting small rolling hills throughout the ride). I did a 35 mile ride in just under 2 hours, averaging 17.7mph with a 30 minute stop halfway through to drink water and have a stinger waffle. If it's a short ride with no elevation change (100 or 200 feet per 6 mile loop in Central Park) I can do 6 miles at 20mph, and 24 miles at around 17-18mph with no break.

Homebrew01

Everyone is different, in different terrain, riding for different purposes, on different types of days .... And even though I was training for racing, I never looked at how fast I was going, or average speed.

ibikestickers

I typically go about 15mph but mph averages are kinda irrelevant if you can't factor in hills, I think

hueyhoolihan

comparing MPH is pretty difficult.

i compare myself to others on the road. if i get passed more often than i pass, i figure i'm at least above average in speed.

if everyone i see behind me passes me, i'm the slowest out there. OTOH, if everyone i see in front of me i eventually pass, i'm the fastest one out there.

buffalowings

You want to hear the truth? Not fast enough.

mkadam68

Average speed is usually meaningless, especially when comparing to other riders, except in 2 circumstances:

• A time-trial race, or
• Comparing to yourself over long time periods (this should negate the effects of wind, fatigue, illness, etc...).

I just came across a very interesting website that leverages Strava to look at long-term stats, of which, average speed is the most interesting to me. It showed that my training has been improving and so has my abilities. Over the past 3 years (of using Strava), my average speed has increased every year. Since I am a creature of habit (aren't most people?) and tend to ride the same routes, especially over time, the results are very useful to me.

But, as others have said: is comparing your average to mine useful to you? Not so much.

c0urt

yeah, because mine changes depending on which bike I am on.

caloso

Nice variation on the average speed thread.

3alarmer 

OldTryGuy

Oh contraire mon frère, if he is 85yo he's not doing too bad.

WHOOOSSHHH...

Recovery rides usually average 28 mph

Machka 

It's 0.

-600 + 600 = 0




If speed worries you, go ride with people and find out.

Otherwise, don't worry about it ... enjoy your ride.

pgjackson

It's zero if you are talking about elevation change, but it's 600ft of climbing...which is all that matters. When I lived in San Diego every ride started and ended at the same place, but the 2000-4000 feet of climbing in between was what I cared about.

thehammerdog

I live in NWNJ and flats are hard to come by I am either climbing or going down something. When I ride in central NJ it is flat as a pancake I actually prefer the climbing. But 19mph ave was norm in flat areas.

DaveWC

I'm faster this year than last year on the same routes. And that's all that matters as far as I'm concerned... incremental improvement. But I do know that at my age that will end soon and I'll just cling to my PBs and remember when I thought I was fast.

10 Wheels

Why go solo?

These riders hit 36 mph on a flat road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=G4eWM8ZvDzQ

Andy Somnifac 

Slow enough that I've yet to beat myself to the end of the ride.

Seattle Forrest

Very slow on the way up the mountain, pretty quick on the way back down.

Seattle Forrest

So you don't have to listen to other people complain about how boring their lives are, or how they don't like their job, so you can go at your own pace and stop for a picture when you want to, because most people say "Mount Baker is really steep, let's dress up in spandex and ride to Starbucks instead," to be alone with your thoughts.

wphamilton

That is a clever site, which tempts me to use Strava again. Makes you wonder why Strava doesn't do this for you. Looking at the summaries it occurred to me that there is a third circumstance where average speed isn't meaningless:

• Commutes

since the actual time taken in commutes can be important, even if you're not using it for training comparison purposes.

OP, for what it's worth the Strava summary showed that my average speed overall in 2013 (only through April actually) was 17 mph and commutes ranged from 13.6 to 20.1 mph. My longer rides were 18mph. Given the wide range I think that even using the same route the same time of day, day after day, won't mean much without more filtering.

pgjackson

That would really make me mad if I was in a car. There is a very wide bike lane on that road and these guys are hogging up an entire lane. Rant over...

noise boy

+1

Slackerprince

That ride looks chaotic, to me.
Riders all over the place and not smooth paceline riding.


S

thecoon

If you are doing a solo ride in a hilly area, focusing on maintaining a high average speed will generally kill your climbing. Your best climbing days (when solo) will be those days you conserve energy on the flats and save the energy for the hills. I find average speed to be pretty useless most times (time trial exception) as I live in a hilly area.

UnfilteredDregs

What I don't like about my area is In have a lot of stop & go before I get to where I can just roll for a while... It's 8 miles to the top of Manhattan for me, then when I get to the West side MUP proper @ just South of the GWB it's a 10 mile stretch until Warren St... but there's construction, etc.. I'd love to find a true 20 miles of non-stop rolling in order to get a better idea of what pace I can hold solo.