+1

:D


Yep ... you just can't be reading all sorts of non-existent negativity into people's comments. When we say "it depends" we're not being "hateful" ... we're being honest. Starts with the same letter, but very, very different words.

depends how long your route is too.

it depends.

Average speed is average.

sometimes when i ate too much mid ride, my average speed slips.

OP is admittedly a newb and wants to tell those genuinely trying to help him how to behave. OP also doesn't realize that many responding are as old or older.

Then OP starts an argument with one of the more helpful posters on BF.

Way to make an entrance, OP. Chapeau.

Hmm, my response was made to point out that average speeds don't tell you much at all. It's so dependent on terrain, stops, wind, and bike. And on the rider's mood, and purpose for riding.

I'm in KY and riding an old Schwinn right now - but I average 13.5
I'm 49 yrs old, only riding for 5 weeks. I would be happy to get to 17mph

Average speed is mostly only useful to you. It's not really possible to compare to others unless you happen to ride the same roads under the same conditions. Find a local club and ride with them. That would be a good metric. One of the clubs I ride with is mostly middle age guys and some are fast and some are slow. I can hang with the fast guys until the road goes uphill. Compared to other groups in town, these fast guys would be slow.

Best way to use average speed is if you ride the same routes over and over. You will get a sense of how fast you "normally" are (which you seem to have done) and if you see that getting higher then you are likely getting faster. Any one ride, however, isn't much use as you could have been off or on or had a head or tail wind or be more rested or tired and so on.

Because you asked, however, I'll say that 12mph is slow for just about any ride unless it's 50 miles with 5,000 feet of climbing. I averaged 12.6 on such a ride yesterday. On flatter rides I average 18-20mph. I'm 47 and too fat for this sport.

52 is not old in cycling, yes you are slow and your skin is too thin.

errr..ok.

Fine. Tell me how to delete the entire thread, and my account, and that will solve the problem. Obviously, people would rather be snarky than helpful, so I'll get my information from more friendly people elsewhere.

take it easy. there's more interesting info you can get here.

Well sir, I can delete the thread for you. But perhaps you'd want to sleep on your account termination decision for a night or two, no?

For the record, no one here was being rude. "It depends" is a very valid answer for something that has so many variables. It's also a typical answer for questions like this. It's part of the culture of BF. It may appear rude to someone not familiar with the culture but that doesn't mean it is. Like when visiting a foreign country, it pays to learn something of the culture and adapt to it.

This is a good way to see how average speed can be less useful.

Last year I rode 4200 miles, climbed 273,000 feet and averaged 16.1 mph. So far this year I've ridden 2,088 miles, climbed 100,000 feet and averaged 16.9 mph. Am I faster? Hard to say. I've done less than half the climbing for about half the miles so that alone affects my numbers. And this is comparing me to me over mostly the same roads. About the only way average speed is useful is on the same course done over and over by you and even then it's a ballpark number at best due to variations in wind, temp, how you are feeling, your motivation, etc.

+1. My first thread start on to the 41 was along the lines of "I've been riding for several months and want to improve. What upgrades to my [new CF road bike] do you recommend?" The universal reply was "Just ride the bike; you are the weakest link." I was initially pi**ed by the replies, then realized how much wasted time and money they saved me.

If you ride the same route and winds are calm from ride to ride, then YOUR average speed will be useful in gauging YOUR progress.

The "it depends" answers are understandable and did not bother me. It was all the smart-ass comments and put downs aimed at me for even asking the question in the first place. I'm done. I tried to delete the thread, but there is no option to do that. I'm emailing an administrator to have all my posts, and my account deleted. I don't need the drama.

I recommend you simply take the good answers and not worry about the ones you think are not good.

To your question. I am mid 50s. Been riding for only 2 years or so and 10,000 miles I consider myself a noob. When I started I was making perhaps 12 mph now I am ticked if I do under 18 on the same route. By the way this means little as I went from a 1980s era ridged mountain bike to a carbon road bike along the way. I like the color red and 3 cups of coffee in the am and one more after dinner. This and MY speed mean little to you.

A good question to ask is how to improve your speed Best way is to lay out who you are where you ride what you ride and what goals you have. That will give some very experienced folks here the info to start a productive dialog with you many of the experienced riders simply don't bother with "how fast is fast ?" Type questions

I may be a bit late to the party, but I've made an effort to give some good info as have many others. Throwing in the towel and deleting the thread WOULD be rather rude as people have spent their own free time to try and help you (and, granted, have a bit of fun but that's the main reason this forum exists). Not liking the answer doesn't mean they are wrong.

OP
Don't know if you will take the time to read this, but I will offer sincere advice/assessment:

Riding a bike is not the same thing as riding a bike fast. The way most of us learned to ride is great, if the goal is cruising around at a 12ish average speed, defined as total distance over time. That may mean you cruise at somewhere around 14-15, and climb at a relative crawl. When you get done with a ride, your legs are sore. You feel your body weight on the saddle, and hands go numb from vibration on the bars.

Riding fast is a whole different animal, a very different skill set, and it takes, talent, skill, and training. When you get done with a ride, you are tired all over. You had very little weight on the saddle, and support most of it on the pedals. You cruise on flat ground at 19+, you climb aggressively, and use downhills to make up time lost climbing. You learn how to fuel up during the ride, what to eat, what to drink, and how to push your personal envelope.

If you want to learn the skill of riding fast, this forum can be an asset. But you have to understand the responders, ask specific and detailed questions, and accept feedback that may say, "Wrong question, better question is..."

Also realize that several of your posts tainted some of the replies. You say you are riding casually, and not really pushing. So you are asking people what there relaxed, not pushing average speed is? Many of us don't even take a computer on a relaxed, not pushing ride. You asked what our average speed is on a 10 mile ride. Many of us don't do 10 mile rides, in that it often takes 5 miles to warm up.

So what you take as snark is really more people saying that we don't measure what you are asking, but can we help some other way.

The average speed question is so common with no real answer that people tend to have fun with it and not treat it all that seriously. I don't know jack about planes, but what sort of response would I get if as a noob I went to flying forum and asked something like "what's the best altitude to fly at?" or similar?

Nope. I'm done. Delete it and my account, please. A few people did offer constructive advice, comments, and even data, but I do not need the arrogant drama of the rest. I'll go it alone.

dramatic stuff today.

Yep, and in all honesty the OP was the one who brought it. He didn't understand the culture, got annoyed, and focused on that rather than the info he was getting.

The best way to figure it out is to get Strava and compare yourself to people on your age group. You can compare them against roads you ride and not these phantom Internet segments.