Hello,

I've been reading other people's posts about their speeds, and i've found out that i'm hella slow. While the rest of you are able to average 30+ kph, i can only manage around 25 kph. i expect to get a bit better, as i'm just "starting up" again, but last season i could only manage 25kph.

i figure i'm slow 'cause i'm young. i've never been able to pack on muscle like the other guys, and i defnitely can't put it on like an adult.

but then that made me wonder. the people who have those 30+ kph averages seem to bike over 2 hours a day. i just don't have the time to do that due to school + other commitments. i can do about an hour a day, more on the weekends and more during the summer break.

is an hour a day enough to get "good?"

thanks.

Im in the same seat as you, though im holding about 29kmh. I go to school full time as well, here's what i do.

Mon-Thurs: Trainer, 1-1.5 hour of intervals (Check the boards for the thousands of variety of intervals you can perform). This will stengthen your legs to handle those speeds. I suggest one rest day.

Fri-Sun: Longer rides outside, usually about 30-60 miles. Two rides, one rest day. Go as far as you can in the time you have to put on the mileage.

I started cycling about a year ago but only got serious this school year. So about 6 months of real training.
Before this i was a conditioned runner, tennis player, and soccer player (triple letterman in HS), but due to knee problems i stopped those and started cycling.


As long as you keep riding, you'll get faster.

Sometimes I wonder if those averaging 30+ km/h have set their computers up correctly for their tire size ... or if that 30+ km/h average is over an 11 km Time Trial.

You just got back on the bicycle again after a winter off, didn't you? Well, getting good usually involves building up base miles in the latter part of the winter, and then working on speed during the early part of the spring ... and it does take time.

Although I'm not really the one to speak about speed, an hour a day is what I do (or try to do) in the winter to just maintain my fitness level.

Er... forget 11km, I've ridden with plenty of people who do the annual 160 miler (that's 250km) with 4000ft of elevation (ok relatively flat across 250km) and average 30km/h for 250km.
A group of BF members and I used to go out on 200km rides with 9000+ft in between and average 25km/h or so. And we weren't even in that great of a shape, I mean, I think most of us last year averaged about 5-8hrs riding time a week outside of that long weekend ride.
Considering pro's can hold over 40km/h in multi hundred km races or near 50km in a TT, I wouldn't be surprised.

As for the OP, if you only have an hour a day, concentrate on the quality of your training, not quantity. Mix it up with some sprints, intervals, and mix in a few long distance rides, you can usually find websites that can direct you towards a routine to maximize your 1 hr a day.

Good advice from 2 great riders. All I can add is to work on your motivation. That means always working to ride faster, not settling for where you are today. Sure you'll have recovery days and base mile rides, but when you're training for speed keep forcing yourself to go a little faster. Two things that help me get motivated:

• A computer that gives your average speed, and
• a personal time trial. Pick a course you like and ride it frequently with the goal of attaining a new personal best every single time you ride it.

Another thing you might wanna consider is spend an extra 30-40 bucks (on top of the normal cost for a computer) and get a heart rate monitor to help find when you're in a good target zone for training.

I usually like to ride at least two hours, but not so much for "speed." If I'm going to get out it seems like the least I want to bother with is at least 25 or 30 miles. I can usually spare that much time after work or even before in the summer. If I only had an hour I would probably go for a run instead.

I have been reading the book "Bike for Life." Last night I read about a guy who had trouble keeping up on rides with a friend. Then he got a professional bike fitting session and a new bike to match. Now he is faster and no longer hurts after a ride. You can probably read about bike fit and tweak your own fit over time and distance to get pretty close to what you need, but allow yourself hundreds of miles to arrive at a pretty good fit for you.

You are young and think you will be faster when you are older. I am older and think I would be faster if I were younger. Attempts to be fast usually drain me and I cannot ride for a few days. I do what I can, but always try to make certain I am enjoying my ride. After a while, you notice you are stronger and faster.

Take plenty of time to rest and recover, too.

An hour of aerobic exercise per day will do your conditioning all sorts of good compared to nothing. Now if your comparison is with people who train much more and train effectively, an hour per day will look somewhat pathetic.

I would say though that an hour per day is enough to keep you in excellent aerobic shape if you train effectively. You will need to really push at times and know when to recover. That comes with study and experience.

The other thing is someone is always going to be faster than you are. It is a fact of life. Even on the tour de france, the eventual winner generally does not win very many stages.

Man, it really depends on what your goals are. If you like riding and are not interested in racing than what is wrong with 25kph? Seriously. If you want to race, that is another story. You are active and that is great. If you want to train for an event, determine what your goals for the event are, then plan your training.

Also, many BF posters are full of crap: some people are faster, some are slower, some lie about being faster and some hate anything about what one's "average speed" ought to be. I say it ought to be whatever makes you feel good and proud of yourself. Very very few of us are pro (not me).

Good luck!

Well said. Being older (40s) and in graduate school and working means I've been *creeping* my average speed up. The only reason I care about the speed is so I can go on "spirited group rides" and keep up/perhaps drop a few guys in fast sections. It's to have fun.

But I find it very difficult sometimes not to obsess over it. I do everything in my power to make sure I'm also enjoying myself -- whether that means just sitting up and riding chilled out and enjoying the scenery on days when I'm spent, or going full-bore on days when I have something in the tank.

Speed is so freaking relative. Find yourself a goal, make sure it's backed with good reasoning (why do you want it?), do a lot of research (there's a TON of books in your local library or Web sites) and go for it -- one step at a time.

My 2 cents. YMMV.

You're right that most of us don't brag about our speed because, frankly there isn't much to brag about. But there are still many reasons why we like to train for speed. For one thing, it feels good to know that you're faster than you used to be, and to know that you worked hard to attain that added speed. Maybe it's unhealthy to always compare yourself to other riders, but I think it's useful to compare yourself to your past self, and even brag a bit about what you've acheived.

Even if your main goal is to get fitter, that still involves getting faster. The whole theory of progressive training is that you're challenging your body to keep doing more. And more means going either faster or further when it comes to bicycles.

Finally, if your main goal is just to have fun, even that might involve going faster. Speed is fun in and of itself, and it's also fun learning about training, conditioning and nutrition as you become faster.

I envy Zan (the young OP) because he's young and he already knows what his passion is. And who knows--maybe he'll be the next American to win the TdF.

Couldn't have said it better. I'm slow compared to *many,* but I know when I'm going fast for *me* -- and boy, I LIKE IT.

When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was related to the thread about the fun way to prevent prostate cancer.

In which case I would have said, "uh..yes. That's plenty."

I just started biking recently this season and I'm averaging around 25-28 km/h. The wind has a significant impact and even though Markham and the surrounding area doesn't have huge hills, it's not flat eiether. I'm assuming you are riding alone, I'd imagine in a group you could be getting up to the 30 km/h and that's how probably a lot of those ppl get that speed.

I work in Markham and I've been commuting to work from Richmond Hill a couple of times a week for the last 2-3 weeks. It's about a 30-45 min ride one way and I'd say it's starting to get easier as time goes by. I do longer rides on the weekends... for now just gradually working up. I'm focusing more on my cadence and I'd say the speed kinda follows. Since I've gotten the computer with the cadence meter I've delayed going into higher gear where I normally would before and I think that's having an affect on increasing my speed.

Where in Markham do you bike?

Originally Posted by slim_77 Man, it really depends on what your goals are. If you like riding and are not interested in racing than what is wrong with 25kph? Seriously. If you want to race, that is another story. You are active and that is great. If you want to train for an event, determine what your goals for the event are, then plan your training.

Also, many BF posters are full of crap: some people are faster, some are slower, some lie about being faster and some hate anything about what one's "average speed" ought to be. I say it ought to be whatever makes you feel good and proud of yourself. Very very few of us are pro (not me).

Good luck!

You're right that most of us don't brag about our speed because, frankly there isn't much to brag about. But there are still many reasons why we like to train for speed. For one thing, it feels good to know that you're faster than you used to be, and to know that you worked hard to attain that added speed. Maybe it's unhealthy to always compare yourself to other riders, but I think it's useful to compare yourself to your past self, and even brag a bit about what you've acheived.

Even if your main goal is to get fitter, that still involves getting faster. The whole theory of progressive training is that you're challenging your body to keep doing more. And more means going either faster or further when it comes to bicycles.

Finally, if your main goal is just to have fun, even that might involve going faster. Speed is fun in and of itself, and it's also fun learning about training, conditioning and nutrition as you become faster.

I envy Zan (the young OP) because he's young and he already knows what his passion is. And who knows--maybe he'll be the next American to win the TdF.


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+100 to both of you. Get out & ride!

Uh, I'm safe.

I only have one route i follow regularly. Usually start around bullock + 48 and go down to the airport and back. I ride through the subdivisions, along raymerville, down manhattan, carlton... and then i stop paying attention to street names. About 27 km.

I find this route the best route inside the "city." The roads are in good shape, the houses help block the wind, and the traffic is relatively low and is slow moving.

When i go mountain biking, and don't feel like going anywhere, i ride on a trail i built up with my friends around 48 and 407. loops around milne, to mccowan, then back under the bridge @ 48, down to 9th + 14th, and back to 48. About 9 km.

when i have more time (summer) i plan on going places... like newmarket, or the zoo, or wherever. depends on the day.

And thanks for the responses so far!

Cool. I ride past the airport on my way to work. I gotta start doing more east-west bike rides... at the moment I mostly ride north and sometimes I will go west to hwy 27.