# Average speeds for a Roadie



## Mikeoupe (15 Apr 2011)

Hi, After riding a hybrid for several years I finally bit the bullet and bought my first road bike. I'm completely new to this road bike thing and did my first ride this evening. According to my iPhone app I added 3.5mph to my usual average around a local 16 mile circuit, taking me up to 17.5mph (including stops etc) I don't set out on a ride to beat my last time or catch the bloke half a mile down the road (okay I've done that a couple of times) I'm just curious what sort of averages others are doing, what's good, what's average? I appreciate there will be all sorts of variables such as distance etc, it's just a general question. _Apologies if this is a boring question ..._ Mike


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## perplexed (15 Apr 2011)

Depends very much on terrain.

I did 25 miles on my road bike today, at an average speed of about 15mph.

This doesn't sound that fast, *but:

*I live in Sheffield and my ride was in the Peak District. Yes, there are downhills, but you can only go so fast, and that ride today includes a few miles of climbing with various gradients.

If I'd have done that ride on my hybrid, my average would have probaly been at least 3 or 4 mph slower!

The wind is a big issue too. I've a loop which I do at about 17 mph average. A moderate headwind going uphill will easily knock this down to 13mph.


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## delport (15 Apr 2011)

A slowish average for me, about 12 mph, the roads down here are mainly flat with few hills.

So i should be higher than 12 mph really.
I use a hybrid.
thin tyre on the front 700x25 thicker tyre on the back 700x35.


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## Hacienda71 (15 Apr 2011)

Have a look at Cyclogs you will see average speeds vary dramaticaly. Beware logging rides can become addictive.

Terrain, distance, temperature etc all play a part.


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## GrasB (15 Apr 2011)

17.5mph door to door is respectable but not blistering for the area, you're certainly not the fastest on the road but you'll rarely be overtaken by anyone.


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## Mikeoupe (15 Apr 2011)

Thanks, I'm interested as I don't have anything to compare myself to, I tend to cycle alone for fitness and fresh air. Historically I average 14-ish mph on my hybrid on fairly flat terrain (it's certainly no peak district round here) and it was quite a revelation seeing that increase so much with just a change of bike.


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## Cletus Van Damme (15 Apr 2011)

Sounds good I average 13.5 mph on my Secteur commuting to work. It is pretty hilly and I have a dodgy left knee (had an osteotomy 1 year ago). If the hills were not there I know it would be way faster, as on the steepest hills my speed is currently down sometimes to below 5 mph


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## edindave (15 Apr 2011)

On my hybrid I find it relatively easy to keep up with *slower* groups uphill - windy or not, but on downhills they leave me for dust, probably cos I have the aerodynamic properties of a shed. Ecpecially with my 'windcatcher' baggy shorts


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## Bayerd (15 Apr 2011)

Mikeoupe said:


> Thanks, I'm interested as I don't have anything to compare myself to, I tend to cycle alone for fitness and fresh air. Historically I average 14-ish mph on my hybrid on fairly flat terrain (it's certainly no peak district round here) and it was quite a revelation seeing that increase so much with just a change of bike.



Your road bike will be faster. I switched from a heavy hybrid to an entry level tourer at the turn of the year. To begin with I could feel the difference, my avarage went up from 13.5 to 16 for the first few days. I think some of this may have been down to novelty factor. I'm still quicker, but my longer term average is now about 14.7 as opposed to the 13.5 on the hybrid. Some of this is down to lighter bike (quicker accel) and some is down to riding position. There's a downhill section near me where I used to get to about 31mph on the hybrid, on the new bike I hit 44mph the other day without pedalling and I put it down to the more aerodynamic position.


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## Mikeoupe (15 Apr 2011)

GrasB said:


> 17.5mph door to door is respectable but not blistering for the area, you're certainly not the fastest on the road but you'll rarely be overtaken by anyone.


That's put a smile on my face, respectable sounds good to me!


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## thelawnet (15 Apr 2011)

Mikeoupe said:


> Thanks, I'm interested as I don't have anything to compare myself to, I tend to cycle alone for fitness and fresh air. Historically I average 14-ish mph on my hybrid on fairly flat terrain (it's certainly no peak district round here) and it was quite a revelation seeing that increase so much with just a change of bike.



My local cycling clubs have a variety of speeds:

CTC
monthly sunday all-abilities inc. families - 8mph for 15-20miles
monthly sunday 10mph for 40 miles
monthly wednesday 10-12mph for 40 miles
fortnightly sunday 10-12mph half day
monthly sunday all day 11-13mph
weekly sunday 11-13mph 30 miles
weekly wednesday 11-13mph all day
weekly sunday 'over 14mph' 60-90 miles

Cycling club:
19mph moving average, but they note that 17mph solo is equivalent to 20mph in a group


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## Mikeoupe (15 Apr 2011)

edindave said:


> On my hybrid I find it relatively easy to keep up with *slower* groups uphill - windy or not, but on downhills they leave me for dust, probably cos I have the aerodynamic properties of a shed. Ecpecially with my 'windcatcher' baggy shorts


The final decision making factor in my getting a road bike was following a couple of roadies on my hybrid down hill for 2 or 3 miles, I was having to pedal to maintain their coasting speed, I thought " I want that!"

I should add that today's ride was in my MTB gear, baggy shorts and flappy top! haven't got round to buying the roadie gear yet, I'm a bit worried about it TBH as at 41 I've been shapelier ....


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## JonnyBlade (15 Apr 2011)

Cycled 104 on Tuesday up to, in and around the New Forest and back averaging 17.2 with an overall climb of some 3800 feet. 
Today was 17 miles at 18.7

Most normal days though average between 15 and 17 depending on weather, terrain and whether I can be bothered to put the effort in or do I just want to enjoy the scenery and the sunshine





As long as we all enjoy it it wouldn't matter if we pootled at 10 mph


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## edindave (15 Apr 2011)

Mikeoupe said:


> I was having to pedal to maintain their coasting speed, I thought " I want that!"



I used to console myself by thinking they are faster downhill due to gravity cos they are fatter and heavier... that's true isn't it? yeah right!


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## GrasB (15 Apr 2011)

Mikeoupe said:


> That's put a smile on my face, respectable sounds good to me!


You might want to take a look at www.mycyclinglog.com (though I've had problems logging rides recently ) to see the sort of averages. Just don't pay much attention to the top of the table


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## steve52 (15 Apr 2011)

god im a wimp i tend to average 13/14 if on my own and not working like a trojan if i work really hard i can average 16, and the best i did was on a club run who averager 18.5 for sixty miles, to get this average we were doing 25/26 on the flat,and i was dead at the end , how you guys do it is beond me


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## GrasB (15 Apr 2011)

Some of it's about the terrain & there's also how well you can climb. One thing I've noticed is that due to varying abilities group rides tend to climb slowly which in hilly terrain really drags the ave speed down.


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## Garz (15 Apr 2011)

Very true GrasB.

Also if you take it steady for the first 20 mins warming up then upload your stats via a gps computer the logs are going to show you being slower than you probably were during the latter part of the ride.

I have yet to experience a bunch ride at pace so this is unknown to me but like the sound of producing a 19mph+ average that some can do.


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## asterix (16 Apr 2011)

> I'm a bit worried about it TBH as at 41 I've been shapelier ....



Cycling can fix that..


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## cyberknight (16 Apr 2011)

As other have said it depends a lot on terrain and if you are group riding , i have never been on a group ride although i really want to get out with the local club but family first and all that.

My average commute speed over 10 miles with panniers and 500 feet of hills usually comes in around 17-18 mph.


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## GrasB (16 Apr 2011)

Garz said:


> Very true GrasB.


I found a group ride & solo ride over the same route in similar conditions up the steepest climb (0.7 miles at an average of 6.3%) on the group ride I averaged 7.7mph, solo 12.1mph, that's 2 min just there... it took the group almost 10 miles on the flat (of a 60 mile ride) to pull back that time



> Also if you take it steady for the first 20 mins warming up then upload your stats via a gps computer the logs are going to show you being slower than you probably were during the latter part of the ride.


To some extent but basic stretching should take you to the point where after less than 5 min riding you can put down a lot of power without straining your self. Beyond that you should be hitting maximum performance in terms of output at around 2/3 through the ride on anything over 40 miles IMHO.


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## Alien8 (16 Apr 2011)

Mikeoupe said:


> I'm just curious what sort of averages others are doing, what's good, what's average?




Like all of us Mike - you'll be faster than some and slower than others.


If you really want to know how you stack up then you need to be riding with others - and competitively if that's your thing.


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## Mikeoupe (16 Apr 2011)

Alien8 said:


> If you really want to know how you stack up then you need to be riding with others - and competitively if that's your thing.



Indeed, the reason for the question is because I'm seriously considering finding and joining a club, with no prior experience I was just curious to roughly find out how I compare to others, pretty average by the sounds of things. At this stage I'm not particularly interested in doing anything competative but am interested in moving the hobby on a bit from just going out for a couple of hours on my own 3 or 4 times a week.


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## BlackPanther (16 Apr 2011)

My daily commute is 11.2 miles. I take it steady riding to work to avoid breaking sweat so I take an average of 45 minutes (14.9 mph).

Going home takes me 40 minutes (16.8 mph).

My record for getting home is a few seconds under 35 minutes (19.2 mph). My goal is to acheive 20 mph so by my reckoning I'd need to get home in 33m and 33 seconds. I'm sure I'll hit it one day, but the traffic lights will have drop on perfect......or be ignored!

That's on the road bike. I'd say +10 to 15% on the hybrid for the times.


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## GrasB (16 Apr 2011)

Mikeoupe said:


> Indeed, the reason for the question is because I'm seriously considering finding and joining a club, with no prior experience I was just curious to roughly find out how I compare to others, pretty average by the sounds of things. At this stage I'm not particularly interested in doing anything competative but am interested in moving the hobby on a bit from just going out for a couple of hours on my own 3 or 4 times a week.


Assuming you're near Cambridge city then you'll be fine: http://www.cambridge-cycling-club.org.uk/clubrides.htm


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## the snail (16 Apr 2011)

Mikeoupe said:


> Indeed, the reason for the question is because I'm seriously considering finding and joining a club, with no prior experience I was just curious to roughly find out how I compare to others, pretty average by the sounds of things. At this stage I'm not particularly interested in doing anything competative but am interested in moving the hobby on a bit from just going out for a couple of hours on my own 3 or 4 times a week.



finding a club that suits your riding is a great idea, perhaps you could try time trialling, so you don't need to worry about keeping up with other riders, but you can compare your times with others as well as racing against your own times?


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## the_mikey (16 Apr 2011)

My average speed last time I checked was 14.25mph (or 23km/h - as my cycling computer is set for km) More often than not I never get to attempt to go all that fast, since there is always something that I need to stop or slow down for, last time I tried to speed up I reached 43km/h before I needed to slow down pretty quicky because of a woman walking 8 dogs stepped out in front of me. Hi-vis and flashing lights didn't help.


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## Kirstie (17 Apr 2011)

Today I've just hit my highest solo average of 16.9mph so I'm bouncing off the walls! I've worked hard all winter and it's finally paying off. It's my highest average since I stopped racing about 3 years ago. Very happy to finally feel good on a bike again after 3 rather sluggish years.


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## gbb (17 Apr 2011)

I always wonder if age has a lot to do with what you can reasonably achieve (and its logical to me that it does).
In my early 50's, I always seem to do around the 15.5mph average unless i put a lot of effort in. A couple of year ago i did really put a lot of effort in over a summer and got to 18.5 solo riding, but got fed up of push push pushing and took it steady for a while.
Today i did a quick 21 miles, pushed hard and got 17.9...very happy considering i only took 15 minutes or so to recover then carried on the day like nothing happened. This early in the year...well chuffed. 
And i'm a smoker, albeit a light one


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## david k (17 Apr 2011)

im new to riding, well returning to riding as an adult should i say

ive been averaging around 10/11 mph on roads which arent too great and are up and down on a hybrid

i can manage around 14mph on flat surfaces quite easily, enjoying that pace so just want to work on high reps at that pace. ill see where that takes me. its more to do with riding time and revolutions for me rather than time and distance, for now anyway. i want to get some speed into my legs, i think they are strong enough, years of playing rugby, but need to improve revs over sustained period


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## paddy01 (17 Apr 2011)

It's all a little up in the air as distances / climbing / solo v group riding will be different for everyone commenting etc. but for me, I have a short 16 mile loop I do after work several times a week. Over that distance there's 900ft of climbing. I'll average about 15.5mph (moving speed) solo. Never tried it other than solo. Current goal is to crack that in under 1hr (so 16mph avg).

On the flat in still conditions I'll twiddle along at 18/19mph without too much bother.

It's worth noting, once you approach and pass 20mph, aerodynamics starts to play a much more important part.


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## roundisland (18 Apr 2011)

I did a 45mile charity ride yesterday it was my first one. I hooked up with a some riders and my average increased riding in a group. I really enjoyed the experience.


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## david k (22 Apr 2011)

i did 14 miles tue night longest ride yet. i ride alone for now but there were some time trails going on and other riders just out, its good to see how you do in comparrison, i wasnt the slowest! in fact i did the ride in 1 hour, thats 14 mph and the quickest yet! it is a nice flat ride which helped but big improvement on my 11mph


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## cyberknight (22 Apr 2011)

Quick solo blast today , a bit warm though as it was averaging 24 degrees c.

12.65 miles at an average of 19.1 mph 536 feet of climbing according to bike hike


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## billy1561 (24 Apr 2011)

My best / furthest so far is 44.51 miles in 3hrs 43 including 2921 ft climbing. The hills done me in as i'm a big lad but i never left the saddle nor did i get off either. Happy with that but no idea how it compares.
​


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## supercooper (25 Apr 2011)

my av speed is 18.1mph


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## david k (25 Apr 2011)

supercooper said:


> my av speed is 18.1mph



precise


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## Norm (25 Apr 2011)

Following the "20mph average commute" thread, I thought I'd push myself a bit harder on a run through to Staines today. 9.8 miles, 7-8mph side wind, temperature around 18-20 degrees and only 100ft climb. I thought that would be pretty close to "ideal conditions" but I was still amazed with myself that I did it in 33 minutes, an average of just under 18mph. I was lucky at all of the roundabouts and lights but I didn't think I'd get much better than 15mph.

Of course, I was completely wiped out, and a 90 minute rest in Starbucks wasn't enough for my legs, which wouldn't / couldn't bring me home in under 40 minutes, but I was out to see what time I'd need for 10 miles one way, not the total journey.


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## Mikeoupe (26 Apr 2011)

I started this thread a week or two ago and have ridden the new bike approx 170 miles since, distances have varied from 12 to 30 miles depending on time etc. Well I've yet to match my first rides average of 17.5mph! which I'm now putting down to the excitement caused by switching from my 29'er to a proper road bike.Anyway, I just returned from a 17.5 mile ride, 544 feet ascent, a bit windy in some exposed places and averaged a door to door (no stop detection) of 16.5mph with a top speed of 38.5mph.Lycra clobber now ordered ... which I'm sure will see a huge increase in mph


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## niggle (26 Apr 2011)

edindave said:


> I used to console myself by thinking they are faster downhill due to gravity cos they are fatter and heavier... that's true isn't it? yeah right!



Galileo must be turning in his grave


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## peelywally (27 Apr 2011)

average speed isnt an acurate method measuring average speed (ok now ive confused everyone including myself i`ll attempt to explain lol )










if you can maintain 18mph + for a good time period your doing well but cycle computer might calculate your avg at 12mph due to obstacles etc ,

during your ride you may have torn downhill at 45mph but cycle puter calculates avg at 12mph because you rode at less than 10mph for long periods 

its all about knowing your strenghs reliance on avg speeds is good for estimating toa but thats about it imo .


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