Average miles per hour for 100 mile ride?

[Ming the Merciless]

Means I've done in excess of 100 of them ... wrong.

Oh well

Definitely if you’re been suffering pain and misery. None of that is necessary for a 100 mile ride.

 

[rogerzilla]

We've done some quite impressive averages for the Dunwich Dynamo - I think 17mph in 2012 - but there's often a light tailwind and a big incentive to push on due to the food queues in the old days. I do terrible averages on daytime rides as I sweat too much, lose too much salt, and get crippling cramp after 70 miles.

 

[Alex321]

We've done some quite impressive averages for the Dunwich Dynamo - I think 17mph in 2012 - but there's often a light tailwind and a big incentive to push on due to the food queues in the old days. I do terrible averages on daytime rides as I sweat too much, lose too much salt, and get crippling cramp after 70 miles.

In that case, you need plenty of water, with added electrolyte tablets/powders. And probably to eat some carbs as well.

Easy to say, not always so easy to remember to do. I got caught out that way on the only 100K ride I've done to date.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Definitely if you’re been suffering pain and misery. None of that is necessary for a 100 mile ride.

Even at my very fittest - doing two long rides a month, including at least one century, plus commuting by bike, plus some training, 100 miles was never remotely easy, and involved bloody minded pushing through miserable patches and a lot of aches and pains.

There are those who are more physically gifted than me, and those more dedicated to putting in the miles, and for them a 100 miles can be ridden without having to dig deep. And good luck to them. But for me at least, 100 miles is a long way and is never easy, always hard, always hurts.

I suspect I'm not alone in that.

The nearest to "comfortable" was Ride London Essex. Closed (flat) roads made a huge difference.

 

[Jameshow]

Even at my very fittest - doing two long rides a month, including at least one century, plus commuting by bike, plus some training, 100 miles was never remotely easy, and involved bloody minded pushing through miserable patches and a lot of aches and pains.

There are those who are more physically gifted than me, and those more dedicated to putting in the miles, and for them a 100 miles can be ridden without having to dig deep. And good luck to them. But for me at least, 100 miles is a long way and is never easy, always hard, always hurts.

I suspect I'm not alone in that.

The nearest to "comfortable" was Ride London Essex. Closed (flat) roads made a huge difference.

Yeap I've often equated riding 100 miles to running a marathon, I can do it but it's not easy by any means!
In fact I might do it boxing day just for the kicks!

 

[Punkawallah]

I measure in fun per hour.

'It's not about the miles; it's all about the smiles'.

 

[Gunk]

'It's not about the miles, it's all about the smiles'.

I agree, for me as soon as it’s against the clock it changes the pleasure of cycling. I have cycled competitively in the past, but that is a totally different mindset and discipline, not one I’m interested in these days.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Yeap I've often equated riding 100 miles to running a marathon, I can do it but it's not easy by any means!
In fact I might do it boxing day just for the kicks!

I ran a marathon once, back in the dim and distant past. Jeez, that was hard. I never attempted a second one.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I ran a marathon once, back in the dim and distant past. Jeez, that was hard. I never attempted a second one.

I did three one after the other, felt proper sick.


I think I'll stick to Mars Bars in the future.

 

[rualexander]

My last 100 miler was in the great spell of weather in June 2023.
Riding time 9h46m,
average speed 16.6km/h,
total time out 10h57m,
total ascent 1655m
Average heart rate 120bpm.

 

[Alex321]

Definitely if you’re been suffering pain and misery. None of that is necessary for a 100 mile ride.

If you are doing rides of that or longer at least once a month, maybe not. If it is the first time you have ever ridden that far, it is likely there will be some suffering.

 

[StuAff]

As someone who's done a lot of them (150+, up to 225 miles) it can be anything from a cakewalk, relatively speaking, to utterly brutal, depending on the terrain, the weather, mental/physical state on the day…even my 'easy' option, Brighton and back, can be grim in the wrong conditions.

 

[RumbaAzul]

I live in Scotland, hard to avoid them.

I live in Dundee and it's hills, hills and more hills. I started cycling on a five speed steel framed BSA bike at an early age, whilst living in Shieldlhill, a wee village outside Falkirk. Pirlelyhill was good prep for Dundee.

 

[robjh]

My general rule of thumb for 100 mile rides in benign conditions (not too many hills or headwinds) is 8 hours actual riding, to which you add in some breaks and general faffing time, which brings me neatly to around 10 hours, or a real average of 10 miles per hour over a long day. Of course, in other conditions, or if I'm mentally in a touring/sightseeing mode, then it can be more, so I don't see the 12 hours mentioned in the OP as unreasonable. And as others have said, it's your ride, you choose the pace 🙂

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If it is the first time you have ever ridden that far, it is likely there will be some suffering.

Only if your bike is uncomfortable or you are riding harder than your fitness allows for 100 miles. My very first 100 miles was actually 130 miles, very enjoyable and no misery.