Average speed by age

[mpemburn]

Ran across this article today. I would guess these averages are low. At age 70, I can comfortably maintain a 13-14 mph average in warm weather (when I can get in more miles per week).


(edited: Warning! Do not read except for sour amusement!)

https://www.declinemagazine.com/mtb/average-cycling-speed-by-age/

 

[ianbarton]

Interesting. I wonder how they collected the statistics? I am almost 67 and on the flat without any wind can keep up a steady 15mph.

 

[Ian H]

It barely even qualifies as pseudo-science. A sample statement:-
"Everyone knows that gravity attracts more weight towards it and is a contributing factor while calculating the speed of cycling. "

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Interesting article, I wonder where they got their figures from? Through my 40's and 50's I was a bit below their figures, now at 70 I'm slightly above their figures.

 

[KnittyNorah]

It barely even qualifies as pseudo-science. A sample statement:-
"Everyone knows that gravity attracts more weight towards it and is a contributing factor while calculating the speed of cycling. "

Much of it is scarcely even the English language, either. It's just a collection of English words.

 

[vickster]

Appears to pay no heed to gender which you’d expect to have an impact

 

[mpemburn]

{sigh} This will teach me to read articles before I’m fully awake…

 

[MartinQ]

It barely even qualifies as pseudo-science. A sample statement:-
"Everyone knows that gravity attracts more weight towards it and is a contributing factor while calculating the speed of cycling. "

Tbh, I learnt loads from
Knowing the impact of the gradient is also necessary while discussing gravity. It increases whenever a cyclist rides uphill and is completely the opposite when the trail is downhill.
Ive been confused about this for many a year. Though gravity increasing/decreasing is not something I was taught in cse physics, unless the hills are very long and the inverse square rule comes into play and its the opposite of what they said. Though lack of oxygen may affect things as well.

 

[derrick]

Ran across this article today. I would guess these averages are low. At age 70, I can comfortably maintain a 13-14 mph average in warm weather (when I can get in more miles per week).

https://www.declinemagazine.com/mtb/average-cycling-speed-by-age/

What a load of rubbish.

 

[fair weather cyclist]

Hi is this the thread where every old git is having a wee w4nk over meaningless stats?

 

[cyberknight]

sounds ill researched
im fast approaching 54 and i can still hold 18 mph avg over a mertic century on a good day, my average for the whole year including commuting with full rack,panniers etc and club rides comes out about 16,5 mph

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

You're not supposed to care what it says, just click on a link and buy something.

To my sad and jaded eyes, the text is the minimum amount of text necessary for search engines to decide that the site is not just a list of advertising links and completely ignore it.

As biking is so well covered there is little point in trying to rank well by providing real useful content as there will always be a lot of very high quality content to compete against.

It may be that the text has been translated in the cheapest possible way or it may be that by using a language very poorly you end up with unique content as far as the search engine is concerned as it can't grasp the meaning but may index on the words.

Bye

Ian

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I ride so fast I sometimes almost escape Earth’s gravity.

 

[delb0y]

It's about right for me - 12.5 mph. But then all my life I've been about 12.5 mph.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

It doesn't seem very rigorous scientifically to me, more a matter of opinion. Any serious study would have a list of reference sources at the end, which any interested reader could delve into themselves.
Whist you can't argue against a trend of gradual performance decline with age, it doesn't say much about individual fitness. That's the biggest factor, IMHO. I'm not fast on a bike and have no wish to be, but I do have decent stamina and can keep up physical activity at a moderate intensity for a sustained period without looking like I'm going to keel over.
I've had youngsters at work tell me they wanted to stop in the middle of a physical task because they were tired, and on the other hand someone I work with who is 14 years older than me can match me for work effort all day long with no complaining at all.
It boils down to whether you have an active or inactive lifestyle, regardless of whether the activity concerned happens to be cycling or something else. People who move around a fair bit under their own power tend to be in much better physical shape for their age than the general population.