Average speed!

[Bryan McDonald]

What is a normal average speed for a hybrid bike on a nice cycle trail?

 

[ianrauk]

Who knows. Everyone is different and has different abilities.
Worry less about average speeds and more about enjoying your ride.

 

[CopperCyclist]

How long is a piece of string really - fitness, age, weight, condition of trail, elevation, amount of effort - far too many factors come into play to be able to give a 'good' answer...

Strava will probably let you know the 'racing' times though...

 

[Bryan McDonald]

It is just because I got one of that cat eyes speed thingies. I am just trying to figure out if I am a slow poke or in fact do have a reasonable level of fitness.

 

[HLaB]

50mph is good in a perfect environment with the perfect motor, add wind, road friction, gradient, weather, variance in the motor, etc its anybody guess

 

[moo]

Find a 1 mile long steepish hill. If you can get to the top without having a heart attack or fighting for breath you've got reasonable fitness. If you get to the top and feel like going back down for another round, you're pretty fit

 

[w00hoo_kent]

It is just because I got one of that cat eyes speed thingies. I am just trying to figure out if I am a slow poke or in fact do have a reasonable level of fitness.

How far you're riding, and how knackered you feel doing it would give a better idea of 'fitness'.

Rides here seem to talk about averaging 14 mph (then doing 16+) and I've seen suggestions that an OK club racer should do three laps of Richmond Park in an hour (so that's just over 20mph). When the family potter around on our leisure rides I tend to be happy if we're in to double figures, but then I'm the only one on the ride who cares enough to have a computer. Commuting to work sub 14 feels like a poor ride in and over 17 makes me happy.

I guess the best thing to get from that is, look at what you're doing now, see how it changes over time. If you're happy, cool. If you're not, speed up a bit :-)

 

[Deleted member 35268]

Alot of variables -
Fitness
Weight of bike
Gearing

If you can get 14mph, that is good going imo

 

[ianrauk]

Commuting to work sub 14 feels like a poor ride in and over 17 makes me happy.

Are you me by any chance?

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Bryan McDonald I avg about 15-15.5mph over most terrain around here, its a bit of mix with some short steepish (upto about 10-15%) climbs some undulating ones and some long flat rides. I am just happy to be out and riding.

 

[Bryan McDonald]

I am 53, 5 feet 8 inches and weigh 200 pounds, Bike is a Trex FS 7.4, my route is almost 8 miles from Bilton to almost Ripeley. So its pretty flat, on the return it is a steady push back to home, avg speed is 14Mph.
Haven't been on a bike proper like since I was 24, which I used every day, 20 miles per day and 40 miles per day at week ends, did that for about 3 years, and for the following 4 or 5 years just cycled to work which was about 5 miles a day. stopped when I was 30 years old, so that was 7/8 years of every day cycling.

 

[vickster]

Sounds pretty good, keep it up

 

[HLaB]

I am 53, 5 feet 8 inches and weigh 200 pounds, Bike is a Trex FS 7.4, my route is almost 8 miles from Bilton to almost Ripeley. So its pretty flat, on the return it is a steady push back to home, avg speed is 14Mph.
Haven't been on a bike proper like since I was 24, which I used every day, 20 miles per day and 40 miles per day at week ends, did that for about 3 years, and for the following 4 or 5 years just cycled to work which was about 5 miles a day. stopped when I was 30 years old, so that was 7/8 years of every day cycling.

Do you enjoy it and arrive safe, if so its a good speed

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Sounds fine to me, I find with my commute the difference between a good speed and a so so speed can just be how many red lights I end up stopping at and how many dodgy drivers I need to take in to account. When you're only riding for 45-60 minutes (which is most of my outings) time spent slowing to a stop and accelerating back up to speed really hits the average. So it really is just a vague marker for how you are doing. If you want to get truly obsessed, you need a Garmin :-)

 

[Bryan McDonald]

Do you enjoy it and arrive safe, if so its a good speed

Yes I do enjoy it, I like the out doors, I like the fact that its down to me how fast or slow I go, I do like to push myself on the last mile home, its up hill and I arrive home sweating. During the ride I take time as there are others on the track, I have met a 70 year old man, who inspired me, I followed a younger guy on a mountain bike at quite a pace, had a good talk with him about the pros and cons of disk brakes. Love stopping to look at the river as I am an avid fly fisher and I love to stop and read the water, for future reference.