Average speed!

[User16625]

Did a 20-25 mile hilly ride a few days ago. Throughout about 3/4 of the ride my average was about 12 mph. However the last few miles I hardly dropped below 30mph, hit 40mph a couple of times. Also a bit of flat terrain with a tail wind allowed me to maintain 25mph or so for a mile or 2. Overall average was about 14mph. My typical average varies between 14 and 17mph. Typical pace on a flat in good conditions is about 20mph. My averages are calculated on time spent moving. My speed/time isnt measured when I stop which I find useful. No point timing yourself when your not actually doing anything unless its an actual race. Reading water tho! dont have a clue what that means.

 

[numbnuts]

Old fart enjoying a ride 11.5mph

 

[Saluki]

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

and if you get half way up and then the ambulance is called, you might want to rethink your hill climbing technique

 

[sheffgirl]

I average around 12.6 on the way to work, and just over 10 on a good day on the way home (its slightly uphill most of the way) I am on a mountain bike with knobbly tyres though

 

[screenman]

On this forum there is forum cycling speed and real speed, often not quite the same it depends on who is doing the writing. Most steady club rider (not the racers) average between 14mph and 16mph above that is considered sporting.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

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

Ah, but then you go down the long slippery slope (sorry, couldn't help myself) of defining "steepish", which definitely varies according to your fitness level.

 

[BAtoo]

14 mph on a hybrid on tracks is pretty good IMO.

My 2014 average is a gnats over 13mph on a road bike mainly on roads.
Half of the total was my 1050M in 14 days ride below (average 75.5M/day) so we weren't exactly racing. My average around home is 14-15mph (not broken the 15 average yet)
BTW - I'm very very late 50's.

 

[Bryan McDonald]

It was a wonderfull summer's night and conditions were perfect. What I am trying to do is keep my legs spinning quite fast to keep up momentum rather than go into a higher great and have to push hard but slow. Want to keep my heart rate up more than worry about strength in my legs.

 

[Hacienda71]

My average speed over all terrain for the last 17000 miles according to Endomondo is 18mph.

 

[Bryan McDonald]

I know that I only calculated mine over a short distance one trip, it will go.down but I am happy because going 10 or 20 miles is not too daunting a prospect.

 

[DWiggy]

I commute 10 miles each way (Road bike) and have a few different routes that have different averages (for me), for instance one route that has ~300 feet of climbing I can average 20-22mph, the route that has ~680 feet of climbing I will average about 17-18mph. The direction, strength of wind , temperature and what I have in my back pack all make a +-2mph (ish) difference to my average.

Average speed is a good way to roughly gauge you progress if you are repeating the same routes over and over, but it is not accurate and it can also be disheartening. For instance If you know you can travel 18mph along a certain section but have a face full of head wind and your only managing 14mph you know your average will be down, you may even put it down to a bad day as you have not noticed the wind in your face, but in fact you might have had a good ride that had higher than normal power output, so that's where a power meter would come in as a more reliable tool to measure progress but they are way too expensive usually costing more than my bike!

According to the Garmin website my average is 18mph (on the roads)

 

[Nigelnaturist]

On this forum there is forum cycling speed and real speed, often not quite the same it depends on who is doing the writing. Most steady club rider (not the racers) average between 14mph and 16mph above that is considered sporting.

I am doing ok them , my slowest days tend to be Tues and Fri, as I have more commuting on those days. Even then if less than 14mph i would be disappointed, but thats just me. and its not important if I am slower than that.