Cycling Averages

[Sharky]

Recall my old my old maths teacher telling the class that over half the population thought they were better than average!

 

[Old Steve]

Average speeds, do they matter... if you are training to race I would imagine so..... if you are joe bloggs cyclist going out for a fun ride i would imagine not quite so much, there must be so many things that can alter your average speed... road surface (rough seems to slow me down, smooth seems to speed me up) wind speed and direction ( a good head on wind can knock the arse out out your speed ) uphill or downhill ( yet another equation added) and of course if your average is over a couple of nice flat miles or over 30 miles of mixed riding ( it all seems to make a difference ) I am 56 years old and only started cycling again just over 3 months ago after a break from cycling since i was a kid and when i first got on my new bike i thought I have got to be going fast ... must get quicker, my average speeds did go up.. but I am in my mid fifties and should be grateful that i have found cycling again and it hasn't taken long to realise that some of my most enjoyable rides are the ones with my wife pottering around the country lanes or along the coast and stopping off for lunch somewhere.
Below is this mornings ride, head wind in places fairly flat with a few bumps here and there.. average speed 16.5 MPH over 16.8 miles in an hour and one minute.
While tomorrows ride will be a slow paced 25 mile bimble with my wife stopping for lunch ( no worries and all the time in the world )
The way I see it is enjoy what you are doing whether you are racing along or having a relaxing ride, one things for sure is don't get hung up on average speeds as there will always be someone faster out there.... Anyway if i want to go fast on two wheels I will get one of our motorcycles out..

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Old Steve stats just fascinate me, if you look at my elevation per mile it shows that generally I am slower more feet per mile and it seems to make a big difference after about 43ft/mile, I used to keep weather data winds rain ect, but came to the conclusion for averages over time opposed to a single ride tended to even out so whilst it effects a ride, for monthly or quarterly data makes less so.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I was happy with this, no idea if it's a decent standard or not?

You've answered your own question there. You're happy with it, so therefore it's decent.

 

[adamangler]

I hate mph. It gives such inaccurate representation of your fitness.

Cant wait to get a power meter so i can see what im really doing instead of guessing.

 

[Johnno260]

You've answered your own question there. You're happy with it, so therefore it's decent.

It would be nice to see how much quicker I was on a drop bar bike.

Also would be nice to see if the gradient slowed me less.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I hate mph. It gives such inaccurate representation of your fitness.

Cant wait to get a power meter so i can see what im really doing instead of guessing.

You're right there. I use km/h. Much better than mph, as the number is bigger.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I hate mph. It gives such inaccurate representation of your fitness.

Cant wait to get a power meter so i can see what im really doing instead of guessing.

I have a table showing approximate energy outputs based on cals and HR, I suspect they are way off true values but relative to each other.

As you can see the first two in the list have the same kJ/Hr but an average speed difference of 1mph, the other noticeable difference being the elevation per mile.
Please take note this is just a bit of fun there is so much that could get recorded wrong from HR to elevation (though the two are not related in any formulas) the edge 705 seems to recorded cals on the high side i.e. 60to a mile so I have took 2/3rds of that to give a truer reflection, but even that might be out, just a bit of fun but from ride to ride it does give some indication of how hard (or not) I have worked.

 

[HLaB]

When I first stated IIRC I put off joining a cycle club until I could manage a solo 15mph for a ride.
I felt quite good about my average in yesterday's 10 mile TT, a 24.0-24.1mph. My start must have been as poor as it felt and I was gutted to miss out on a sub 25mins and I've managed 21mph+ group rides over distance but I am no where near other faster folk. One of mates managed a 20.36 yesterday, one a 20.50 and all others a circa 21-24

 

[Simontm]

Just looked up my first cyclemeter ride and it was 14miles at 12 mph average. Like @vickster traffic doesn't help. My commute is 15 miles each way and I average 15mph if traffic and lights are OK. On the nice parts of my route (i.e. Clear runs in bus/cycle lanes) i hit 18-20 mph and sit there happily enough.
On Ride London I averaged 17mph...wonder what it would've been without those hills