Improving average speed
- Thread starter oliglynn
- Start date
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amaferanga
Veteran
- Location
- Bolton
Drafting should give him a good couple of mph extra for free. Get him to sit on your wheels all the time - might make quite a difference.
oldgreyandslow
Guru
- Location
- Farnborough
"drop him
end of
he's either not trying hard enough or not good enough or both"
Thats a bit harsh
end of
he's either not trying hard enough or not good enough or both"
Thats a bit harsh
I don't think there's much chance of the speed increases happening in such a short space of time. I do wonder why if they are going on tour they need to do so at such a rip roaring speed though. I could understand if you were doing 540 miles in 3 days riders nervously going on about the need to maintain 17,18,19mph average speed overall, but not 300.
I would maintain all efforts at him doing a bit of speed training to try and maintain 14 or 15mph and do long 60 milers at the weekends for endurance and then whatever gains aren't made just shrug them off. He might enjoy it a lot and a year or two down the line fully able to keep up.
Glover Fan
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Almondsbury, Nr Bristol
Just an observation, but I can see this tour ending in tears.
OP
OP
oliglynn
Über Member
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Hah, cheers! Well with around 300 miles to do we're not looking to blast it quite as fast, but will ideally tone it down to a more sustainable speed of 15mph or so. However for our slower member this = effort.
It's not really my call to drop him - this is a tour with people from work, so consequently there's a little more politics involved & we've already paid for accommodation. I have spoken to others, and they seem to agree that he will drive us a bit mad. If it were up to me we'd drop him - but if that's not going to happen we need to do our best to get him faster. I just hope the group sees sense!
It's not really my call to drop him - this is a tour with people from work, so consequently there's a little more politics involved & we've already paid for accommodation. I have spoken to others, and they seem to agree that he will drive us a bit mad. If it were up to me we'd drop him - but if that's not going to happen we need to do our best to get him faster. I just hope the group sees sense!
515mm
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Carmarthenshire
Ooo....
Good luck, it's a very tough one and I feel for you.
I would get all the other guys in for a chat and work out a plan of action that sees a couple of you take this guy out on 'practise' rides three evenings a week and a long (4hr) one on the weekend. Get our hero to practise keeping a wheel and take it in turns to pace him back into the bunch when he gets dropped, keep to an agreed average speed on the flat roads, but wait for the whole group to assemble at the top of a climb.
Never leave Hero on a climb - take turns to pace him up. Getting dropped then abandoned is soul destroying and Hero will get so pissed off he'll ruin your weekend because he'll stop trying and end up going much slower than he would if he had company.
I suggest a competition where the most helpful 'domestique' on each day does not have to buy their own drinks that evening. It's up to you if you tell Hero about this or not!
I've another thought. Does Hero appear to be going well for a short while then suddenly become really slow? He may be going off too hard (to keep up with you quick guys), blowing up and then riding in the red zone for the rest of the day. Someone close to me used to do this - we had a horrible time 'till I learned to mentally relax and my pal learned to not worry about being slow and take it easy at the start. Our average speed was lower than I would achieve alone, but we covered the miles and had a nice time.
Good luck, it's a very tough one and I feel for you.
I would get all the other guys in for a chat and work out a plan of action that sees a couple of you take this guy out on 'practise' rides three evenings a week and a long (4hr) one on the weekend. Get our hero to practise keeping a wheel and take it in turns to pace him back into the bunch when he gets dropped, keep to an agreed average speed on the flat roads, but wait for the whole group to assemble at the top of a climb.
Never leave Hero on a climb - take turns to pace him up. Getting dropped then abandoned is soul destroying and Hero will get so pissed off he'll ruin your weekend because he'll stop trying and end up going much slower than he would if he had company.
I suggest a competition where the most helpful 'domestique' on each day does not have to buy their own drinks that evening. It's up to you if you tell Hero about this or not!
I've another thought. Does Hero appear to be going well for a short while then suddenly become really slow? He may be going off too hard (to keep up with you quick guys), blowing up and then riding in the red zone for the rest of the day. Someone close to me used to do this - we had a horrible time 'till I learned to mentally relax and my pal learned to not worry about being slow and take it easy at the start. Our average speed was lower than I would achieve alone, but we covered the miles and had a nice time.
uphillstruggler
Guru
- Location
- Half way there
i would go along with this.
i have been back on the bike now for a couple of years and my average speed has been about 15/16 mph. i have been going to a spinning class a couple of times a week for about 6-8 weeks and really having a go at staying with the instructor on pedal strokes and also hitting the high resisitance also.
upshot is that i went out for an hour at the weekend and managed 18.8 miles on a fairly windy circuit that i use. it was just one of those days that everything went well and i felt pretty good.
sometimes you just have to put the effort in and take the pain if yoiu want to improve - does your riding mate want to push on - thats what you should be asking him/her.
good luck either way
What does your mate say?
Does he actually want to be a faster rider or is he happy with his own pace?
Averaging 19mph on "proper" rides takes some doing, and is not everyones idea of fun.
If you are doing a tour (and not a race) then you should go at the pace of the slowest rider - otherwise you're not really mates, are you?!
Does he actually want to be a faster rider or is he happy with his own pace?
Averaging 19mph on "proper" rides takes some doing, and is not everyones idea of fun.
If you are doing a tour (and not a race) then you should go at the pace of the slowest rider - otherwise you're not really mates, are you?!
OP
OP
oliglynn
Über Member
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Ok cheers guys that sounds like some good advice - will try and get him pushing on. We have a ride booked for tomorrow night with only 3 of us, so we will try and be a little more to the point with him and get him moving on a bit. Better now than later I figure. It looks like he's going to get himself some spd's soon, so will see if they help at all.
Spin classes are available here on Mondays, so will encourage some attendance.
Bring on the pain!
Hero seems to be moving a bit slower from the beginning. Maybe a very short burst of being able to keep up (say 2 miles or so and then things become slow. We'll set it off nice and slowly tomorrow and see if that helps.
Spin classes are available here on Mondays, so will encourage some attendance.
Bring on the pain!
If they mostly ride in terms of 2 mile journeys on their commute, this may not be coincidental in the least.
I've had what 515mm describes with cycling mates even slower than me. They'd start off pummelling it along with no warm up (they didn't see the need for one) and around the distance of their usual trip to the shops dramatically start to tail off for the rest of the journey and demand stops here and there. It's not particularly helpful as to this day they still believe them doing a 20 mile ride is physically impossible for them.
GrasB
Veteran
- Location
- Nr Cambridge
Just a thought but
13mph = 70w on the flat
18mph = 155w on the flat
That's one hell of a power jump to make. I'd be thinking that maybe you need to go out with him & do some hard interval training during the week then a long slow paced ride at the weekend. You've just about got enough time to get some gains but you're not going to see much really.
13mph = 70w on the flat
18mph = 155w on the flat
That's one hell of a power jump to make. I'd be thinking that maybe you need to go out with him & do some hard interval training during the week then a long slow paced ride at the weekend. You've just about got enough time to get some gains but you're not going to see much really.
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
I'm doing the Etape Caledonia at the weekend with my brother and his mate. From his description, his mate will really struggle not to get swept up by the broom wagon and he is determined that he'll drop him so as not to suffer the same fate. Tbh I could easily drop my brother (his rides are usually about 14.5mph, before stops; last year I did the Etape @ 19.1mph without training and without stops) but I couldn't do that to him! It depends how you are approaching the ride, I'm happy with some folk just to bimble along at their pace, yet other times I've let folk drop off the back of club runs/ sportives without noticing.
steve52
I'm back! Yippeee
- Location
- bottesford scunthorpe
so i have worked my ass of to do a ten in 28 mins and feel dead at the end, while others average 2 mph less for 100 miles? i sujest you start racing
