Is a cycle ride of 30 mins a short one?

[Baldy]

10 miles in 30 minutes is 20mph. Hardly a record breaking average speed even on open roads.

I've just worked out the average for my last couple of dozen rides. Half were on a Mountain bike and the other half were split between a loaded and unloaded touring bike. All in all it only came to a lowly 10mph. I do live in Scotland so lots of hills but still quite depressing.

 

[JonT005]

Not sure that 30 mins equates to 10 miles. Even under race conditions, I'm struggling to get under 30 mins for our evening 10's.

10 miles in 30 minutes is more than achievable on a solo ride. In my weekly training race, we average about 26 miles per hour so definitely possible if you can keep up!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Never mind how fast you go. The question is about length of ride not how fast you go. If someone wants to raise a new poll about average speeds. Go ahead.

 

[JonT005]

10 miles in 30 minutes is more than achievable on a solo ride. In my weekly training race, we average about 26 miles per hour so definitely possible if you can keep up!

On 30 mile course. What a plonker forgetting the distance.

 

[C R]

10 miles in 30 minutes is more than achievable on a solo ride. In my weekly training race, we average about 26 miles per hour so definitely possible if you can keep up!

That's the average speed of the peloton in the tour. I think it is well beyond many riders. Looking at my Garmin Connect, my average speed this month is about 16mph, and it says I'm faster than 70% of the users in my age group, 45 to 49, so I would say that 20mph is not commonly achieved as an average.

 

[slowmotion]

A 30 minute ride is easily long enough if you are totally knackered. If that was the case, I'd head for a comfy chair.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

That's the average speed of the peloton in the tour. I think it is well beyond many riders. Looking at my Garmin Connect, my average speed this month is about 16mph, and it says I'm faster than 70% of the users in my age group, 45 to 49, so I would say that 20mph is not commonly achieved as an average.

Even at my best I couldn't average 20mph, 16-17 mph was more like it if I was going well, now as a pedalling pensioner, 70 later this year, my average is around 13-14 mph. But as ming said, this is about whether a 30 minute ride is long or not so we should start a separate thread for those that want to boast about how fast they can go.

 

[kayakerles]

I figured there would be all kinds of sonic speeds, daily 3-digit rides, and alp level ascents listed on this one. Not by me. I'm 65, 185 lbs / 13.2 stone, and ride 4 or 5 days per week. Whether riding my hybrid or my MTB, My avg speed is between 10 and 14 mph tops. Ride residential areas with quiet traffic, trails and/or Parkways with traffic limited to 30 mph (that runs through my fave park.) But for those of you that can leave the Flash in the dust, bravo!

I still say the main thing is to be careful and have fun. I'm sticking with what my signature line says. I'm glad there's not an avg minimum ride speed required to be on this forum, or I fear I’d already have been banned from CC!

 

[Oldhippy]

Where on earth do you fix the saddlebag and panniers on that?

 

[cyberknight]

Where on earth do you fix the saddlebag and panniers on that?

dont forget mudgaurds

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Where on earth do you fix the saddlebag and panniers on that?

Saddlebags over his flat back?

 

[Deafie]

I like a 30 minute ride, I ride several times a day, usually between 30 mins and an hour. 30 minutes is just enough to get the juices flowing

 

[numbnuts]

I've just done 7.21 miles in 00:26:53 avg 16.01mph with a max 31.62 mph

 

[KneesUp]

Never mind how fast you go. The question is about length of ride not how fast you go. If someone wants to raise a new poll about average speeds. Go ahead.

I think this is the confusion. The question is about a time but here you are talking about a length which is normally thought of as a measure of distance (although you can of course also talk about a length of time).

The thing is you can't talk about any factor in isolation. Riding 200 miles sounds a lot, and if you did it in a day it would be, but it you did it in a year, it isn't. Similarly you could ride for 30 minutes in such a leisurely way that your heart rate would barely change. Or you could push yourself to your limit for half an hour and be absolutely wrecked. For any of us a ride is a function of time and effort, and how those two combine our fitness and the terrrain.

I guess we're talking about an average kind of ride - in which case I'd say it's all I have time for in the week most weeks, and as I am at peak un-fitness, live live in a hilly area, and seem to have much less power post-COVID, half an hour is plenty, and I'm not entirely comfortable with the narrative / suggestion that half an hour of riding isn't worth it, or isn't 'proper' in some way. Short journeys by bike are what we as a community (of forum-ers and as citizens of the earth) should be encouraging rather than doing anything to in any way imply that a 'short ride' - however defined - is somehow less worthwhile.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I think this is the confusion. The question is about a time but here you are talking about a length which is normally thought of as a measure of distance (although you can of course also talk about a length of time).

Not really as I only used length after a number had already piled in to a discussion about average speed. Sloppy use of language in my reply maybe nevertheless that was after all the replies talking about speed. There can be no confusion about my OP. It is quite clearly about time.