Hi I'm 13 years old and i have been cycling now on my Bianchi road bike for 8 months propley now and i was wondering is my speed good? on 35-45 mile cycles i can keep an average of 15mph and anything under about 25 i can do 15.5mph-16. I am now part of a cycling club where i live and i cycle about 100 miles a week, i would do more but school takes over sometimes but in the holidays i go more often. so i was just wondering if you had any advice or if my speed is good?
Thanks Jack
Hi Jack,
Average speed is not particularly relevant, since it depends on so many things. My 13 year old averaged around 18 on a 52 mile group ride, but some rides it can be lower. Also I find average speed calculations can vary quite a lot according to device, eg my ride yesterday I had an 18 mph average on my Bryton, and 16.5 on my iPhone Map My Ride app.
If you have a basic speedo for example, your adjusted average speed may be 18 taking into account stops at lights etc.
So average speed is useful to track your own progress, especially on regular routes, but not so much for comparing to others. I think the fact that you're doin the distances is great, and keep doing what you're doing, though if you have a track or velodrome nearby, you might want to get some training there, pick up riding skills from coaches.
In an ideal world, if you get an opportunity to get a GPS cycle computer, which you can upload to Strava, you'll see your time for specific splits, so you'll really be able to track and measure your progress.
I'm 50 and I can't even go that fast down a big hill.
