New to cycling. Average speeds? How long to improve?

[JNR]

i'v just started as well so i was interested in this , 3rd april on the road myself , can you tell me is that 18 mph include hills or would you say thats a flat'ish route ?

18mph average is bloody good over 60 miles. You need not aim for that at all...when I first started I was doing something like 15mph on my own over 20 miles and that was tough.

I did a club run on Monday which was tough for me and we did something around 20-21mph average, that is in a well organised group. I then averaged just over 18mph on a 20 mile 'training' route by myself, but that was concerted effort.

The OP is a fast and fit bloke!

 

[Alien8]

If you're interested in how your own fitness is improving you need to record your stats over the same routes over an extended period of time. Seasonal variations etc can have a large impact so you need to consider this as well. If you want to compare yourself with others you need to ride with them. Faster than some and slower than others applies to everbody.

 

[reacher]

18mph average is bloody good over 60 miles. You need not aim for that at all...when I first started I was doing something like 15mph on my own over 20 miles and that was tough.

I did a club run on Monday which was tough for me and we did something around 20-21mph average, that is in a well organised group. I then averaged just over 18mph on a 20 mile 'training' route by myself, but that was concerted effort.

The OP is a fast and fit bloke!

that would depend , if its a flat route its a huge differance between that and a hilly route thats why i asked ,
not that i'm saying its not good , i was just interested ,
but the other comment about bike computers intrigued me , surely as a cyclist you would want to know how far you had gone and at what pace , that would be like playing squash and not keeping score ,

 

[BigTone0777]

18mph average??!! Flippin eck.... I've been riding for about a year (with a break through the winter....) and I still only average about 11-12mph.
Fair play.....

Only been back at it for a few weeks but 11-12 mph is good going for me too

 

[david k]

I have been cycling for two months now and is strange as my muscles ache like no other! Not like running anyway (Runner by trade) Anyway, I started off with a few 10 milers in the first few weeks then two weeks ago did a few 30 milers and did a 68 miler on Saturday. I am averaging 18 mph which feels really slow. That and irritates me that I am passed by the club riders with me being competitive. As I am riding solo and conscious that the clubs will be too quick is there any beginners clubs I could go to? (Live in Bolton)


How quick does it take to improve this? Also 68 miles is short for a number of riders so how long does it take to get used to 100 mile + distances?


Look forward to your advice. . .


Kind regards


Onepedalaway

gee thats quick! 18mph, im struggling to get 14mph over 10 miles! im not letting it get me down, it is what it is. my rides are getting easier and ever so slightly quicker, for me thats progress, the distances will follow

yes i ache as well!

 

[briantrumpet]

If you're interested in how your own fitness is improving you need to record your stats over the same routes over an extended period of time. Seasonal variations etc can have a large impact so you need to consider this as well. If you want to compare yourself with others you need to ride with them. Faster than some and slower than others applies to everbody.

Indeed. Every time someone posts about average speed, there will be others who say it's irrelevant - too many variables, blah, blah, blah - but if you just want to push yourself and improve, they are a good and simple way to log your progress, and to set yourself targets.

My greatest cycling pleasures come from solo cycling over various distances and seeing how far I can push myself in those circumstances. I'm not interested in TTing (10/25 miles along roads purely chosen for speed - e.g, dual carriageways), or the tactics of group riding/racing. Keeping a record of my average speeds for various runs certainly has seen a significant improvement in my speeds over the past six months or so, not least because the target-setting gives me an added incentive to get out on the bike often.

 

[al-fresco]

I find that the easiest way for me to improve my average speed is simply to alter the wheel size in my bike computer... now, how fast would I like to go today...

 

[WychwoodTrev]

Excellent topic this please keep us up to date with you performance please.
I too am a relative newbie around 2 months of regular riding started with 3 - 4 mile rides av 12 mph a week built up to 3 15 mile rides and now looking at doing a longer ride at weekends too, On the 15 mile rides I av 15 to 16 mph
The reason I am looking so closely at my av speed is one of my localish clubs go out for 80 mile rides and there av speed is 17.5mph so until I am close I wont bother trying to go out with them as I will get dropped or slow them down and I dont want to be a burden on them

 

[reacher]

thats the problem one performance is not like another , my rides have over 3000 foot of climbs in them , so its hard to compare unless you put all the stats together , when i started at the beginning of this month thats what i thought , but you soon realise that one long steep hill can take the steam right out of your legs compared to a steady incline , or riding into a head wind up a long hill , personally i'm not convinced that quantity equals quality in terms of distance covered , i'v done a couple of rides and tacked an extra 10 miles on the end and they are definately not quality training miles ,

 

[cloggsy]

I'm a relative newbie & I average just over 17 mph on my 12.8 mile journey to work; my journey takes me 45 minutes.

18 mph is quick IMHO! I'm improving & hope to be getting quicker eventually, but easy does it

 

[400bhp]

It appears to be the people new to cycling who believe avg speed is up there.

It'll wear off.

If you want to look at average speeds, then enter time trials.

 

[400bhp]

(10/25 miles along roads purely chosen for speed - e.g, dual carriageways),

Sigh: lots of rubbish talked on here at the moment.

 

[adam23]

it took me ages to get upto 18mph average and the first time i did i was nearly sick and couldnt get off my bike my
energy levels were shot and that was 65 miles i dont think i could have gone on any more.
best i have done is 20mph for 2hrs or 40 miles and i couldnt go any more so fair play your are well up there
for speed and as the others have said dont be down dy the clubs going past its just the slipstream of the peleton

 

[amnesia]

I managed only 15.0 mph average over 45 miles today, although that did include quite a lot of gradient and a 27.8% climb at one point !!!

 

[david k]

i was worried about getting a computer as i didnt want to get bogged down with times. i want to enjoy cycling and was worried it would get to competitive with a computer and i would start trying harder and enjoying less. i eventually got one anyway and for a time it did happen
ive now refocussed and remind myself to enjoy not work too hard, thing is its hardly affected the times anyway!!!