Road Bike Speed

[Hacienda71]

Hope this is in the right forum. Having got into cycling this year to increase my fitness levels, I seem to becoming a little obsessive about recording my miles and speed, but riding on my own in general i wonder about other peoples speeds. I see a lot of posts from people saying that they do bursts at thirty mph or the high twenties and on 10 mile time trials people are clearly averaging well over twenty, but on cyclelogs there don't seem to be many people over 18 mph let alone 20, so is all the chat just banter and bravado or do the really competitive riders not bother with cyclogs. by the way i am not implying i will ever be a quick cyclist just wondered what the reality is and what club riders do.

 

[marinyork]

Some people exaggerate a bit, some people do those speeds but not for sustained (average means average) and some of the people even on cyclogs are exceptionally quick. Some pretty strong riders on there have quite low averages as they live in hillier areas or just slow commutes. And some of us are just slow anyway.

LOL I see you have an average of 17.02mph for this month.

 

[BarryP]

i'm pretty new back to cycling. Currently average 13-14 pmh

 

[Wavey]

Cyclogs ? Who, what, where, when?

 

[gaz]

Living in london means my commute has 102 traffic lights for 13.5miles. anyone who can get an average speed of over 17mph on that run is more than likely a nutter.

+ my weekend runs are also in and around london, which again means i'm not pedalling for prolonged period of time, and can't keep my speed up due to traffic and stopping and starting.

+ my mentality is, don't put the hammer down unless you know you don't have to stop/slow down

 

[on the road]

When they say bursts of 30 mph, they mean doing 30 for maybe a minute or 2. But it's not big white lies, it is possible to do 30 for a short time, just not all the time. I can do over 30mph on the flat giving the right conditions, if I've got a strong tailwind then I can keep that speed up for as long as I have that tailwind, once I lose the tailwind then I slow down.

As for time trials, it is possible to average over 20mph, because the route is carefully chosen.

Find yourself a 10 mile circular route with no traffic lights and no right turns, see what kind of average you get.

 

[Garz]

I can give you an example. I average about 18mph on a flat route for 22 miles, this is my mean speed over that distance at about 75% intensity. I log this on cyclogs.

I also log on cyclogs the rides I do with friends and other CC members, and as we are a social bunch not racing off leaving others behind it means I do say 30-50 miles at a much slower 14mph.

This doesnt bother me as im only logging my mileage, if I could differentiate between solo 'going for it' rides and slow pootles you would see my real average. Another example is arran who does lots of TT and I know he's not slow but his average is also 16mph on cyclogs as he rides with other members and probably doesn't feel the need to impress.

The only time I look at my av speed in more detail is to compare the same rides together or the odd check that I havnt slowed down however as its a mixed bag of social and serious rides it's really a poor estimate.

 

[Randochap]

As others have noted, speed -- average and maximum -- depends very much on topography and conditions (hills and weather).

There is much misunderstanding about average speed and more than a little exaggeration on the internet.

For myself, when in shape, I will average 30kph over the same distance. Over the long distances I enjoy riding -- say 600km -- I will average 25 km/h on the bike. However, my true average over the 35 hours I usually take for that distance is 17 km/h.

At whatever distance, often people report the average their computer gives, without mentioning that they stopped for cake 3 times. If your computer has a manual setting (Cateye Enduro8 does), this gives a real average of the speed over the total time spent to complete the distance.

I should comment though that as interesting as stats are, my real reason for cycling and my love of the sport is not collecting numbers, but watching the scenery and my thoughts in response roll by.

 

[snorri]

Cyclogs ? Who, what, where, when?

www.cyclogs.co.uk

 

[addictfreak]

I think there maybe a few who exaggerate a tad. I generally average 18-19mph and its extremely rare that im passed by anyone.

Even doing 18-19 depends on straight runs etc with not too many big hills

 

[Hacienda71]

I can give you an example. I average about 18mph on a flat route for 22 miles, this is my mean speed over that distance at about 75% intensity. I log this on cyclogs.

I also log on cyclogs the rides I do with friends and other CC members, and as we are a social bunch not racing off leaving others behind it means I do say 30-50 miles at a much slower 14mph.

This doesnt bother me as im only logging my mileage, if I could differentiate between solo 'going for it' rides and slow pootles you would see my real average. Another example is arran who does lots of TT and I know he's not slow but his average is also 16mph on cyclogs as he rides with other members and probably doesn't feel the need to impress.

The only time I look at my av speed in more detail is to compare the same rides together or the odd check that I havnt slowed down however as its a mixed bag of social and serious rides it's really a poor estimate.

I appreciate that in different scenarios you ride at vastly different speeds. When i commute my rides are slower due to heavy traffic and the fact i have to cycle through quite hilly terrain to get to the office or if i go out on my old rigid mountain bike it is slower. While a weekend ride will be across the cheshire plain with little or no traffic and hills and i tend to use my road bike. I suppose the intention of my post is to see what speed a good amateur, club will ride at, as if you look at cyclogs and and read peoples posts you tend to get a distorted figure.

Also as said cycling is about enjoying getting out on the bike not speeds. Although going that little farther or faster than the month before is definitely motivation to work harder and improve your fitness.

 

[Alangh]

Being what you might call a mature cyclist of three score years and a bit, I have always been concerned with my cycling speed. I started cycling at the age of 14 and joined my first club at 15 and have been riding on and off ever since. Speed in the 60's was important as we were racers so riding a 25 mile race in 1 hour was the goal. Not too many people at club level could maintain that pace and I only managed to record just under the hour with 1 hour and 7 seconds towards the end of my career.
General riding at club level was around the 15 miles per hour mark and when i go out now a leasurely 15 miles an hour is fast enough if I can manage it. Having said that it is still arse up and head down for a few miles. Dont worry about the speed, enjoy the riding, it is a great sport.

 

[addictfreak]

I appreciate that in different scenarios you ride at vastly different speeds. When i commute my rides are slower due to heavy traffic and the fact i have to cycle through quite hilly terrain to get to the office or if i go out on my old rigid mountain bike it is slower. While a weekend ride will be across the cheshire plain with little or no traffic and hills and i tend to use my road bike. I suppose the intention of my post is to see what speed a good amateur, club will ride at, as if you look at cyclogs and and read peoples posts you tend to get a distorted figure.

Also as said cycling is about enjoying getting out on the bike not speeds. Although going that little farther or faster than the month before is definitely motivation to work harder and improve your fitness.

I have looked at joining a couple of clubs, and thats the question I always ask (dont want to be left behind). Depending on the size of the club, you will often find they have a couple of groups which go out on rides and one group will always be slower and you will not be left behind..
The groups i looked at usually have average speeds of 15-16 and 18-19. Just need to get my lazy arse in gear and get up early on a sunday!

 

[Garz]

I appreciate that in different scenarios you ride at vastly different speeds.
...
I suppose the intention of my post is to see what speed a good amateur, club will ride at, as if you look at cyclogs and and read peoples posts you tend to get a distorted figure.

Yes, you just observed an odd statistical piece of data that doesnt really reflect all aspects. The guys with over 16mph average will tend to be only logging (or never ride casually) the training type mileage.

Also as said cycling is about enjoying getting out on the bike not speeds. Although going that little farther or faster than the month before is definitely motivation to work harder and improve your fitness.

Just use it as a tool when your working on specific improvements buddy. I find that if I start pushing myself too much and worrying about other peoples speeds it tends to make the whole cycling experience more of a chore than actually 'fun'.

 

[jimboalee]

More Jimbo mumbo-jumbo.

On a journey of 10 miles, there are thirty instances where I might be forced to stop. I call them 'Stop Junctions'. Traffic lights, T, Islands etc.
There are twenty 10m contours which are uphill. These are 'Slow spots'.

My cruising speed is a steady 20 mph round a cycle track with no stopping.

That means I COULD ride the 10 miles in 30 minutes ( in perfect conditions where I am not required to stop ).

For every 'Stop junction' and 'Slow spot', add on 1% to the time.

So for the 10 mile trip with fifty 'Stop junctions' + 'Slow spots', I would expect to finish in 45mins at an overall average of 13.33 mph.


Puts tin hat on and waits for the sirens.