A few months ago, I mentioned a 25-ish kilometre loop that I was doing on my road bike, which some on here (not necessarily derisively) implied was a bit of a ‘pootle’.

Now I would like your estimates as to how long it would take you to do the following:

29.03 kms with 428 metres of climbing

assuming average wind conditions, no rain, and two or three traffic lights, on a road bike on a cold-ish day.

I would just like to gauge my performance against what you would expect. If people post realistic estimates, I will post my time from today’s ride somewhere below.

About an hour and 10 minutes. Pretty much all my road riding is in zone 2 heart rate, so by no means fast, and I average about 15-16mph.

Around an hour.

I’d be aiming for just over an hour

Bit over an hour if I tried hard.

Yep, an hour and change.

Between an hour and an hour ten.

that’s a lot of climbing for 29km – I’d be aiming for an hour.

I’d hope to manage that in just under an hour (when fit, which I’m not at the moment).

60-70 minutes depending on how much riding I’d been doing recently. Maybe a few minutes more if the climbs are nasty.

that’s a lot of climbing for 29km – I’d be aiming for an hour.

I’m glad you said that. It feels like a lot of climbing. But I am also amazed, in light of it, that people are thinking they could do it in an hour.

My own time today was 1h17m, and as I left the second major climb behind me, I got a fierce cramp down my right side. I had forgotten my water bottle, and was wondering if it was a result of dehydration.

About 45 mins (10 years ago and minus three stone).

Nowadays on my croix de fer looking at last few rides of around the same distance around 1hr ten mins. Same as chap above 16mph average generally. That’s with 40 mm continental supremes and as I said, a heavy steel comfy commuter.

Oh and maybe a bit less if I didnt Wear baggies… But you will never see me dead in lycra.

With a super lightweight carbon bike with fitted sky team kit… I reckon 1hr 5 mins possible 🙂

I’d be between an hour and hour 10 I reckon depending on how much I tried. 30kph average is definitely on my limit.

I’m glad you said that. It feels like a lot of climbing. But I am also amazed, in light of it, that people are thinking they could do it in an hour.

I’d have thought an hour would easily be achievable for someone pretty fit on a road bike.

Not sure what I could do it in though…..an hour? Hopefully less!

EDIT; actually, traffic lights can make or break it!

equivalent loop here is 17.9mi – so almost same.
However – the elevation diff is 625 feet – which is a good deal less than 428 m

For the loop above _ just got under 1 hour and was pushing pretty hard for that. With the extra climbing – no way I’d get under an hour..

I don’t have a computer, so my time is an estimate. It seems, though, that I have some work to do!

Just read your comment, kcal. That makes me feel a bit better.

I’ve just had a look at an equivalent loop here….

Just over 32km with 660m of climbing. A mate did it in just over 50 minutes a while back. Gethin Butler did it in just over 47 minutes!

Yep, I’d be aiming for under an hour for that length and type of ride.

Just had a flick back through strava and closest I could find was 29k with just over 500m of climbing in 1.13.

Couldn’t do it now though today’s ride was the first time on a bike in 6 weeks! Wouldn’t say 1.17 was slow that’s quite a bit of climbing.

Yeh, 1:17 by no means slow for what seems like quite a bit of climbing for a short ride.

I’m glad you said that. It feels like a lot of climbing. But I am also amazed, in light of it, that people are thinking they could do it in an hour.

An hour is pretty quick for that. It’s hard to say without riding it of course, but I have a similar climbing profile on my local loops and often head out for a similar distance. And if I come back with an average speed of 18mph on my Garmin, I’m quite pleased with myself. That’s me fully fit at the height of summer training for TTs…

Anything under an hour would be fast. I guess your averagely fit cyclist would do about 1.10, 1.20.

Depends how heavy you are too. A bit of extra weight will make a big difference, and could easily have you outside of that, even if you’re fit.

I reckon a bit over an hour if I went for it. I can do 33km with 300m climbing approx in an hour here but the rest of the ride is invariably a bit slower after that as it ruins me.

Under an hour. But it is relative

I have a couple of evening hilly loops I do through summer where I maintain the same pace for 3 hours.

https://www.strava.com/activities/316964313

Looked back at a similar loop I did fairly regularly last year as a nighttime training ride (this was during Feb and March): 35Km with 540m of ascent which took me 1hr20 +/- a couple of minutes. So for me riding alone that’s roughly 16mins/per 5Km which would mean around 1hr5mins for your loop.

1:17 isn’t slow, but I’ve checked my Strava now, and found a loop of 28.9km with 370m climb which I did in under 59 minutes (when far from my fittest), so my suggestion of under an hour doesn’t seem unreasonable.

I have a 22km route with 487m of ascent. 55 to 60 mins. I don’t pootle it, but haven’t really spanked it!

So your route probably an hour and ten.

It can depend on the type of climbing though.

I do a regular loop, 29km with only about 100m climbing

takes me 52-60 min depending on wind etc (KoM, out of 100 riders, is 47m)

I’m 50 and not very fast – my weight (and a bit more fitness) is the major factor in my times I think (always lose wt in summer). Yours would take me over an hour easily.

1:12:34.5

Id be aiming for under an hour.. depends on the gradients involved and how hard you are going for it

Well I’m a fat biffa and one of my loops is

Distance 37.2km
Time 1:16:54
Avg Speed 29.1km/h
Elevation 422m

Now based on similar elevation and average speed take 8km off that it would take……

…….59mins and 45secs

thats my commute…. so an hour plus minus 15 minutes based on 5 years of data – quickest being 45 minutes – longest direct ride home about 1 hour 15….

The closest I could find in my strava from this year. Windy and solo.
29.5km
554m climbing
59 mins

I always think I’m slow because I can never manage the 20+ mph average that people boast about on here. This thread is making me feel a lot better. Mind you, I couldn’t do that time now – I’ve already started laying the personal winter insulation down.

Went out today and did 50k at 25kph average

I’m not the fastest or the slowest but pretty average I think

1h05 maybe.. a lot depends on junctions, roundabouts, lights etc. Maybe an hour, I’d be reasonably pleased with that.

I’m very much on the up part of a fitness curve, but around 1.15 judging by similar Strava efforts

Depends how straight and steep the descents are. You never make all your climbing time back, but if the ascents are steep and short and the descents long but shallow, so averaging 40kph downhill say, 50mins is quite doable. If on the other hand the ascents are long and draggy and the descents steep and technical, it could be considerably slower (unless your name’s Vincenzo).

Just looked at my strava, only ones close are 26k/730m, 35km/566 and 25k/543.

They were all between 1hr 5 and 1hr 30 (which was the 35km/566m ride which included the Rhigos mountain which is 300 in one go).

Living in the south wales valleys its always climbing but traffic is a big problem too keeping speed up. My commute home is 22.5km and 300m takes abuout 50-60 minutes most due to traffic.