Roadies whats your average speed?

I cycle every day, always been MTB which is increasingly on the road. So took the plunge and just bought my first road bike (2nd hand off a fellow STW member) to give it a try. Had a good clear run to work today and averaged 23mph if my maths is right 5 miles in 13 minutes? This is 2 minutes faster than my best ever time on the MTB so well chuffed! 😀

Just wondering what speed you seasoned roadies average to give me something to aim for?

My last road ride was 112 mile at an average on 19.8 mph. But that was after a 2.4 mile swim and just before running a marathon.

I’m just gonna get in early here and say my last proper road ride was 38mph average, for 915 miles, but I did have a broken leg, and a cold.

Back on planet earth… 23mph is very quick, but 5 miles is absolutely nothing, so hard to really draw any meaningful conclusions!

Depends on distance and terrain.
A flat 20 miles may average around 20+mph.
A hilly 20 miles may average 12mph plus.

I only use my road bike to commute 4.5km 🙂 average speed is normally 20 something km/h, but this is through Rusholme and any faster is certain death by bus or taxi (Stay safe on your commute folks, it’s not a race).

Normally around 27kmh for 1-2 hr bumpy ride

And wind direction.

And solo or in a group.

Silly Q really.

Once, when I knew that if I bust a gut, I took my fixie on a 5 mile thrash from work to the train station (when I worked in Pompey) in just over 10 minutes…
This was traffic filled streets etc..

I skidded up to the train, SPDs sparking on the platform, jumped on just as the train doors were shutting, and was a bit sick in my mouth.

So, about 40ph.

DrP

Yeah, depends.

One of my (fairly flat) commutes in the wind just after Christmas was absolutely flat out at an average speed of 13.4mph. I’ve done one 10 mile flat TT at around 24-25mph, and a hilly 11 mile one at an average of 19 or so, both without much wind.

If I get a run on the lights and not too much traffic on the way to work, my average goes up by 1-2mph.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you saw more of an improvement than that with a bit more luck with wind etc.

My flat commute can see me average around 18mph with very little climbing but my ride on Saturday saw me struggle to average 15mph, but it did have 2000m of climbing!

Comparisons of answers are going to be unrealistic.

Anything between 17 and 20 mph over anything from 45 to 80 miles with 200 to 1500 metres of climbing among friends or sometimes solo on a windy or not-very-windy day.

Any combination of the above.

15 to 17mph, always hilly and solo.

Usually 20 to 50 miles covered.

BM’d thread for interesting comments..

*Grawls “STRAVA”

If you are seriously interested that’s the place to look, take what you see with a few grains of salt mind..

😆

My last road ride was 112 mile at an average on 19.8 mph. But that was after a 2.4 mile swim and just before running a marathon.

Good effort, I could only manage 17mph avg on IMUK last year, I did have to stop numerous times for the toilet due to stomach ‘issues’ though…… 😕

averaged 23mph if my maths is right 5 miles in 13 minutes?

Means nothing without details like weather, route profile.

I’m similar stats to chakaping if we were looking at averages of averages.

Thread bookmarked as should be fun

If you are seriously interested that’s the place to look, take what you see with a few grains of salt mind..

Why? Does anyone actually cheat on Strava? A lot of people seem to think it happens, particularly those a long way down leaderboards, but I think it’s just a coping mechanism for being slow 🙂

A pitiful 17mph on a good day. I don’t even do long rides, 30 mile max. Don’t get how you lot get it so much higher! Been riding road bikes for ages now and still can’t improve my average, how do you do it?

Anything from 16 mph on a commute to 28.9 mph in a race. It was a hard race!

My fixed wheel road bike is geared for 19.6 mph at 90 rpm, which makes slow riding quite hard for me because I’m a natural spinner with optimal cadence for power of 103 rpm.

Nope. I’m slow! 😳

Actually my position on Strava leader boards varies from top ten to nearly last depending on, well just about anything and everything really. I might know the segment so “go for it”; I might have only ridden it once and had a mechanical in the middle; I might have stopped five metres before the end of the segment. The only person who’s interested in my times is me.

I’m usually 16 – 18mph over 30 – 60 miles on my usual routes.

I’m not that fast on my road bike, but I quite enjoy bimbling about on it…unless it’s into a head wind. I usuall sulk then.

I pootle along at 13mph………..why rush. 😀

I like these threads to see what figures everyone else puts in

I don’t like them cos it highlights how slow I am

14.6mph on this mornings commute, just over an hour. In my defence, I was enjoying myself, bimbling along and listening to music, but if I was pushing myself I’d only go about 1mph faster! Its largely flat – 473ft of elevation

normally 21-22 kph. 20-200 km makes no odds. fastest 26 kph/ 160 km killed me though.

5 mile rides one way with a tailwind 23mph, everything else 15-20 mph.

14.6mph on this mornings commute, just over an hour. In my defence, I was enjoying myself, bimbling along and listening to music, but if I was pushing myself I’d only go about 1mph faster! Its largely flat – 473ft of elevation

Nowt wrong with that! Commuting is different, I often plod more on the commute, and agree that the increase in effort to go fast often isn’t commensurate with the increase in speed!

Ooh great, a willy waving thread 😀

It’s a pretty pointless metric as it’s so dependent on terrain and conditions. More sensible to ask what your average w/kg 🙂

Same as chapaking and Gary M. Indeed, yesterday was 24 hilly soggy miles at an average of 15.1, heavy bike with cx tyres. On a fit summer day on good bike I can do same route at 18.5…

Only 13-15 mph on my 6/7 mile commute but a singlespeed road bike in my defence and some naughty footpaths to boot 😯

More sensible to ask what your average w/kg

Mine’s 17.9.

You meant 1 second right!?

Mine’s 17.9.

You meant 1 second right!?

For a ride 🙂

anything over 17mph average for hilly terrain is good.

That’s equivalent to a sub-7 hour Fred Whitton, roughly.

Ooh great, a willy waving thread

[/quote]Mine’s 17.9.

Well i can’t compete there 😆

My commute can be horrendously slow sometimes, winters night into a strong headwind it can take me 90 minutes to slog out the 20 miles. Summers evening light breeze and I can do it in an hour (52.24 fastest ever), same route different conditions. Weather changes everything.

Stay safe on your commute folks, it’s not a race.

Of course it’s a race. That’s what commuting is for. I’m so slowsad mind that only women on upright trad frames wearing normal clothes get passed. 😳

Average over last year (5730 commuting miles) was 17.8mph. That includes, hills, the endless fething headwind across Bristol and the need to stop at crossings for fear of my life.

My fastest commute was 12 miles in 27 mins, but that was a with a clear run and managing to draft a bus at over 40mph for the 2 miles between Pucklechurch and Emersons Green.

Stay safe on your commute folks, it’s not a race.

It’s always a race.

It’s a pretty pointless metric as it’s so dependent on terrain and conditions.

so much this.

Average anywhere from 12-25mph depending on length, wind, gravity, solo or group, which is > 100% difference between slowest and fastest.

But as a general set of rules on an average solo rolling Devon ride:

my bimbling speed is 12-15mph
my cruising speed is 15-17mph
my ‘trying’ speed is 17-19mph
my ‘busting a gut’ over short distances speed is 19-25mph

+1-3 mph for group ride

Obviously the shorter and less upwards the ride the nearer the high end of those ranges it is, and the longer and more climby it is the lower.

…to give me something to aim for

Aim for keeping that 23mph average up over a 50mile rolling 5,000ft of elevation. let us know how you get on 😉

For a ride

Yes, it was a 1 second ride 🙂

It’s always a race.

I’m gonna have to agree with Gary here, and look at anyone who says “it’s not a race” in a slightly disgusted way, like an outcast child, one with bodily odour.

My 12 mile commute (mostly flat) is usually around the 15mph territory according to the bike computer (which doesn’t include time spent stopped at traffic lights, and I do stop at traffic lights!! 😉 )

Pretty much what TiRed says to be honest.

Some rides average about 13, some much more.
On a commute anything from 13-15mph through London.
Solo 60-70 miles flat(3,000ft climbing-ish) around 19-20mph. Group similar due to faffing.
Hilly (1,000ft climbing per 10 miles)around 17mph Solo.

Riding slower is great fun actually if you don’t need to go quick, see much more and generally enjoy it more.

Back to the OP, 23mph on a commute is quick. NO WAY would I ever see that speed.