Measuring your average speed over 5 miles barely tells any kind of picture, other than to prove, surprise surprise, you were quicker on a road bike than on your MTB…

5 flattish miles, on a nice day, no wind, head down, feeling fresh… Could get 25-26mph avg for sure.

Back in reality where my rides are longer, conditions much more variable, and hills exist, avg ride speeds vary from 12mph (60 miles in the Peaks in December in sleet and snow!) to about 19mph (Our Thursday night training runs peak around this pace in the middle of summer on around 30 mile loops). But I’m merely very average on a road bike, have no pretensions of grandeur, and am not about to cut out the pies/chips/cider to lose 2 stone to make me a competitive weight as I just enjoy riding the things!

I don’t really ride on the road. Oldnpastit took me out back in the summer with a few of his mates (I think there were a couple of fixed bikes and a SS) for a ride. I borrowed a mate’s Boardman and set off thinking I would be OK, but bonked more than Katie Price and couldnt walk the next day. 18.4mph over 87 miles with a mere 550ft of climbing and I held everyone up. If he is oldnpastit I have no hope 🙁

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

Depends on your commute…

My colleague (who’s quicker than me) has done the 6 miles from his house to work, in bang on 18 minutes, so a 20mph avg… On his Mountain Bike!

I’ve done the same route a few times (I live 1/2 a mile closer than he does, but on the same route) on my road bike, and have just about nudged high 19’s on my road bike a couple of times. The route is undulating, no big climbs, but enough in there for you to notice that it’s not a flat route.

Change it for a flat route, and 3mph extra would be no problem whatsoever…

Most of my road riding is in the Peak District where 1000ft of climbing for every 10 miles is common. If I get near 15mph average I’m very chuffed.

Most rides are solo at 15-18mph which involves roughly 1000ft climbing per 10 miles.
There’s a hill in every direction…
Not fast but not slow..

It’s always a race.

I’m gonna have to agree with Gary here

I don’t know if you’ve ever cycled down the curry mile in Rusholme. Racing down there is total madness (I witness people doing this and almost getting hit most mornings/evenings).

If I lived somewhere a bit nicer then I’m sure I’d race, so I correct my initial statement to “Stay safe on your busy urban commute folks, it’s not a race”.

Means nothing without details like weather, route profile.

Ok wasn’t trying to brag, just chuffed with the new bike and time for my commute, seems like it wasn’t a bad time.

It is a sunny day, light mainly tail wind about 1mile of climb and the same down hill rest on the flat perfect conditions really.

As i said the best time on my MTB with slick tires was 15min and that was with a good going tail wind. It has taken me 30miniutes with head wind & rain.

I’m very much the same as chapaking, Gary m and iainc on the road bike, although I’m hoping my turbo work over the winter will give me a bit of a boost on the road, but I’d still rather be out on the mtb than the road bike 🙂

I’m lucky if I can manage 24/25kph on my commute.

I haven’t ridden a proper road ride for a while to see what sort of average I can do without traffic lights, cycle paths, suicidal school kids & mental drivers causing evasive action on a near daily basis.

I expect I would be pleased if I could average 30kph over a couple of hours 🙂

It’s a pretty pointless metric

Maybe useful for the OP to get a range of responses with context though.

I don’t know if you’ve ever cycled down the curry mile in Rusholme. Racing down there is total madness (I witness people doing this and almost getting hit most mornings/evenings).

If they get knocked off, they’re pretty easy to overtake.

Not as fast as it used to be but still faster than some (but not others).

87 miles with a mere 550ft of climbing

Is that even possible!?

My colleague (who’s quicker than me) has done the 6 miles from his house to work, in bang on 18 minutes, so a 20mph avg… On his Mountain Bike!

That’s not particularly tough though, unless it’s a V10! I can do that on my Superfly without much difficulty if I feel the need, I rarely do though!

I don’t know if you’ve ever cycled down the curry mile in Rusholme. Racing down there is total madness (I witness people doing this and almost getting hit most mornings/evenings).

I was kidding, having done a lot of commuting in Central London I certainly don’t race everywhere, and actually commuter racing heroes are a real PITA. I’m not passing someone to prove a point, so when they start changing up gears, trying to get back past and drafting and what not it really irritates me. I’m happy bimbling along at my pace, some folk will be quicker, I will be quicker than some folk!

Very rarely ride my roadbike for less than 20miles but there happens to be a 5 mile Strava segment of the a flat road between my house and my daughters. A mate challenged me to do it in under 10min which at first seemed out of reach.. That was about 2 years ago. I’d have to check but I think my PB is now around 9min 20.
Average for a 2 hr ride is only about 20mph

I’m happy bimbling along at my pace, some folk will be quicker, I will be quicker than some folk!

Couldn’t agree more, my 15year old is faster than me! But i am 42 and balding 😐

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

I forgot to mention I’m doing it on a singlespeed!

But I wasn’t faster with gears, just wasted effort trying to get in the right gear. Would help if I was trying I guess

I was kidding, having done a lot of commuting in Central London I certainly don’t race everywhere, and actually everyone wanting to race all the time is a real PITA. I’m not passing someone to prove a point, so when they start changing up gears, trying to get back past and drafting and what not it really irritates me.

Ah fair enough and I agree.

I think my PB is now around 9min 20.

In the morning if my face is a little puffy I’ll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now.

How much difference do tyres and bike make? I’m currently building up for the Etape Loch Ness in April. Was out at the weekend on my commuter Boardman CX with 28mm Schwalbe Marathons, did 30 miles and averaged 14mph. My only aim is to do the 66 miles at the minimum average 13mph (the closed course opens to traffic after that) Different tyres are probably a given but will a proper road bike make any odds?

a 5 mile Strava segment of the a flat road between my house and my daughters. A mate challenged me to do it in under 10min which at first seemed out of reach.. That was about 2 years ago. I’d have to check but I think my PB is now around 9min 20.
Average for a 2 hr ride is only about 20mph

I feel a swoon coming on.

I’m currently building up for the Etape Loch Ness in April.

Often driven that road when the race is on and don’t envy the riders with traffic weaving in and out.

I put a set of 80psi slick speed tires on my hardtail and it made an unreal difference on the road over MTB tires.

Prudential Ride London, shortened to 86 miles of complete flatness: 18.43 mph solo.

Typical Lancashire ride: 36 miles and 3,045 feet of climb: 13.30 mph solo.

I’m 59.

I’m 59.

Aw bless. WOULD YOU LIKE A CUP OF TEA, LOVE?!
😀

local dartmoor riding with proper hills and stuff. 12-15mph depending on fitness.

ride london last year 19.7mph.

I put my speedo bike computer thing in km, cos bigger numbers must be better.

It’s always a race

Then expect to get hit by a car at some point. Without exception, every time I do a fast commute in traffic I have a near miss with either a car or a pedestrian. As a result I very rarely push it on the commute now, and the difference is only about 5-10 minutes over the 24 miles.

16mph ish for me on an average ride. Average for me will be 40 – 50 miles, moderately hilly (4000ft of climbing or there abouts) and solo. If I’m pushing myself, 18mph is not uncommon.

Commute, 40 miles each way, 2000ft of climbing is much closer to 14mph…unless I see another rider close by or I feel fresh then it goes up a touch as, well, it’s a race isn’t it!

Commute, 40 miles each way, 2000ft of climbing is much closer to 14mph.

Do you really spend almost 6 hours a day commuting?

Then expect to get hit by a car at some point. Without exception, every time I do a fast commute in traffic I have a near miss with either a car or a pedestrian. As a result I very rarely push it on the commute now, and the difference is only about 5-10 minutes over the 24 miles.

My racing comment was firmly tongue in cheek. I’ve been commuting by bike for a good few years, I see the ‘racers’ every year as soon as the decent weather comes. They don’t last long.

Solo century last summer 16.5mph av.
Solo 30 – 40 milers usually around 17mph.
Club runs same distance 17 – 18mph ( can be 10/12 riders )
Pyrennes holidays were 10 – 12mph .

I feel a swoon coming on.

Oh he’s back! I read the comment before post being commented on and immediately knew who you must be responding to 😆

If you want a meaningful average speed metric then you could do the following:

– pick a flattish route with as few junctions/stops as possible.
– Make it a there & back to ensure no overall elevation change.
– Make the course ~10 miles
– ride the route as fast as you can
– ride it over and over again trying to beat your own time.

If you do all of the above then CONGRATULATIONS – you’ve become a time trialler. You are now exempt from expressing any joy in your life ever again.

Then moan it’s not as fast as the course in Hull, and wonder “what would wiggins do”

I really meant use Strava to capture the segment the OP was commuting on..

Thereby instantly knowing if he’s pacing a moped or got his Musette caught on the back of a Bin Lorry.

😉

Do you really spend almost 6 hours a day commuting?

3 days per week, yes I do. I get the train in Monday and Friday to drop in clean clothes and take dirties away then cycle the other days. Occasionally I’ll only ride in half way and get the train but I try to not do this more than once a month.

Monday to Friday, for me at least is either working or commuting. Thankfully my lifestyle allows this.

Such a meaty topic this one 😀

I was definitely NOT faster when I first went roadie. It took a few months of riding it regularly to beat my Mtb speeds on regular road routes of 15-30 miles. Also, that strength was then not that transferable back to my Mtb. (Btw, I don’t care if that’s not true for you, it IS true for me, so bugger off back to MTBR if you want to argue 😀 )

Anyway, anything over 19mph solo over more than say 10 miles is quick to me- it’s a waste not to be racing some kind of discipline if you’re that fast IMO 🙂

I think you only earn the right to be called “quick” by other people- so I’ll start by saying that there MrBlobby, he’s quick in case you are wondering 🙂

Veloviewer says in 2015, i did 8430.2km, 40,367m of climbing, average moving speed was 30.1kph, 99.9% of my rides are solo,

302km was the longest ride, 10:01:05 moving time, 30.2kph average, only 1400m of climbing though,

Bastards the lot of you. Its now blatantly obvious I’m the slowest rider on here 😥

Commuting is different, I often plod more on the commute

Commuting is training (see lap 2). And yes, I do try and average over 20 mph. Averaging 23 mph on a commute would require huge efforts or a slope.

For my longer commute with more traffic, I have seen 18.5 mph (including stopping), but exceeding 20 is not possible.

To borrow from Stifs latest hash tag.

#wellbastardfast

That is all.

There some quick riders on here, 19/20mph average will put you firmly in the fast group of most clubs.