Average Speeds

I’d love to average 20mph (or even 15) but as most of my rides a around 20 miles with 1000m of climbing I’m pleased if I see 12mph.

True that! (fwiw 1000m is approx 3200ft, 1600ft per 10 miles)

Curently averaging 1600ft per 12miles on the Quantocks. (1333 per 10 miles) Avg speed of about 6mph 😀 (fastest of about 30 depending on the descent!)

The group in the Mendips I sometimes ride with do roughly 1800 ft over 16 miles. I really struggle with their route up, which can kill me for the rest of their ride – so am making a real effort to put some decent climbs in my routes, I’m definitely improving.

But I think its important to vary where you ride too. Partly so you see progress when you visit a climb again.

Interesting. I’m in my mid forties and I know I’m overweight by up to 10kg right now (currently around 85kg and just worked out BMI at 26.6 😯 ) I tend to avoid these sort of posts but it seems I’m not too far off the OP who’s been called out on size and fitness by a few posters so far.

I’ve recently started Garmin & Strava’ing my commute after playing idly with it a couple of times and getting the bug. I spent several months off the bike earlier this year due to injuries and managed to forget about cutting my eating. Ho hum.

Anyway, I habitually ride on the hoods, my bike is a fairly heavy steel CX with average wheels and 28’s, geared CX style 36/46 front and 11-28 back.

My commute is between 4 and 5 miles depending upon exact route (varies) and is in City conditions. I do wear bibs but with a backpack full of work stuff and loose running tee. I tend to ride it as a series of sprints, currently moving time is around 14 mins for the route. TBH, I’m good at instant power. It’s endurance that I struggle with at times, and that’s what I plan to work on personally although this commute does’t really lend itself to that, as the simple need to stop for junctions etc means you can’t keep a steady speed for longer than a couple of minutes.

My averages are around 17mph, and I usually hit around 30mph from a traffic light start on one particular stretch. Monday last week I hit 33.3mph on that stretch, taking 3rd overall on the segment (says Strava). OP, keep pedalling! If you really can’t get the bike any quicker, maybe take a look at setup… 🙂

It’s all hairodynamics, innit?

No need to get fitter.

Just shave your head and polish it. That’s why there’s so many old guys who are fast.

(Maybe my tongue is in my cheek 🙂 )

My 60 mile ride today was an average of 13.5mph! It did include 4500ft of climbing including the Hardcastle Craggs climb out of Hebden Bridge towards Haworth though.
All down to terrain, to the weather & in my case being hungover!

Curently averaging 1600ft per 12miles on the Quantocks. (1333 per 10 miles) Avg speed of about 6mph (fastest of about 30 depending on the descent!)

That sounds like an off-road ride though?

Just back from a Dartmoor MTB loop, 13.5 miles, ~2500ft, average 6.5mph 😀

MTB on tricky terrain always look awful compared to road!

yup – other figures seem to match? guess context has been lost in some replies

I did a 18 mile Z2 ride (and for once with zero off-road sections) toward the end of the week, after 12 miles earlier in the day. Bit of a surprise how much effort it was to maintain HR in middle of Z2, more than I expected. Had a few harder rides earlier in the week so may have been that, but I’m not entirely convinced. Thinking I’ve been a bit too relaxed about Z2 in the past, usually done on tame off-road, letting it spike into Z3 (and beyond) and letting it drop into Z1 too easily. Anyway, this Z2 ride resulted in one of my highest average speeds in a while but sticking to the roads isn’t something I want to make too much of a habit of. Oh, and it was more or less totally flat.