Good* average speeds …. Road/Off Road

Looking to get an understanding of what good* looks like (a bit of sick just came up using that term!)

I appreciate there are a huge number of variables but we’ll ignore those for now!

So over to you and any caveats you’d like to give 🙂

* good. Normal rider rather than superhuman pro!

10 KOMs to your name 😉

You are going to need to put the kettle on and whilst there, grab a few biscuits.

I’m loaded for a long day.

See you in a while, this should be a good thread. 😀

Depends on too many things really riding solo, riding with fast folks, slow folks, time of day; ground conditions. For example:

11mph for 16miles with 1000ft of climbing in the chilterns was followed by 8.5mph over 25 miles with 3000ft of climbing here in Yorkshire, and last nights techy ride was 7mph ave. over 10 miles with 2000ft of climbing. Maybe an ave. of nearly 9mph ave but the the terrain varies so much, it sort of makes it pretty random

meaningless really, unless you do the same ride a few times to get a good feel, but it will still only be the average for ‘that’ ride

Depends on the trails/roads.

Ridgeway type stuff, 13mph ave
Road on MTB, 16mph ave
Trails , >10mph ave.

Existing thread on the subject with 500+ posts

Riding my mtb on road (commuting so not really hammering it) I get an average speed according to strava of 20-30kmh for a 20 minute commute. There is one real hill on my commute down on the way in, up on the way home, so a lot of the variability comes from if there is traffic queuing down the hill on my way in. Anything over 25kmh I think is reasonable.

Off-road there are so many variables I end up feeling like my speed varies wildly but it ends up in quite a small range of between 15-20kmh over an entire ride. Weirdly this doesnt vary if i am riding for 1hr or 3. I am happy with anything over 17kmh for hilly stuff.

Feeling insecure?

Just enjoy the ride. Who cares how long it takes.

Also depends if you measure it with your gps on “autopause”. For me stopping to open gates, piss stops, cake stops, faff etc should be included in the average! A 1hr moving time with an average of 20kmh isn’t so impressive when you’ve spent 5 mins having a breather.

Who cares how long it takes.

Plenty of people. HTH.

Also you missed a question mark at the end 😉 Unless you mean there’s someone called ‘Who’ and he/she does indeed care about how long it takes.

A pointless question for mtb… best measured in technicality, style and smiles.

Road a bit easier. In mountains, I reckon 18mph is a good overall average. 20mph is motoring. 😀

10 KOMs to your name

*Goes away to check, counts 11*

Yes, I’d agree with this.

Oh god please let’s not do this again! 🙁

Far too many variables. For road just go test your power and look it up on this chart…

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2009/07/just-how-good-are-these-guys/

Just find Gatsby’s posts in the old thread and enjoy. A real gem.

If you really want an answer I think Saxabar’s is a good one.

To summarise: you like to think you are quite quick, but aren’t actually willing to race anyone to find out for sure.

I have found that I am well above average at everything (apart from modesty ),so I won’t post any times as they will be too high and interfere with the data average. Sorry ‘n’ all that 😛

I hate to say it but take a look at Strava.

Ignore the short segments and look at segments that are long on road or a whole loop off road

It is, of course, not definitive but its better than pointless “Whats a good average speed?” speculation without knowing any other variables. If you are regularly near the top of a busy segment then you are pretty fast if you are near the bottom then you are not.

Also you missed a question mark at the end Unless you mean there’s someone called ‘Who’ and he/she does indeed care about how long it takes.

You know Who too?

7mph.
Is that slow?

As above- huge road thread where relevance is questioned. Even less relevant in mtb due to variation in riding, trail etc. My average on an XC loop probably twice that of a winch and plummet play ride.

17.9mph….av ( from strava) in a 45mile ride around Surrey hills on Sunday …with my buddy behind me 3/4 of the ride
And he is 20years younger and a triathlete

Just find Gatsby’s posts in the old thread and enjoy. A real gem.

Both yours and his posts on that thread have considerable entertainment value.

Couple of figures from the weekend’s National XC champs at Hadleigh Park:
Senior male winner – 21.5 kph.
Senior female winner – 18.4 kph.

17.9mph….av ( from strava) in a 45mile ride around Surrey hills on Sunday.

On mtb? Wowzers.

Only ever timed myself once on Marin (Betws). This puts me at 9.8mph (49th on Strava leaderboard). Reckon I could do it quicker on FS, but only very marginally.

Couple of figures from the weekend’s National XC champs at Hadleigh Park:
Senior male winner – 21.5 kph.
Senior female winner – 18.4 kph.

Well that’s cleared it all up for us then, end of thread 😉

Nemesis, the grammar police are watching. That’s one! 8)

For me it’s very variant so last night:

22.95 mi @ Avg of 9.9 mph Elev Gain 1,719 ft

last Monday night

34.67 mi @ Avg of 10.8 mph Elev Gain 2,598 ft

I’m 50 ride at least twice a week around Winchester, not very technical trails and I try not to use much tarmac (except to link stuff up)

Main problem last night was i started tired (lack of sleep) and didn’t get into a decent rhythm.

Does any of this stuff matter? To me yes as I like to know I’m making the most of my riding time and gaining fitness to anyone else it’s irrelevant

6-8 mph if riding proper offroad (would be 90+% offroad) with mates for social rides on FS
9-11 mph if competing in MTB orienteering on HT 29er, usually about 30 miles and 3-4000 ft climbing, but with 50/50 mix of tarmac/proper offroad

Find George Budd on Strava, Gee on here. I suspect he is up the top end of your ‘good’ classification.

Just enjoy the ride. Who cares how long it takes.

Lots of people care how fast they go, doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy the ride. Bettering yourself and enjoying yourself are not mutually exclusive you know.

Just enjoy the ride. Who cares how long it takes.

Lots of people care how fast they go, doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy the ride. Bettering yourself and enjoying yourself are not mutually exclusive you know.

take a look at Strava.

Ignore the short segments and look at segments that are long on road or a whole loop off road

Agree.

If you want to get a view of a fast average then look at the average speed in the top 20 (as long as there are a good few hundred riders in there and not just 21!)
This method takes in the terrain and gives the average for that rather than just saying 15mph is a good average with nothing to base it on.

The strava thing does give you an idea, though conditions still play a massive part. Long road segments, most of the top times likely set with a favourable wind, maybe chain gangs, maybe part of a local TT course. If it’s a well used long-ish sheltered back road ramp then it may be a better indicator (something like this one near me is a good example).

But then you need to think about what that might mean. Say on a club run averaging 20mph, may be a hard z3/z4 ride for some, an easy z1 pottle for others. Same average speed. Doesn’t really mean much.

7.875
11.23
13.677
15.02
18.33
19.842
21.3

all are good !

10 mph is better though.

Speed means nothing unless you include distance and all stops.

The real question is how far can you treadle in a day IMO.

A day being any time under 24 hours or being knackered whichever comes first.

Posted 1 hour ago # Report-Post
epicyclo – Member

Speed means nothing unless you include distance and all stops.

The real question is how far can you treadle in a day IMO.

A day being any time under 24 hours or being knackered whichever comes first. called by the wife and asked why you haven’t put up the shelves, sorted the rubbish and why there are empty biscuit packets in the cupboard

FIFY 😆

Define ‘good’.

12mph off road (with moderate gnarr, not bridleways round a field) is a very quick average, but if you’re not fit then it’s a world of pain, suffering, and public humiliation, not ‘good’.

Off road most rides seem to be split 8, 10, 12mph slow, medium and fast. On the road the club runs are 16, 18 and 20 (2 hours out and back, so ~60, 70, 80 miles respectively), mid week chain gangs are a different animal, ditto any ride where the purpose is to climb hills not do miles.