Had to stop reading this ‘cos it depresses me. I’ve got my first ever sportive at the weekend – 100 miles. My average speed means I’ll be going all night!! 3 weeks off riding with a chest infection has not helped my training

You might find the actual real world pleasantly surprising.

I’ll be happy just to get round 🙂

On a slight tangent, does anyone get bored road riding? All my road rides used to be a quick hour or two in and around the Peak District. Constantly varying terrain – uphill slogs and fast downs – meant I never found it dull. I’ve been doing bigger rides this year and, because my first Sportive is relatively flat Lincolnshire, I’ve been riding more around Cheshire in preparation. At first I enjoy “zooming” along the flat but after 30 miles or so I start to lose interest in the same gradient and the same views. What do people do to keep up the interest?

You might find the actual real world pleasantly surprising.

Haha… he’s probably right there StillTortoise. Have a look at the Wiggle sportive results for some comfort.

I just uploaded a load if rides to Strava. Quite a fan of… 152.5km in 5:03:32 with 1476m of climbing. Although Garmin thinks different despite being the upload source 😕

Same views after 30 miles?

ride in group. get head down. feel sick. miss the peaks.

Sounds as though you’d get a lot out of riding in a group, taking the odd spell but not working too hard – it’ll show you the peaks and troughs in effort you need to sustain to ride efficiently over distance. You may be trying to go too hard when you don’t need to and finding it costs you when you do need to dig a bit deeper.

Not sure about some of the intervals advice being offered, sounds more like a lack of a decent base to me. Longer, steady rides at a decent but not breakneck pace in an organised group (not necessarily a chaingang or race bunch) would pay dividends for you. Might feel hard to start with, but stick at it.

At first I enjoy “zooming” along the flat but after 30 miles or so I start to lose interest in the same gradient and the same views. What do people do to keep up the interest?

Live in Scotland. 😀

Yesterday I took a hilly route down to the outlaws’ while Mrs Tyred took the kids in the car. 69 miles, 4500ft of climbing and beautiful, empty minor roads albeit in some pretty grim wind and rain. 19.1 mph average, longest solo ride I’ve done in a while.

I’ve not had any problems with boredom in the saddle. Even when riding up and down the same section of road multiple times. I’m content enough for 12 hours at least. Not tried going any longer yet.

with 1476m of climbing. Although Garmin thinks different despite being the upload source

It depends on the map they use, I think the map-my-ride one (USGS topo map)must have really wide spaced contour lines so that you hardly cross them and they never get counted, either that or it’s filtering out undulations and only counting significant climbs, because google earth, my egde305 GPS and OS maps all agree to within about 5% at worst. I found the best way to measure it quickly and easily was to map it using the walking directions in google maps, then copy the html link into google earth to get the elevation data. Either that or just multiply mapmyride or gamrin connect by 150%.

I did 70miles on Sunday morning with 1500m climbing in 4:35 so about 15.5mph average. My excuse is my knee gave up about 15 miles home on a hilly return leg and I rode into some sleet and rain which killed my motivation.

I ride solo long distance because I enjoy it and love the quiet and solitude. I am also hoping to do a sub 6 hour 100 mile this year but will now have to see if my knee is going to cause more problems:x

I don’t generally get bored when riding in the hills, it’s just the flatter stuff I’ve been doing recently where I struggle to keep myself interested and motivated.

A lot of the rides I do in the Peak District work out at about 1000ft of climbing every 10 miles. If I could get my average speed 15mph I’d be delighted.

Can’t be arsed to read back over the last 4 pages so if someone has already made the same points please forgive me.

Firstly are you making use of the drops?
I only ask as by my own (Probably flawed) estimation a stint on the drops instead of staying up on the hoods can easily “Cheat” you an extra 1-2mph along a long straight (especially when coupled with a bit of a push and maybe shifting 1 or 2 sprockets at the back)…

The other thing is choosing when and how to push and where to pace yourself or back off to make the biggest overall impact and making use of all the gears rather than a select few, a minor 1 or 2 shifts either way as the road goes up or down helps maintian pace, just because it’s not an MTB doesn’t mean you can switch off and stop reading the trail (road) ahead…

I’d not pay much attention to peoples claimed “Average” speeds, someone might well manage 24Mph, but they might also be fresh as a daisy on a TT bike on a dead flat smooth road, where you are probably dealing with a mixture of climbs, Descents, knackered roads and traffic, all of which can dent or help a route time quite easily.

Plus don’t forget you are riding solo which will have a big impact, people might tell you they averaged 20mph+ but they might ommit the fact that they spent the majority of that time nicely tucked up in the back of a chaingang drafting their way to Stava glory…

The best indicator of how much effort you are putting in is how knackered you are following a ride, you are much better off listening to your body and not interweb bravado…

Happy trails.

One tip I would give, is don’t slow down when your legs start to ache, you should find that they stop aching once they get used to the cadence/ effort.
A fixed wheel is good for this as you don’t have a choice – maintain the cadence and the effort, or stop.

I think you need tubs. 🙂

been thinking about this thread, and average speeds, and decided that 16 mph aint that quick, although Im no speed demon

but

Ive just done a flattish 30 mile route along canal towpath (I know !!) but did it because, although there were no climbs, there were also no descents, so it was all about maintaining a speed, few points below

a) I averaged 16 mph – on a smoothish fine gravel track (not tarmac)
b) over 30 mile route
c) On a FAT bike
d) By a FAT bloke

and Im sure many here would leave me standing

I would consider that ‘furious’ cycling for a canal path.

how many junctions were there on the tow path? it is surprising how much slowing for junctions ruins your average speed.

about 20 anti vehicle “gates” on that route

you are doing everything wrong. to fix it you need to everything right even if some of those things are completely contradictory; to sum up the thread succinctly.

Your average speed on a road bike is not an indication of the size of your willy.

8)

Sounds like you need to try harder on the short rides and do some power work. It not that hilly where I am, but a 50 mile ride will take in a around 2 or 3000 feet of climbing. On a solo ride over that distance I’ll average around 17-18 mph. But, I hardly ever use the inner ring on my compact, it just isnt needed.

Try doing some power work, look up some interval training routines and give them a go. Will make a big difference to how quick you’ll go, up hills especially ime.

Well, I did my first ever Sportive at the weekend and for that matter my longest road ride by some considerable margin. 100 miles and 4700 feet of climbing in a smidge over 7 hours, so 14mph average give or take. Some things I learnt:

1. Riding in a group is faster as you all said
2. Energy gels may be expensive and a bit grim, but they really worked a treat
3. It wasn’t as hard as I thought
4. Breaking a spoke with 15 miles still to go makes for a nervous rider, but my old beastie survived to fight another day
5. I’d love to do another one
6. I’m scared I will now spend as much money on road bikes as I have on mountain bikes 😐

drop the gels, embrace the jelly babies

you need to do more moto pacing

BIG IN THE GAME