What point are you trying make Dan?

Those damn cool-downs have screwed my averages up!!!

(Or possibly traffic lights) ;)

That’s a perfectly valid point about crit racing, but as it was posted “as an aside”, I’ll file it under “bellendery” with all your other little gems ;)

Last time I looked at the floor during a time trial, it was a road.

Come on, admit it, you just feel a bit silly for choosing a ride called “Dragging Poorly Dave Round the Trough of Bowland” as an example of my average speeds… Come on, I’d feel a bit of a bellend if I’d done that! :d

Where have I ever claimed my average speed is >20mph?

And why is my speed in time trials (which I do once or twice a week in summer) misleading?

Is that not cycling?

You’ve not hit 40 or anything like that have you?

It’s no such thing njee. I’ve been perfectly clear from the outset, and I’ve proved that I can, and often do, achieve 20mph. This is in spite of this weird ruling that you seem to have imposed that time trials and sportives don’t count, “cos everyone goes faster in events” :roll:

Competitive cyclists have used “evens” as a target for decades. That’s because a reasonable club cyclist has the ability to ride at 20mph… When we achieve it, we’re chuffed. When we fall short, we blame traffic. When we fall a long way short, we call it a zone 2 ride. ;)

But there’s really no need to make such a tit of yourself trying to pick holes in what people post, you’ve got a bit of a habit for that sort of behaviour and it’s really rather irritating..

I can’t see your bike, maybe you should open the gate! Only kidding, look good… In a big kinda way.

I nearly went for masters for the look, but ended up playing it safe with ultremo zx’s. They look great though, how do they ride?

HR straps died? How convenient. Bet you were breathing through your nose the whole way home… ;)

Bikebouy, I would walk away, but I do find it fun watching bell ends furiously scurrying around my Strava account trying to disprove what they think I said rather than what I actually said.

As I said in my first post, and as I’ve reiterated several times, I AIM TO AVERAGE 20mpg

If I aimed to do 15mph, I’d achieve my goal every time I swung a leg over a road bike. So what would be the point of that. My regular Wednesday night team ride usually averages 18mph. The first and final mile are down a shared footpath/cycle path, so we pootle that section. I know that, and waiting for slower riders brings the average speed down, but when you take those factors into account, the average is as near as dammit to 20mph.

If I was turning in 15mph averages, then yes, you’d be justified in saying I’m way off the mark, but when I state my AIM is to average 20, I’ve proven that I often achieve that (whether it’s in time trials, races or sportives) and a large portion of my rides come within a gnat’s chuff of achieving it, what sort of bellend would put so much effort into trying to discredit me?

As an aside, there have been times in the past where the only riding I did was crit racing twice a week. If I’d answered this question accurately at that time, my average speed would have been 28mph!

That’s my point molgrips. And seeing as it’s not a time trial, if I asked you how fast you went and you told me 20mph, I wouldn’t trawl through your Strava account and try to humiliate you as a liar and a charlatan. I’d let you call it 20mph… The cycling equivalent of a golfer’s gimme.

Only a bellend would split hairs.

I’ve posted various rides at 20mph, I’m really now at a loss as to what exactly you’re disputing!

Isn’t it time to stop being silly?

Andy, Njee’s not disputing that they’re doable, he’s just going through my rides, finding all the recovery rides, rides on novelty bikes, rides with sick children etc, and using those to refute my claim that I aim for 20mph and often succeed.

I think it’s a southern thing!

And thanks for the kudos, you’ve got some good times there!

I think also, as MrBlobby alluded to earlier, you can learn a lot about what works for you from trying to get more aero and that understanding helps general riding and racing.

I find TTing very good for pedaling technique and discipline.

That’s quite flat by my standards.

I’d grade rides as Flat, Lumpy and Hilly.

300m in 20 miles is lumpy. Not hilly, not flat, lumpy.

Njee, as I said, if I’ve got to spend 5 minutes picking my way through a traffic jam and get home 1hr 2mins after I set off, I’m still happy that I’ve ridden at an average of 20mph. It usually means I have to work harder on the second half, so my power output would be roughly the same at a sub hour without traffic.

I described it as lumpy, you questioned it.

If you got round that course in less than an hour, I’d be impressed that such an irritating little southerner could ride it as fast as me and I’d point you in the direction of a good pub where you could buy yourself a pint. On your own.

Saynotobasemiles, part of the attraction of testing is is the tinkering with equipment and position. I’ve recently got a TT bike so I’m quite enjoying trying different things to improve position etc.

I’m not a fan of drag strip courses though, I prefer loops or sporting courses because as you say, I don’t think there’s much achievement in a fast one-way time with a tailwind.

The link I posted has just shy of 300m of climbing in 20 miles. I call it my 20-20 TT as I always aim to complete it in an hour. If I hit traffic, or a strong headwind on the outward leg, I work harder to pull it back.

This is what I was referring to when I said “I aim to do 20mph”.

To date, apart from traffic snarl-ups and a puncture, I don’t think I’ve ever failed on that route. If it takes me an hour and 2 mins, and I’ve got stopped by every set of traffic lights, I’m not going to self flagellate, because I know I’ve still ridden it as well as I’m capable. On a clear run, if I was dropping to 18mph, I’d be worried that I was losing form.

The climbs are long drags, not too steep, so suit me better than short sharp stabs, but 300m in 20 miles is far from flat, a point questioned by Njee. If he’s ever in the northwest, I’d love to see if he can get round it in less than an hour. ;)

Example

My solo evening loop that crops up quite regularly.

The mountain bike rides are the ones that were on the Cotic Soul. That’s a mountain bike. Guild Wheel and Clockwise were both mountain bike rides.

Amedias, I got bored. But just for you, let me talk you through the remaining 4.

Another mountain bike ride; a 30 mile group ride with a 5 mile warm-up and a 5mile recovery spin averaging 18mph for the lot; a cafe ride on a day when only one other rider turned up due to the horrific weather; and a social ride with the rugby club.

So no, not really representative – I’d say they were rather carefully cherry picked!

That’s 3 examples, cherry picked, versus the much bigger sample of random rides njee picked

Njee picked a ride with a sick bloke, a ride home after a time trial, a mountain bike ride, and the first ride back after being hospitalised with Lyme disease!

people are questioning the validity of your statement based on the available data, and it’s not adding up.

And what was my original statement? That I aim for 20mph. I’ve posted proof that I can achieve it. My results show that not all rides do, they also show that there are rides that are done at recovery pace. But if I achieve it regularly (ignoring mountain bike rides, recovery rides, rides home and rides with sick fellas), how the hell can my statement be wrong???

Njee, it’s time to sop being so silly! I’ve posted rides of 100 miles, 25 miles and 20 miles that are 20mph average speed. The one that is a fraction of an mph less is one through heavy traffic. I’ve not ridden chaingangs since I was forced to stop racing with a blood disorder, but if you look, you’ll find them.

You’re just making yourself look a complete twunt by trying to split hairs and pick fault in what I say.

You’re even now accusing me of “misleading”, that’s not the case at all, and my strava account backs it up. As MrBlobbly said, I made it quite clear that 20mph was what I aim for. If I do a ride – in traffic and with stops for lights etc, and it’s 19.5mph, I still consider that to be a success. Not because I’m trying to hoodwink some internet prick, but because I know that if I hadn’t had to stop, the final figure would have been 20mph.
I’m not cheating myself or anyone else, because I’m not competing against anyone else. But if someone asks me what the average speed was, I’d say around 20mph, as I did earlier.

You’ve said that you couldn’t hold 20mph for 2 hours, so you’re clearly not very quick. I’ve posted actual proof that I can for over 4 and a half hours and cover 100 miles at a speed significantly higher than 20mph.

You can’t do that, and you can never dream of doing that. I understand that you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder about this, and to a certain extent, why you might feel motivated to try and do down other people’s achievements.

But to be honest, it comes across like a man with a 4″ cock questioning the measuring technique of the bigger lads.

Haha, I must have cheated! ;)

Just give us links to all the > 20mph average rides you’ve done (which naturally will be significant in number if your original statement is true?)

Here’s a hundred miler at 22mph…

There’s a 25…

Here’s a lumpy 20 on the winter bike…

I could go on, but a) I’ve not got as much time on my hands as Njee and b), I’m just not that much of a bellend.

In his defence he did say he’d aim for 20mph, not necessarily achieve

He won’t hear you, he’s too busy pouring over my strava files with his calculator.

I suppose I should be flattered…

Apologies Njee, still significantly higher than 20mph though.

Njee, without resorting to being as big a bellend as your good self, let’s have a look at some of the rides you’ve chosen.

One is called “Dragging Poorly Dave Round the Trough of Bowland”.
Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the pace might have been affected by “Poorly Dave”, does it.

Another is called “Ride Home stopping off to see big stack at the CDNW Crits”. That was a gentle recovery spin home from a time trial, in which I averaged over 25mph. :roll:

“Guild Wheel Anti-clockwise” is a mountain bike ride. 22 miles at 16.5mph on a mountain bike is rather respectable.

Sadly, I’ve got better things to do that go through your list, but I will point out one other thing. You highlighted a ride in April 2014 which was quite slow. You’ll notice that there was a significant break prior to that which was also the reason you’ll not see any racing for the last 2 seasons.

Early last year I contracted a rather nasty little illness called Lyme disease. I don’t know if you know what that is, but you’ll probably quickly google it, like David Brent googling Dostoyevsky on the Office.
As that was the first ride back from a rather debilitating illness, I thought it best to try and keep below threshold.

Also, measurements should be metric. It’s much easier and it makes more sense.

Nonsense… Distance should be in miles, vertical ascent should be in metres. A person’s height should be in feet, weight in stone, bike sizes in cm and weight in kilos…

Now that makes sense… ;)

Scotroutes, expanding on my last point, the majority of the racing I did was crit racing, where usually, the majority of finishers get roughly the same average speed. So yes, position and sprinting ability were what won the points.

If you want to know how fast you are, there’s really no substitute for a time trial. If you want to know how you compare on climbs, try some hill-climb comps.

But everyone is different, and we all ride different areas/routes, so comparisons are pretty futile.

I’ve got friends

Sorry, I can’t take any of the rest of this post seriously.

But isn’t racing a very different thing again?

To a certain extend, although it depends on the type of racing. But that’s why I suggested a broad spectrum of different activities to compare your form to others.

I suspect there might be calibration issues on a trainerroad group too.

This question arises at least every couple of months, usually posted by a newby that is the self-proclaimed gnarliest mtb rider on the local evening pub ride and is disappointed that he’s not smashing Strava segs every time he rides his roadbike.

There’s never going to be a right or wrong answer, the only way to see how you compare to others is to ride some TTs, (dragstrips and sporting courses), maybe do a bit of racing or ride sportives… Cos let’s face it, everyone rides flat out in sportives.

Njee, I ride mountain bikes too. If you scrolled back over the winter months, that’s mostly what you’ve been looking at. :roll:

Stopping and starting lowers average speed significantly compared to riding through.

Surely it’s being able to find a technical error on an internet forum post and point it out with a smug condescending post…

Or better still, to post an utterly meaningless “FTFY” as if it’s still 2008.

:roll:

I posted a link to a typical ride – last Wednesday’s usual team training ride. The average speed was 18.5mph which included a few stops at the tops of climbs waiting for some slower lads.

But you’ll always get some bellend that pulls you up and tells you that your claims are wildly different from reality.

If bellends like that took the time to look at the profile, they’d be able to see those stops. But they’re probably too busy looking smug and wondering why nobody ever invites them on a group ride ;)

Njee, f you have a look at the route, it has a few traffic lights early on and finishes with a long climb. If I get lucky with the lights, you can get round in 55 mins, if I do it in rush hour, I often get snarled up at the M6 Tickled Trout junction, and then you have to play catch-up on the final climb.

I like the route because it’s quite challenging…

Is a bit of a useless metric to train to.

I don’t ‘train to it’, but it does seem to average itself out on the type of routes I do. I said I “aim for it”, if my average is 17mph and I’m 20 miles from home, I’d expect to make that up on the home leg…

For reference, I live about 5-10 miles away from the start of the climbs around the Forest of Bowland so the homeward leg is usually a fast lick back down from the fells.

It’s always been a benchmark for rides, older riders will be familiar with the term “evens”.

G

You’re luck to have the Coniston loop as your local evening ride! I love that road…

I have a 20 mile evening loop – it’s exactly 20 miles door-to-door and I know I have to bury myself to average 20mph. It finishes with a 4 mile steady climb – I’ve almost killed myself trying to keep that average speed figure from dropping too much!

G

Unless I’m targeting specific zones, I aim for 20mph no matter what the terrain. For my ability, it’s a good benchmark and forces me to press on no matter what the road is doing. I mostly train solo.

Chaingangs can easily creep towards 30mph average speed if you’re riding with well-drilled lads…

For reference, Cat 2/3 peloton fodder, 23 min 10 and 56 min 25.

Fastest 100 was 4hr36 (22mph).

More Stannard than Froome. Happiest when eating wind on <7% roads.

Mostly ride in the Lancashire Pennines, average 1000m ascent for every 50 miles covered.

And can we stop talking in k’s?

G

(Here’s a Wednesday night team ride, a few stops to wait for slower lads… https://www.strava.com/activities/281733074#6603333442)

Look for the hinges on gates. That way you can always ride up to the end that opens. Sounds obvious, but I see so many people ride up to the hinge end and scrabble about for the latch. Once you out that they can usually see the hinges from a distance they find gates a lot less frustrating!

I got forced off the road by a landscape gardener whilst on my roadbike. Quite deliberate, he’d got frustrated that he couldn’t pass on a narrow lane, revved past me blaring his horn and pushed me onto the verge. No other witnesses, so no point calling the Police.

I did, however, give him a ring and ask him to quote removing a few trees and some groundwork in my large garden. I asked his day rate, and how much he could get done in a week. He was very keen and we negotiated a fairly good price.

Every credit to the bloke, he turned up on time and unloaded his trailer all on his own before knocking at the door as the curtains were still drawn. And he only swore once when I explained that I was the cyclist that he almost killed a week earlier and that I didn’t actually want any work doing.

Play the long game…

G

I have a friend called Alan Beaching… I opened this thread thinking perhaps he’d died 8O

G

Ah, I’d always assumed SP was around 75% of max… Need to work a bit harder on those sessions then!

Perhaps 2 of those a day would be a bit much…

1: 97-117
2: 117-136
3: 136-156
4: 156-175
5: 175-195