[Closed] Average Speeds

15 pages of it here...

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/roadies-whats-your-average-speed

Speed is so dependent on conditions, what you're riding, your route, road surfaces, etc. Much better to work off something that is less influenced by external factors (e.g. power.)

20mph is more likely to be attained in a group or even just a pair, 17-18 is more than respectable on a normal road bike solo. And I am much faster on my proper road bike than my gravel bike on road.

oh dear god no! please lets not do this again 😈

A "faster" bike will obviously help. The quicker you go, the more energy is expended in simply moving through the air. Riding in a group will be the easiest way to faster speeds though. If you can do 17mph. solo then 20mph in a group is no more difficult.

Watch for the cheats who set their gadgets to ignore speeds below "x" mph on their journeys, due to thing like red traffic lights, artificially boosting their average speed.

oh dear god no! please lets not do this again

I see lots of people claiming 20mph average as if it's simple and easy and everyone should be doing it

It is simple and easy if you are fit and have trained well. It is not simple and easy otherwise.

There is also a massive difference between an average speed of 15 and an average speed of 20 as the increased effort is exponential.

Graph in kph but 15mph is roughly 25kph and you can see the aerodynamic drag increase from that point

[img] [/img]

oh dear god no! please lets not do this again

Cheers for the input, move onto another thread if it bothers you that much - 🙂

Edit: Added smily, didn't want to appear too dismissive!

15 pages of it here...

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/roadies-whats-your-average-speed

Ta, usually search before posting but forgot this time, typical.

As Mr B says there are so many variables, you could add distance of ride, temperature, humidity and a whole load of others. Flat smooth tarmac is the ideal then things like surface dressing can know 1-2MPH off my average, it just seems to suck at your wheels.

Those Strava riders posting high average speeds - were they in a group? Which way was the wind blowing that day? How much rest had they had before the ride? Again lots of factors to consider.

How to get faster? Zonal training helps improve your efficiency but it's tedious and you have to do it on your own and be disciplined about it. Short interval training will also help as it gets you used to putting out lots of power - as you get stronger keep the intervals the same length but shorten the recovery periods.

oh dear god no! please lets not do this again

Cheers for the input, move onto another thread if it bothers you that much

I was actually typing the below expanded post while you replied to that but left it too long and missed the edit window, but here it is for you anyway:

What I'm wondering is how to get into that next step up from around 15mph average to 20mph average.

more riding, more often and harder efforts, if you want to do it properly then an actual training plan will help.

I see lots of people claiming 20mph average as if it's simple and easy and everyone should be doing it

It's not simple, it's not easy, you can get there but it's hard work, a lot of the faster rides you see will either be group rides (massive aero and effort benefit), or people representing a few 'good' rides as their 'normal'

Do I just keep pedaling until my legs can push a 50T chainring at a higher cadence to get the higher speed?

You'll need to focus on both power and cadence, not one or the other. 50/11 spinning out (well not out, but a fastish cadence of 100RPM) should have you topping out at about 35-36mph, my guess is you need to work on both aspects at the moment if you want to improve, you either don't have the strength to push the big gear properly, and also cant spin a smaller one fast enough.

For ref, I can keep up with a rolling club chaingang on my SS (46/17) up to ~27mph, then I can't spin fast enough, so if you can't get over 22mph on the 50 tooth then you need to work on the spinning as much a the brute force/power.

Do I have to find the time to ride more?

yes/no/maybe, possibly you just need to focus on riding harder

Does a carbon road bike, streamlined rider and skinny tyres at 100psi mean a shortcut to a lot more speed?

not really, it will gain you a bit but the difference between my 700x38c 30+lb everythignbike with racks and such and my 700x25c 18lb road bike over say 30-50 miles is maybe 2-3mph depending on route, but it's always worth working on the engine regardless of bike.

I've got half arsed personal target for average speed improvement over 20 miles by the end of this year, managed getting from a measly 10mph average after coming off statins back in Feb to the 14mph I'm getting now so pleased with that.

You're doing well, just keep at it, but remember the gains get harder as the speeds get faster, aero drag starts to become more significant as well, its a lot hard to jump form 15mph average to even 17mph average than it is to jump from 10-14, getting >18mph average on a solo ride starts to be come 'hard work' in anyones book.

Just wondering if I'm aiming for the impossible and the average figures I'm seeing as being easy by the swoonmeisters online aren't real or are really the top speed or the average speed of their fastest segment and their whole ride was a lot slower.

Some internet exaggeration, some mild misrepresentation of figures, and some genuinely quick people, but they're a self selecting sample, quick people are normally into their stats and will also like to show off, even if not intended that way, and they should, they should be proud of their efforts, but for every person posting about the ease of the 23mph average ride, there are 100's who either didn't read the thread, didn't post or don't care.

Also, don't overestimate the importance of route choice! anyone can bash out a good time on a flat route with no wind (or a tailwind!) a bit harder if you live somewhere hilly.

For ref... the midpack club riders round here who can do 18mph average, do something like Ride London > 22mph, throw them at Dartmoor and it's suddenly nearer 15-16...

If you want to get faster and if that will help you enjoy your riding more then look into specific training, but if it won't increase your enjoyment then don't bother, find somewhere nice to ride and go there at whatever pace you like, sometimes the best rides are the slow ones, I did a beautiful 1-night mini-tour a couple of weekends ago over Exmoor and North Devon coast, cruising back through Cornwall, 165 miles at a glorious average pace of 12mph, it was ace, and going faster would have ruined it 🙂

I'm pretty happy with that if I'm enjoying the rides.

^^^^^^^^

Sorry but with a BMI "wrong side of 25" you are probably a bit of a fat biffer, and recently on statins also suggests you may be a bit past your prime (sorry). Add a slowish bike you're not going to be troubling the leaderboards. Fast road cyclists are skinny buggers on skinny wheels, it's not just about the bike but a fair chunk of it is.

Note I'm not trying to say there's anything wrong with being a fat biffer a bit past his prime. I guess most of us here fall into that category, and still enjoy our cycling. If you want to get fitter, ride more and perhaps find a club to ride with. Our best 25 mile TT by far was a week or two after a 2 week touring holiday in the Dolomites. Someone back from a similar cycling holiday just smashed their PB on the local club TT last night.

Kinda pointless thread, as some people only go out and smash themselves and others ride most of their time in specific training zones.

Loads of folks on here claim they can average 20+mph, but what they aren't telling you is that's for 1 ride a week fully kitted up with their Zipp 303's going absolutely eyeballs out.
I follow Steven Kruijswijk on Strava ( https://www.strava.com/pros/3056059), and he spends the VAST majority of his time rolling round in z1/z2 at 19mph - i'd suggest much as they might like to think so, most members of the forum are not quite as quick as Steven.

Kinda pointless thread, as some people only go out and smash themselves and others ride most of their time in specific training zones.

Is indeed. If you want to know how quick you are, go racing 🙂

Most of my time I'm riding to power zones. Probably nowhere near as much % of riding time in z1/z2 as Kruijswijk though as I'm not training for a season of WorldTour racing and rarely race for more than an hour. Kruiswijk also based in Gerona (envious!) so his rides are a fair bit lumpier than mine.

the only time i've averaged 20mph was ride london. my local road club still won't talk to me...

This comes up a lot, even talking to people IRL, and I'm convinced that for a lot of people when they claim they average 20mph, what they [i]really[/i] mean is that when they're rolling along a nice section of their ride they look down at their speedo and it says 20mph.

This is very obviously NOT the same as averaging 20mph 😀

I had this with my old boss, he used to bang on about going out and sessioning Strava segments but would never show me any whole-ride data.

On here everyone seems to average 20mph usually on a fatbike wearing 5/10's and eating a pork pie.

In the real world most quite committed riders are 17/18/19mph and only a few pretty focused ones hit 20mph+ regularly.

Kinda pointless thread

With hindsight most definitely, seemed a resonable question at the time. I guess asking in one of the places fast times are posted was futile.

wors wins the comments 🙂

thecaptain - Member

Sorry but with a BMI "wrong side of 25" you are probably a bit of a fat biffer

Only slightly, but no offence taken, genetically unfortunate to have a broken pancreas and extra insulin ironically tends to encourage weight gain. I have been lighter and it's slowly shifting.

I'll never be a racing whippet so not chasing the leaderboards.

I'm convinced that for a lot of people when they claim they average 20mph, what they really mean is that when they're rolling along a nice section of their ride they look down at their speedo and it says 20mph.

This is very obviously NOT the same as averaging 20mph

+1

This comes up a lot, even talking to people IRL, and I'm convinced that for a lot of people when they claim they average 20mph, what they really mean is that when they're rolling along a nice section of their ride they look down at their speedo and it says 20mph.

This is very obviously NOT the same as averaging 20mph

I had this with my old boss, he used to bang on about going out and sessioning Strava segments but would never show me any whole-ride data.

Thread may not be entirely pointless, this is what I was wondering in less words than I used.

Firstly I would say going from 15mph to 20mph avg (door to door is how i think of it, not specific segments) is not 'that next step up' - its actually several steps up from where you are right now. Thats not being negative about where you are, more highlighting the difference between these 2 avg speeds is quite big in real world terms. Set yourself a first goal of avg 17 mph, then 18 etc

You can spend a few quid and make 1 or even 2 mph difference without any extra effort straight away - 28mm or less road tyres and going clipless (pref. roadie style rather than mtb). Also wearing 'road' clothing will help a little (even if its just improved comfort on the bike)

Make yourself a bit more streamlined when it matters - hit the drops when you're 18mph + etc.

Ride in flatter areas 🙂 Where I ride normally (round Cambridge) I'm 2 or 3 mph faster than when I ride in the hills.

But most importantly its sorting out the engine. If you want to get faster, you're going to have to ride harder. Intervals, tempo rides etc. I found a heart rate monitor helped me structure some of my rides.

Good luck!

I keep thinking I 'can average 20mph' but the truth was more like 'have once or twice averaged 19.999mph by riding hard on relatively flat routes'.

Even then it took some dedicated wannabe time trialist posing (yep, forearms on the tops, wrists dangling over the front 😉 ) and eventually tendinosis in my hamstrings from spending too long in a time trial tuck without adequate stretching and strengthening etc. etc.

This was on a Cannondale Synapse with 35mm deep Ultegra wheels and 25c tyres, so not an aero machine but not a gravel bike!

Took me years to get to that stage also, when I got my first road bike I arbitrarily decided I should be doing 17mph average over 100 miles and that took a long time to achieve, even at my 'peak' it would only take a head wind or a few too many steep climbs to drag me back to 17mph.

The comments about exponential difficulty definitely ring true.

Anyway, mostly rambling pointless post but does make me wish I didn't sell the road bike, maybe when my next cycle-to-work scheme comes around, my wife will kill me after the loss I made selling the last one... 🙄

rocket - Member

Ride in flatter areas Where I ride normally (round Cambridge) I'm 2 or 3 mph faster than when I ride in the hills.

Vale of York - all my elevation data is pretty much due to railway bridges.

My best ride in recent years (and it really was a one-off) was down near Cambridge last year: 74Km, 150m of ascent and an average speed of 31kmh. My commute home: 25Km, 500m ascent, avg speed of 20.9kmh. Ride round the Dales: 126Km, 2200m of ascent, avg speed of 24kmh.

All rides on my own so no drafting, etc. The Dales ride is much more typical of my riding.

I think if you swapped to 25/28mm slicks while the weather is okay you'd be pleasantly surprised.

I'm now in the camp of it's the engine more than the bike, based of my personal experience of comparing my Alu road bike with my chinese carbon "gravel bike" on slicks - the times are near enough identical.

It has taken me almost two years to increase my 50 mile (non stop) average by 4mph on a fairly flat route.

Keep it up and most importantly enjoy!

P.s. is using auto pause when [b]stationary[/b] (non of that below 5mph nonsense) at traffic lights/while taking pictures classed as cheating?

P.s. is using auto pause when stationary (non of that below 5mph nonsense) at traffic lights/while taking pictures classed as cheating?

Yes, you're getting the benefit of that recovery time but not factoring it into the ride time 🙂

I don't think it really matters TBH from a Strava pov as I think it works out avg speed based on moving time anyway.

This is a bit more reassuring than the previous thread.

My solo ride on sunday was 15.3 (avg moving speed) over 60 miles though I did have an hour+ break/rest midway to visit someone.

(50yo, 5'9", approx 12.5st, should probably be about 11 🙁 )

At full effort I'm getting 22mph or so on the flat, normal out of breath effort around 17mph.

How much attention do you pay to your body position? If the answer is "not much", then I think you could put a couple of mph on both of those for the same effort by getting a bit moar aero (have you got drop bars or straight?).

Yes, you're getting the benefit of that recovery time but not factoring it into the ride time

Bugger, I think any of my personal bests have been on 'auto-pause'. I just told myself the stops were too short to count 😳

amedias - Member

I was actually typing the below expanded post while you replied to that but left it too long and missed the edit window, but here it is for you anyway:

Cheers for the info, useful. I did go back and add the smiley as I realised it looked a bit more of an unfriendly comment rather than a cheerfully sarcastic northerner comment.

I seem to hover around the 15-16mph average, find it hard to push it any higher round here as there's a lot of rolling ups & downs, rather than flat. (South Downs). Yesterday's ride was 54 miles with 2703 feet of vertical ascent according to my Garmin with an avg of 15.8 mph. I'm certainly no racing snake, and am only really pushing past the 25-30 mile distance this year after a long break from the road.
I reckon more hours in the saddle with a bit of targeted training should help me to keep my speed up on the shallower but longer climbs, which is where I tend to lose it.

As alluded to, there's also a difference between the average you achieve when really going for it and your overall average over weeks and months of riding.

On my "fast" road bike (not the tourer) I reckon my overall average is slightly above 15mph. Yesterday (for the first time in ages) I did a 30-mile route at just under 18mph - and it felt like it 😆

My point is, it depends on how you phrase the question "what is your average speed" and on what the response is relating to.

P.s. is using auto pause when stationary (non of that below 5mph nonsense) at traffic lights/while taking pictures classed as cheating?

Don't really see it as cheating but I never use it.

When I got back into riding a few years ago I needed to stop a lot and rest. It was kind of a motivational thing to have the single average speed including those stops so as I stopped resting as much the number went up.

Just kept it that way ever since.

Cheers for the info, useful. I did go back and add the smiley as I realised it looked a bit more of an unfriendly comment rather than a cheerfully sarcastic northerner comment.

That's OK, my comment would have looked unhelpful at best, and rude at worst without the extra gubbins I intended to post!

Good luck if you do decide to try and up your pace, it's hard work but satisfying when you do see an improvement, remember though it takes time, and you will still have good days and bad days, look for the overall trends and above all make sure you are always still having fun, if it ever becomes more about the numbers than the enjoyment then you've gone too far 🙂

The speed you get will obviously vary but...

Tyres - even for a given width/purpose you can get a massive difference in rolling resistance. Your bigger tyres may work better on less than ideal surfaces, but there may be similar but far faster tyres available. A narrower tyre will be more aero but give higher rolling resistance at a given pressure (but you won't be able to put as much pressure in a bigger tyre).

Different bikes:
Obviously something lighter will help you a bit up the hills, and if you have a narrower range cassette you'll be in a more comfortable gear more of the time as long as you don't need anything below the range you have. The main difference though is that a racier bike will put you in a more aero position, which will make a big difference as speeds increase. Lighter bikes are also surprisingly easy to honk up slightly too steep inclines on, so narrower cassettes are easier to get away with.

It sounds like you're making good progress, without knowing a lot more about your route etc. I wouldn't be able to say whether 20mph is achievable on that route for you, but maybe if you're bothered take pics whilst moving and do get a faster bike if it matters to you. There is something nice about a fast road bike on a nice day.

OP 25c tyres at correct inflation +1mph
[url= http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/10/using-clip-on-aerobars-on-road-bikehow.html ]Short aero bars[/url] +2mph.

That gets you half way there at least.

This pretty much sums it up for me

20mph is more likely to be attained in a group or even just a pair, 17-18 is more than respectable on a normal road bike solo. And I am much faster on my proper road bike than my gravel bike on road.

I haven't read any posts bar the first couple but has last weeks 'I'm just wondering if my 26mph average over 40 miles is any good' guy been on yet 🙂

P.s. is using auto pause when stationary (non of that below 5mph nonsense) at traffic lights/while taking pictures classed as cheating?

I don't auto-pause but use the Garmin average and moving average speed to give me a measure of traffic congestion, lights and junction stops etc. for average and my ability on the second (how quickly I get back up to speed after the lights/traffic obstructions). The bigger the difference between them the faster I accelerate. It's taken 5 years to get my commute average up to 18mph on a good day.

I've just had a quick look at some of our club riders' stats. Our club formed two years' ago and we won our local league last year and are leading it this year. I've picked three of our fastest Cat 2 racers to put the claimed speeds into perspective (hopefully). The *seriously* fast racers – Cat 2 – can generally do sustained solo rides of 20-22mph; I've not seen any rides that have been faster.

Rider 1 – 31yr old
––––––––––––––––––––
Cat 2 / East Mids / Currently 2nd in league table (with one race left to go)
Typically his solo rides will be 40 miles / 1,400ft climbing / circa 21mph
This guy is seriously fast

Rider 2 – 30yr old
––––––––––––––––––––
He isn't racing this season but was a peripheral Team GB swimmer – he's exceptionally fit
A recent solo ride was 38 miles / 1,200ft climbing / 21.8mph
This guy is seriously fast

Rider 3 – 38yr old
––––––––––––––––––––
Cat 2 / East Mids / olympic canoeing coach
A recent solo ride was 70 miles / 2,600ft climbing / 20.2mph
I think that he was once in the GB canoeing squad – he's a machine

Rider 4 – 37yr old
––––––––––––––––––––
Not racing this season / East Mids / ex-international rugby player
A recent solo ride was 30 miles / 1,200ft climbing / 21mph
This guy is exceptionally strong

Rider 5 – 50yr old – me!!
––––––––––––––––––––
Never raced / pipe cleaner legs / getting old 🙁
I do an after work ride every week of 24 miles / 700ft climbing / 20+ mph
I'm not particularly strong

Short aero bars +2mph.

Cheating 🙂 ([url= http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/#54 ]#54[/url])

I haven't read any posts bar the first couple but has last weeks 'I'm just wondering if my 26mph average over 40 miles is any good' guy been on yet

One of the best humble brags threads in ages that 🙂 Still some interesting stuff on it ([url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/century-on-a-road-bike-how-hardhow-much-time ]here[/url]).

I've just had a quick look at some of our club riders' stats.

And I'd assume rides would mostly be easier z2/z3 rides with maybe a few efforts on the hills.

And to put cubicboy's examples into context, those are all pretty flat rides, so if you live somewhere hilly OP you need to adjust expectations down as well. As you can see, some properly quick people there but they're still only just tickling over 20mph average so don't get caught up comparing yourself to the super fit people who average 20mph on a ride with very little elevation, flat rides are always faster.

cubicboy - Member
...............
POSTED 4 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

So your club has Cat2's who average faster than a Giro podium contender.
Cat 2 races must be pretty fierce where you are!

So as a fat 50 year old wearing a backpack on a Giant Trance with Chunky Monkey tyres on, how am I fairing with an 11 mph average on a 14 mile ride around Huddersfield.

😀

This thread makes me feel a bit better!
Monday, 24 miles at 18.3mph Av. door to door with 1600ft ascent.
Weds, 27 miles at 18.5mph Av with 1500ft ascent.
Both rides were solo & going eyeballs out.
I always thought these 22+mph rides posted by others were solo efforts too.

Cubicboy's examples look like they live in the flatlands. My typical rides are similar distances (40-60 miles) but 3500-4500ft of climbing. Descents rarely compensate as they're too short or twisty.

This thread makes me feel a bit better!
Monday, 24 miles at 18.3mph Av. door to door with 1600ft ascent.
Weds, 27 miles at 18.5mph Av with 1500ft ascent.
Both rides were solo & going eyeballs out.
I always thought these 22+mph rides posted by others were solo efforts too.

This will make you feel much better then - you didn't go quite as far, but you are faster than a pro!
https://www.strava.com/activities/612883518

Cubicboy's examples look like they live in the flatlands. My typical rides are similar distances (40-60 miles) but 3500-4500ft of climbing. Descents rarely compensate as they're too short or twisty.

Flatlands AND they go around smashing it all the time

Cubicboy's examples look like they live in the flatlands. My typical rides are similar distances (40-60 miles) but 3500-4500ft of climbing. Descents rarely compensate as they're too short or twisty.

Descents don't compensate. You spend a lot longer going slowly on the climbs than you do going quickly on the descents. A road ride with a lot of descending is pretty crap for training though, unless you want to practice your descending skills. And obviously if you want to practice climbs you've got to come down the other side!

Flatlands AND they go around smashing it all the time

I'd assume those were mostly z2/z3 with maybe some intervals thrown in or some efforts the inclines. Riding to a plan and not smashing it all the time.

This will make you feel much better then - you didn't go quite as far, but you are faster than a pro!

Taking it very easy looking at those power numbers!

As amedias points out, these rides are relatively flat. The rides that I have listed are all solo efforts and are there to put speed into perspective. I've simply gone onto Strava and quickly picked some sample rides from some of the stronger riders that I know. Most of the riders in our club hover around the solo pace of 40 miles / 1,500ft climbing / 18-19mph. We're quite a strong club I'd say and the figures I've quoted are typical of the two past clubs that I have been a member of.

Ta, Vale of York, I can ride from home and look out and not see a hill on any horizon!

Certainly good to know that the 20mph average is something that may tend to the leaner and fitter rider. I know some of the local clubs are very good and the names that show up with 25mph+ on some segments.

I suspect that answers it, I can do a few things to the bike, do a few things to me but I'd be best off adjusting my expectations a bit first.

Just realised I can link segments, this is one I keep an eye on for improvements, KOM was on the Tour de Yorkshire, 26mph for the segment.

My best is 18.6mph, so nothing to be ashamed of, admiteddly the Tour de Yorkshire rider has just belted in from Beverley in next to no time whereas I was only a few miles into the ride.

https://www.strava.com/segments/9649829

fifeandy - Member
This will make you feel much better then - you didn't go quite as far, but you are faster than a pro!
https://www.strava.com/activities/612883518

Christ look at his heart rate!

529w of power at 139bpm 😛

If I was to keep my HR below 140bpm I'd be doing precisely 5mph....

Yeah, my max HR yesterday was 193bpm..

Taking it very easy looking at those power numbers!

Christ look at his heart rate!

Exactly the point i've been trying to make. Anyone can find some nice smooth flat roads, stick on the aero wheels and ride till they vomit to give themselves an impressive ave speed.

But the trick is to be able to go fast without going hard.

But the trick is to be able to go fast without going hard.

😯

Never have that problem 😉

Lead group in the cycling part of the Olympic triathlon are averaging 42.6 kph at the moment, if anyone's interested

Just tuned in to see a few riders on the floor after a crash, triathlete stereotype anyone 🙂

Edit... there's something about triathletes on a bike that just looks wrong. Can't quite put my finger on it. Suspect it's a few things. Dodgy kit, wonky helmets put on in a hurry, position compromised by need to swim/run, the way they pedal, their shape... dunno.

Double edit... something wrong about their running too. Bit like watching the decathletes do the 1500m. Not as bad as watching them ride a bike though.

I can periodically do 20mph for an hour or so if I destroy myself (I did it last week to check). I don't believe anyone who contributes to threads like this with "I normally average 20mph" though! Unless they only ride a road bike once a week or sommat.

Strava segments though... Whole different game, easy enough to destroy yourself and do 20mph on shorter climbs, I'd never pass that off as an average for a full ride though!

Triathletes on bikes is brilliant to watch. Less sketchy now the pros are drafting, wet races back in the day were brilliant.

I don't believe anyone who contributes to threads like this with "I normally average 20mph" though!

Ah the Great Gatsby Debunking of 2015 is wafting back into my memory 🙂

Njee! We just need Gatsby to join us now 🙂

I don't believe anyone who contributes to threads like this with "I normally average 20mph" though!

Don't you follow me on strava 😉

Hahaha! There are exceptions 🙂

Strava segments though... Whole different game, easy enough to destroy yourself and do 20mph on shorter climbs, I'd never pass that off as an average for a full ride though!

For the one I added, if that segment speed was my average I wouldn't have started the thread 🙂

Only linked it as it had a Pro rider and if a Pro was doing 26mph on a segment and 22mph for the whole day of the Tour, then I shouldn't really be worrying too much about averaging 20mph over a ride.

I'm not out to be a Pro rider, just someone wanting to enjoy a slightly faster bike ride than they're doing now.

Start to finish including all stops, fafs and slow downs is what I go by.

[quote=allan23 ]Start to finish including all stops, fafs and slow downs is what I go by.We've covered this a few times but [i]any[/i] time spent stationary will severely impact your overall average.

We've covered this a few times but any time spent stationary will severely impact your overall average.

Yep, completely understand.

Most rides don't have stops, it's rural roads with only the odd busy junction, hardly any traffic lights, barely any traffic.

If it is a leisurely ride with stops then I know it will be a lot less than the 14mph and don't worry. Using average including stops was a good way of making me realise I was getting fitter and needing less stops a few years ago.

Possibly an odd way but it worked.

A surefire way for you to get faster is to follow a proper training plan.
Pick up a copy of Friel's training bible (not the most modern thinking, but a great starting point), make yourself a plan and do your best to follow it.

Whatever you do with your garmin, strava will auto pause when stationary and give you an average speed based on moving time.

Last ride, 9mph.
On the road.

Trying the new bike loaded up on the hills around Pendle.

🙂

Rather than bother with avg speeds I occasionally take a look at a few local segments and just see where I sit overall some climb, some flat, some mixed.

I tend to find I'm pretty consistently top 50-25% so above average? But certainly not threatening any top 10/KOMs. Having the odd PR pop up on a ride is encouraging and indicates some sort of progress.

Beyond that I don't worry, there's no point really, I don't want to take all the fun out of riding a bike by making it a constant competition...

Ok here's my perspective which is from someone who's overweight, unfit and old but has made some progress on average speed on the road bike lately.

Back in 2011 I made a bit of a push to get a bit fitter (from a very low base) so was riding a lot - both mountain bike and road bike. At that point I could do a bit more than 15 miles in an hour on my road bike, pushing pretty hard. And that was on a decent carbon road bike which is probably a bit faster that the bike the OP has. At that point I had a BMI in excess of 30 - so pretty unfit.

For various reasons (mainly due to moving to London) I've done very little cycling since 2011 but just started again a few weeks back. In the interim I've being doing quite a bit of running and have lost a fair bit of weigh as well (BMI is something like 29 at the moment so still a lot of work to do). Despite not being particularly bike fit at the moment I have found that the weight loss and general improvement in cardio fitness means I'm a lot faster now than I was, and have already done a couple of rides at averages between 17 and 18mph. I've only been back riding in Edinburgh for a few days (and have only done a handful of rides this year) but set PB's on pretty much every Strava segment which is fitness related (anything technical on the MTB is a different matter of course 'cause my technical skills are shocking at the moment!).

So to summarise - if you want to go faster then a proper narrow tyred road bike would make a difference, however the biggest improvement will be in losing some weight and working on your general cardio fitness.

Depends on the segment too, if you're looking at that level of granularity. A few of the hilly segments round here (Box Hill, Pitch Hill) my PB is on my MTB!

As an mtber who has recently converted to riding more on the road, I found the biggest impact on my speeds was pedalling on the downs. I was kind of riding on the road like I would on the mtb... Hard climbs and then freewheel descents. Same with not pedalling around corners on anything other than alpine descents I now keep cranking... A bit of effort all the time has made an enormous difference

To put it in simple terms. I live in a fairly hilly area. Everything is up or down. Steep climbs. Technical descents. I can go out full Voekler style, gasping for air the entire time and barely get above 16mph some days. However, if I go out of the area to somewhere a tad more normal, my average can increase by a good 4-5mph. It's very much dependent on terrain. Just saying you can do 20mph means nothing.

In terms of bikes, I actually find there's not a lot in it. Most the time I ride a heavy bike (about 12kg). You will notice the difference on big climbs, especially when giving it some. But actual differences in time are not great and it won't massively affect average speed. If you're carrying a bit of weight on your body, that will make a big difference if there's a lot of climbing, and will shave a lot off your average speed if you cut it down. There's a huge difference between a couple of kgs on your bike and a couple of stone on your belly.

Thanks to this thread found myself looking at avg speed on today's ride, must stop... it's an useless metric for training!

I can average 16mph on flat tarmac on a full suspension mountain bike with knobbly tires. What would that be the equivalent on a road bike with same effort ? About 20 mph ?

Probably a bit more, dependent slightly on what mtb and what tyres you are talking about.

To add to this thread I averaged 18.3mph in a 12 hour time trial which is pretty flat .I am not good at them the winner averaged nearly 26mph .310 miles to my paltry 219 Just checked Garmin ,only 5300ft of elevation

Thanks to this thread found myself looking at avg speed on today's ride, must stop... it's an useless metric for training!

Oops, sorry 🙂

I suppose with not training but just trying to improve I may not have chosen the best number to go by.

Can't justify the cost of power meters though so will probably stick to it as a rough guide for getting better on the usual routes.

Some good info to think about from most contributers.

I can average 16mph on flat tarmac on a full suspension mountain bike with knobbly tires. What would that be the equivalent on a road bike with same effort ? About 20 mph ?

18mph I would guess. The main thing stopping you going faster once you get over 15mph is wind resistance and as you (your body) is making up most of the wind resistance the bike is not the limiting factor

There's only one guy on my Strava feed churning out regular 20+ mph rides and he's tactfully posting on this thread 😀

FWIW, my average speed is creeping up on my CX bike but most of my quickest segment times are from fast solo training rides on my Scott Spark 920 with Rocket Rons. Much comfier on the back lanes too 🙂

I was recently looking at swapping my GP 4000s 25s for something a little thinner in order to gain a small increase in average speed. Then I read this [url= http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/product-news/are-wider-tyres-really-faster-160403 ]article[/url] and opted to sticks with the 25s.

Back in the day we ran the skinniest by default. Doesn't seem the case anymore.