20 mile times

dcab

is there an accepted norm or common ground on the type of ride for 20m times ?
been out 2day and done 73min (only had road bike aweek) on a route that takes me up round west penine area, im sure if i did a flat 20 say chorley - southport i could get this down by a large ammount ?

LeighB

Go as fast or slow as you like. If you are doing 20 MPH for 20 miles thats not bad going; but if you look at the results for a 25 mile time trial you will see people can do this in less than an hour. It takes time and effort to get to this level but it is possible. If you are interested in fast times have a go at time trialing.

Anonymous

My aim at the moment is to be able to hit 20mph average over 10 miles, then 20 miles, so far I am going about 10-13 miles at 18.85mph average, I did 30 miles at 18.08 average, 1 hour 41 mins and 22 miles in 1 hour 18 mins at 17.22mph average. I try now not to think what other people are doing it in and then getting competitive I just try and reach my goals now.

Skindog

Jesus.. my aim is to hit 20mph for two miles :oops:

CrookedCucumber

Oh no, not more willy-waving

Anonymous

Its not willy-waving, it would be if someone was posting about getting 30mph average.

Jeff Jones

When comparing average speeds across the forum, as people are wont to do, you have to take into account hills, weather conditions, traffic and what sort of bike you're riding. All can make a big difference. It's almost impossible to do this unless everyone does the same ride. Which is indeed what time trials are for, as LeighB pointed out (The Richmond Park 3 lap challenge is a good forum competition, providing you're somewhere near London).

In British time trialling there's a season long competition called Best All Rounder, which you win if you've recorded the fastest average speeds in a 50mile, 100mile and 12hour TT (men), or 25, 50 and 100mile TTs (women).

Even this is subject to bias because one rider might have recorded their 50mile time on a fast course on a fast day, while another of equal ability might have done it in less than ideal conditions on another day. Only specified races are eligible for BBAR times and I'd imagine most of the contenders would aim for the fast courses, so it probably evens out.

What's probably most useful for dcab is to try to go quicker over your regular riding loops, and to time yourself up hills. And if you want to compare yourself against others, do a time trial rather than worrying about what other forumites are doing.

dcab

that was the point of my question ! weres the common ground ,is there a lot of variation on time trial events? one persons 20 or 25 mile might be easy to someone else's route? as for the willy waving is'nt the point of this forum to help ,advise & compare these things?

Jeff Jones

Yes, there is a lot of variation in time trials, almost all down to how hilly they are. I've had an 8mph difference between my slowest and fastest this year. This is why it's such a tough question to answer.

In time trialling, 20mph is called 'evens' and is the first barrier that riders usually aim to break. Then there's the hour mark for 25miles, then the main ones are going sub 20min for a '10' and sub 50min for a '25'.

Say your 20miles has 1000ft of climbing in it and you average 16mph. You might do a flat 20 miles on a fast road and average over 20mph. That's a pretty big difference but it's just a guess - you'll have to do the flat ride yourself to get a better idea :-) All you can say is that the flatter the route, the faster you'll go (generally). Ditto, if it's windy, you'll go slower than you would if it was calm.

PhilofCas

dcab wrote:

that was the point of my question ! weres the common ground ,is there a lot of variation on time trial events? one persons 20 or 25 mile might be easy to someone else's route? as for the willy waving is'nt the point of this forum to help ,advise & compare these things?[/quote]

what ?, willy's ?

everyone does it (mentioning average MPH that is, not willy's), use it as a gauge for yourself and don't get too hung up if you're not matching someone else's. As has been said time and time again, there's a lot of chest beating, willy waving (good one that, thanks crookedcucumber) and i would have thought, downright fibbing (or their computer is reading wrong, even though they think it's set correct).

My advice is to aim to enjoy every ride, simply that, if that comes from the scenery, the company, the feeling of the wind blowing through your hair (says he who has only stubble), the fitness aspect, or trying to increase your mph, then that is the key, first and foremost, just enjoy.

As for a "an accepted norm or common ground on the type of ride for 20m times", i reckon there's more variables than there are winning combinations on the Lotto.

nmcgann

Jeff Jones wrote:

......
In time trialling, 20mph is called 'evens' and is the first barrier that riders usually aim to break. Then there's the hour mark for 25miles, then the main ones are going sub 20min for a '10' and sub 50min for a '25'.

In beginners terms, evens for a 10 is very do-able. The hour for a 25 (or 24min for a 10) is somewhere between hard and extremely hard depending on how fit you can get yourself (and your genetics). Sub 20/sub 50 is only achievable for a tiny, tiny minority of cyclists - the kind of people that would be contesting national championships.

Neil

Anonymous

All this talk about doing 25 mile under 1 hour makes me think my bike might be limiting me, I have never hit 20mph average at all yet.

BeaconRuth

willhub wrote:

All this talk about doing 25 mile under 1 hour makes me think my bike might be limiting me, I have never hit 20mph average at all yet.

Patience, give it time, Willhub. If I'm reading your ride log correctly you've only been riding regularly for about 6 weeks. People who can do 25 miles in less than an hour have generally been riding and training hard for years, not weeks. Your bike may be limiting you a bit, but not as much as the fact that you have hardly even begun to train your body as a cyclist. Think of it as a long-term project.

Ruth

Alibran

My 20 mile time is usually between 80-90 minutes, but I've never really pushed myself, and I haven't even had my road bike for 2 months yet. I still mess the gears up sometimes on climbs, and my lack of confidence on descents would probably be laughable to a lot of people here. But I'm happy building up my skills, confidence and strength/stamina gradually. Speed is great, and sometimes "racing myself" is a lot of fun, but other times I just love to sit back, look at the views, and enjoy the feeling of freedom cycling gives me.

PhilofCas

that's the spirit

Jon8a

Had my road bike for a year and haven't broken the 20mph average yet. My training routes last year were hilly 25miles and 50 miles. I have done a couple from Bridgwater to Weston Supermare (38miles) Where I average 19.7mph. It is very flat with only minor hills, less than 50m height gain over the route I'd guess.I'm thinking that a sub 2hr 40mile ride is possible by the end of the year. I do a lot of mountain biking (no racing) and only really dabble in roadie stuff to keep things varied and my fitness high.

I ride a second hand Trek 1000

Anonymous

I went to watch a 13mile TT today around sheriff hutton, it was hilly aswell, and they did it in like 30 mins, infact first person averages 26mph :shock:

Jeff Jones

willhub wrote:

I went to watch a 13mile TT today around sheriff hutton, it was hilly aswell, and they did it in like 30 mins, infact first person averages 26mph :shock:

Sounds about right. Depends on how hilly it was of course. The thing is, in race conditions you go much quicker than in training.

For comparison, a certain Michael Hutchinson averaged 32.5mph to win the Shaftesbury 10 mile in 18'26 today. That's less than half a minute off Brad Wiggins comp record. Hutch is the hot favourite for the national 10 in two weeks.

If you've only been riding for a short period, keep riding and you will keep improving. Just make sure you enjoy it ;-)

Anonymous

I do enjoy it but I sooo want to be that fast!, I have been riding only about a year though and only ever been riding a road bike since feb, first time I even got on a fully working road bike too.

Jeff Jones

You sound like me when I first started (jeez, nearly 20 years ago) :-)

Have a look in the 'training' section of the forum: there's plenty of material on how to get quicker in there.

Join a club, do some races.

If you've got a serviceable road bike, it's not going to hold you back too much. Yes, proper kit is essential in time trials if you are going for the win, but not if you're just seeking to improve yourself. In road races and criteriums, you can definitely race on what you've got.

And in the words of Eddy Merckx, "ride lots". Although from your log you look as though you're doing that already.

Anonymous

I am in the process of joining Clifton CC and I have been on 2 saturday rides with them allready, 72 and 83 miles, tomorrow its around 100-140 miles up to dalby forest, my longest single ride yet so yea I think I am doing quite alot , I aim to do 1000 miles this month

Jeff Jones

Good onya - that's about what I'm doing at the mo' :-)

Nuggs

BeaconRuth wrote:

willhub wrote:

All this talk about doing 25 mile under 1 hour makes me think my bike might be limiting me, I have never hit 20mph average at all yet.

Patience, give it time, Willhub. If I'm reading your ride log correctly you've only been riding regularly for about 6 weeks. People who can do 25 miles in less than an hour have generally been riding and training hard for years, not weeks. Your bike may be limiting you a bit, but not as much as the fact that you have hardly even begun to train your body as a cyclist. Think of it as a long-term project.

Ruth

I agree - sort the engine out first, then the bike...

A £3000 bike does not guarantee pro tour competitive times.

huwy

National 10 - Can't wait it's in my village there is a buzz in the air amongst the local cyclists welcome one and all.....

Harp

It is very different being able to do a sub hour 25 than averaging 20mph on a training ride.
20mph ave in training is not something I achieve very often , no matter how hard I'm pushing, sub hour for a 25 is easy in comparison. All the aero gear / position helps enormously and as has been said , terrain makes a HUGE difference.

Unless your training route is flattish , then once you achieve your 20mph ave you are flying, good luck and I hope you don't mind me jumping on your wheel when you pass :P

OFOAB

A couple of weeks back I rode an 80ish mile loop at a tad under 18mph, sunday just passed I rode 85ish miles at 14mph. I put in as much effort for both.

Point to be made - comparing averages is a meaningless exercise without information on the factors that go into the ride.

Willhub. Join the club, learn from the members, do the miles, put in some effort, make sure you take some recovery time, eat right. It'll come, although you won't get a eureka moment, and you'll find yourself way ahead of where you are now.

PhilofCas

OFOAB wrote:

A couple of weeks back I rode an 80ish mile loop at a tad under 18mph, sunday just passed I rode 85ish miles at 14mph. I put in as much effort for both.

Point to be made - comparing averages is a meaningless exercise without information on the factors that go into the ride.

excellent example

huggy

There aren't many good rides round my area - only 7 mile laps of a circuit. Would doing say 20 miles at high intensity be an ok substitute for doing a 50 mile ride at 'training speed?'

sloxam

i just like riding my bike

wiffachip

i seem to remember that in a time trial stage of the Giro, they were doing 13k, about 8 mile, in 40 min ish

so if you can beat that, you can win the Giro

or accept that these times are meaningless

Anonymous

wiffachip wrote:

i seem to remember that in a time trial stage of the Giro, they were doing 13k, about 8 mile, in 40 min ish

so if you can beat that, you can win the Giro

or accept that these times are meaningless

Was it like super hilly? I do 10 mile flat in 26mins 49 and 10 mile hilly in 32mins 53 and I rekon they can go a hell of alot faster than me.