Is this any good?

drummer

I'm new to road bikes and only had one about 6 months. Get out once a week at weekend. I also do a little commute on my mtb.
I'm 6'4 & 15st if it'd relevant.

I've done my 1st 60 mile ride today.

Did it solo and finished with an average of 15mph.

The most I've done before is about 45 miles.

What do you reckon?

All feedback welcome.

fuzzynavel

You've done well mate, have a little faith....now that you have a target, try to beat it next time out. 15mph is never going to win any races but it is respectable and gives a good basis for improvement.

Mettan

Yes, as Fuzzy mentioned, 15's respectable over 60 for a non-competitive rider. With 12 months regular training, you might be able up that to 17-18 mph over 50 or 60 - (depends on how hilly (and windy) the ride is though).Through regular training rides, you'll find that your body becomes increasingly conditioned to operate at higher intensities for longer- as a result you'll see your Avgs slowly rising over the months - it's all down to training though - there's no free lunch.

billybiker

Sounds OK to me! I've just averaged 9.6mph going over Tan Hill into a gale, so as mentioned it really depends on the conditions. I'm happy with 15 mph and I can usually TT at something close to 22-23 mph.

liversedge

Nice one. 60 miles is a bloody long way and almost a metric century ...

rapid_uphill

60 miles maybe you will impress someone, dont see the point meself not solo.
i do 100 miles solo but i dont go around telling people.

fto-si

Well done Drummer, keep it up and ignore the previous post by Rapid Uphill

drummer

Sorry if you have issues from when you were a child RAPID!

I'm NOT telling everyone.

I just wanted some advice as to what is average for that kind of distance.

You may find it benificial to look under psycholigists in the YELLOW PAGES!!

Thanks to the other 'normal' forum users though.

D@VE

Firstly Drummer good for you keep on going mate!

"i do 100 miles solo but i dont go around telling people"

100 mile WOW :shock: i wouldn't of thought it possible until you told everyboby!

I only do a lowly 45-50 miles not that i want everyboby know

On a more serious note, Drummer to be honest you shouldn't bust a gut when upping your distance anyway.(not straight away)

Maybe adding an other days riding in the week is the way to go,how longs your commute?
Could you do a longer route on one or two days?

Your average can only get better if you keep it up.

N4PALM

rapid_uphill wrote:

60 miles maybe you will impress someone, dont see the point meself not solo.
i do 100 miles solo but i dont go around telling people.

drummer wrote:

Sorry if you have issues from when you were a child RAPID!

I'm NOT telling everyone.

I just wanted some advice as to what is average for that kind of distance.

You may find it benificial to look under psycholigists in the YELLOW PAGES!!

Thanks to the other 'normal' forum users though.

rapid_uphill - You just got served!

Banned again

drummer wrote:

I'm new to road bikes and only had one about 6 months. Get out once a week at weekend. I also do a little commute on my mtb.
I'm 6'4 & 15st if it'd relevant.

I've done my 1st 60 mile ride today.

Did it solo and finished with an average of 15mph.

The most I've done before is about 45 miles.

What do you reckon?

All feedback welcome.

To be honest it's not particularly fast but it probably felt fast because it was hard for you. But that is to be expected due to your level of fitness and lack of rides at this distance. IMO those riders who think 15 mph is good have low aspirations.

Rapid_uphill is articulating what most proffcient riders are thinking but are too polite to say.

Bronzie

Herbert Chapman wrote:

To be honest it's not particularly fast but it probably felt fast because it was hard for you. But that is to be expected due to your level of fitness and lack of rides at this distance. IMO those riders who think 15 mph is good have low aspirations.

Rapid_uphill is articulating what most proffcient riders are thinking but are too polite to say.

It's certainly not bad for someone who's never ridden further than 45 miles before and is clearly new to cycling. As has been said before, that sort of average won't win any races, but the OP is not asking if he stands a chance of winning a race, just some feedback and more importantly encouragement. We all had to start somewhere FFS!

Tranced

You Roadies are something else....

I've been MTB'ing socially again now for a couple of months. Recently bought a road bike to vary my training. So far this month I've done 288M.
Longest rides 35M. Ave 13.5. Same whether riding MTB or road bike.

For what it's worth, I know it's not nearly fast or far enough to be winning races etc. but boy, I "feel" 100 times better than I did 4 months ago.

But I do like to know what others are doing as it give me an idea of where I am & what I should be striving towards.

Recently got lost and a Roadie (by his admission late 60's) led me back to my route. I was going full taps & he was idleing along next to me. That just motivates me to try harder.

Al_38

Drummer,

The most important think is that you enjoy it, as has been previously said it isn't hugely fast but it would be fairly easy to improve. Try and get out as often as possible - commuting is a great excuse. Try and find a route that takes about 30mins to 1hour and cycle it at a reasonable pace. As a guide if you were having a conversation with someone you should be able to say about half a short sentence between breaths. I would expect that you should see fairly rapid increase in aerobic performance especially if you keep up the fairly long weekend rides too.

At the end of the day though it isn't about whether or not people think that something is a good achievement, more about if you think it is and have enjoyed achieving something, and setting a new goal to work towards.

Al

rapid_uphill

i never really cycled 100 miles i just said it to impress my cycling chumps

skavanagh.bikeradar

?

Drummer keep it up and well done. As Bronzie says, we all started somewhere and I didn't do 60 miles for longer than you. Nobody (despite what they might say) suddenly got on a bike one day and did 100 miles and were instantly hard as nails.

It takes time and dedication, but you are going in the right direction! Why not try a couple of sportives and join a local club if it is possible. You will get a good idea of how you are going from both of those!

Good luck with it.

drummer

Dear All,

Thanks for your many positive replies (not u wierdo, u know who I mean!).

I in no way expect to win any races. I'm a fairly fit 37 yr old father of 2 yioung uns which means time is sometimes hard to grab.

OBVIOUSLY though (like most blokes) I have a large competitive streak! I just wondered what average speeds were for somebody doing those types of distances. I honestly was not after a pat on the back, just a bit of info on 'where I am'.

I am ABSOLUTELY brand new to raod cycling and yes I am REALLY enjoying it, infact I've probably spent more on kit that on my actual bike!!

I agree with Al, enjoyment is THE most important thing, but like I said I'm too young not to want to keep improving!! (I think!!)

I commute on a MTB and it it takes me about half an hour each way which includes hills in both directions . I've started commuting by bike about 4 months ago. I try to do it at least 3 or 4 times per week aswell as my weight sessions in the gym 3 times a week.
Even though it's getting colder I love been out on the bike in the fresh air and not stuck in the car.
In fact when I have to put petrol in the car I feel I'm throwing money away and I begrudge every penny I put into the tank!

I've thought about a club but due to the kids / mrs / work & my best doggy pal it's hard to commit to the set ride times.

I've managed to get 2 of my buddies to believe road bikes are what they should invest in! So it's just usually 2 or 3 of us. We have a good chat, cake stop and take the p**s out of who's struggling the most!!

The reason I pushed to do a 60 is because I'm doing a charity ride for a cancer charity next year!! Not sure how far BUT I'll push as hard as I have to to do it because I was a patient there in my twenties and I see it as a way of repaying there care!!

Most sportives are about 100 miles so it's going to take me a while to get there !! :shock:

Thanks again for your advice.

fuzzynavel

Drummer,

I am in a similar position to you. 29 years old....8 month old baby who needs some daddy attention. I can't go out until my little darling is in bed which means I don't go out till about 7:30pm....I only go out for about an hour or so (3 evenings a week) and do my usual timed route of 15 hilly miles and always try to beat my previous time out. (I'm not competitive at all :twisted: )

I have been cycling since late July...mainly in the gym but have recently got a road bike (Giant SCR 1.5).
My time for the 50 miles is 2h:45min at the moment....I kept up 20mph for the first 25 (1:13) and then was knackered for the 2nd 25 (1:32)...

I'm gonna stick with the 50 miles for now and work at improving my time down to 2:30 by christmas with the hope of getting another 10 minutes off it by next summer.
Once I meet a time that I am happy with I will add another 10-20 miles to the distance once the 50 is complete. I will then try to knock down the time that I set on that first ride when already knackered from the 50 mile timed run.
By this time next year I hope to be doing a reasonably quick 100 miles...
I am going on my first club run this weekend with a view to joining if I enjoy it. This way I will be sort of committed to making time for weekend rides.

I have set myself target of doing a few local sportives next year...maybe a few races if I get on well with the club runs and doing the London to Brighton next year. If I can get through the thousands of people I would like to try and time myself for that run too.....I am hoping for under 2h 30mins.

Targets are what seem to motivate me but everyone is different....Find out what motivates you and push yourself...It may be a time target, distance target....maybe giving yourself a prize when you reach a goal

BigG67

Drummer

Keep at it.

I'm a 18 months "ahead" of you and 13/15mph was where I was 6 months in, I'm mostly around 18mph now.

Averages are a bit of a hit or miss though as they depend SO much on where you live, the amount of traffic and the weather you get your way. Best bet for me would be get a sportive or 2 under your belt and use those to compare with others.

As for your usual routes just compare with yourself and look to get the time down each go.

PS Good to see you ingoring the knobs, if we got a pro rider on here he'd tell them their speed wasn't up to scratch.

drummer

Thanks Big / Fuzzy,

My commute time is down just as low as I can get it now on a MTB (obviously depending on traffic).

But I did cut about 5 - 6 minutes off it in the first few weeks. I'm always within a minute now of my best time but as I work in a fairly busy area it's hard to do a comparison really. Traffic, lights etc (there's about 8 sets on my route!!).

fuzzynavel

drummer wrote:

Thanks Big / Fuzzy,

My commute time is down just as low as I can get it now on a MTB (obviously depending on traffic).

But I did cut about 5 - 6 minutes off it in the first few weeks. I'm always within a minute now of my best time but as I work in a fairly busy area it's hard to do a comparison really. Traffic, lights etc (there's about 8 sets on my route!!).

The unfortunate thing about commuting is that I doubt you will push yourself as hard as you could as you would arrive at work a heaving, sweating mess. I know I wouldn't want to arrive at work like that!
Traffic lights are a complete pain...they destroy the rythmn and waste energy getting going again.

I don't know about you but I love getting out on my own for a bit of mobile meditation after a hard day at work.....I feel more alive after a hard ride!