Commuting Speed vs Weekend Speed

markshaw77

I currently share my commute between the bike (4 miles) and the train/tube, but am trying to figure out how long it would take if I cycled much further (15-20 miles) and eliminated some or all of the train/tube journey

On weekend riding, I can keep up a healthy 15-18mph pace for about 2 hours, but that is open roads and little or no traffic or traffic lights whereas the commute would be almost all urban with plenty of junctions and traffic with just a couple of detours via parks.

So, help me out guys and girls......How much does your commute speed vary from your "weekend" speed?


[PS I am currently off the bike and in rehab after knee surgery, so it is all a bit hypothetical at the moment, but the daily train "grind" is really getting me down and I cannot wait to be back on my bike!!]

biondino

Not by as much as I'd have suspected! But then my weekend rides often have hills of some form in them whereas my commute has, um, Putney Bridge. 16mph average is pretty much tops for the commute, and that's getting very lucky with traffic lights, cars and wind.

Around Richmond Park my best average speed over three laps has been 19mph, but that's giving it some and it's been with little traffic. I'd say 17mph is probably a more realistic figure extrapolated to all rides, and 15mph for commuting.

Eat My Dust

It depends on the time of year. Summer holiday time my commute (13 miles) can be as high as 19 mph. In the crappy winter/dark nights/schools in, I can see this drop to around 13 mph! Out at the weekend on a 50 mile ride I'll average around 17 mph. Saying that, if I go out on a weekend ride I'm usually taking it easier as I will already have up to 130 miles in my legs just from my commute (I also run about 20 miles a week)

linsen

My commute speed to work is 14 or so and on the way home 16 or so.
My average speed on a longer ride depends on who I'm with...
Oh, and I went on a ride with my childrenlast weekend and we managed a rather amazing average of 4.9mph.
I can walk faster than that :?

lost_in_thought

I lost my cycle computer.....

However, my commute is generally flat out sprinting interspersed with filtering up to lights, whereas my weekend rides are usually longer, more measured, and more hilly. I'd imagine the averages may well be about the same though...

DiggingDeeper

markshaw77 would your round trip be 15-20 miles or is that each way?

I have only really began to cycle at weekends for pleasure/training just recently and find it quite different from the commute cycling. I commute 100 miles a week on an average at16/17 mph.

At the new Hog Hill track at Hainault - 2km track with a 10% hill on it I was flagging due to the lack of rests I am used to sitting at lights and grinding thro miserably slow traffic. My commute is therefore like LiT said a series of attacks followed by low effort cycling.

At various points tonight did 30mph and 25mph but wouldn't dream of trying this if I were to attempt 10 laps of Hog Hill.

Hopefully the speed I am building during the week can be added to with endurance over the weekend.

ansbaradigeidfran

In the week I average 10.5-11 on my five mile bike/train commute to Uni. I don't take the cyclocomp off for wheeling the bike along the platforms (I fold only when I have to), so that takes my average down.

My weekend commute (to work) has no platform wheeling, but has the Little Orme (by comparison with the Great Orme) in the way, and the 10% climb on the outward leg. The hill is kinder on the way home (I can stay off the granny chainring) and then it's 30 down the Orme and ~20 for the last mile home. Average for the day is 11-12mph.

markshaw77

DiggingDeeper wrote:

markshaw77 would your round trip be 15-20 miles or is that each way?

It would be 15-20m each way :shock:

Train ticket lasts until the end of the year, so i might give it a trial run in 3 weeks or so when my knee is back in shape to see how feasible it is. New bike (Spesh Sirrus comp) should help up my speed a bit compared to my old slicked-up MTB but i fear the FCN hike may result in some regular scalp loss till i get my fitness back!!

girv73

I do a 9.5 mile (one way) commute and - with city traffic, lights etc. and quite a few hills - it takes around 40-45 minutes, so maybe 12-14mph average over the whole thing. For comparison, I can hold 16-18mph on the open road on the MTB, maybe 21-22 for medium length sprints.

I guess I could hold that pace for a 15 mile commute alright - that 1h15m @ 12mph

gtvlusso

Weekend or weekday makes no odds to me - as fast as I can go until I am knackered....!

Twenty miles is just on or just under (when the mood take me) an hour. The biggie 36 mile commute (once I was used to it) came in at just on 2 hours.....

I sleep allot and am completely f*cked afterwards though....

For my first half Ironman/70.3 (last year) I did 5 hours 30 - sadly, I cannot tell you how long it took me to do 56 miles on the bike as my computer broke.....

Gonna be weird soon as I am going fixie.....will knock all this to sh1t!

I don't do any of the above on anything other than a roadbike!!

Clever Pun

I hardly ever have time to ride at the weekends

I might have to give this richmond park thing a go at some point

my commute into work I average high 16's to low 18's depending on the day, the traffic and what I did the night before

wgwarburton

gtvlusso writes:

> Gonna be weird soon as I am going fixie.....will knock all this to sh1t!

I got a lot quicker when I switched to fixed. The bike's lighter and you tend to power up hills much more, 'cos you can't downshift. I also find I'm faster down shallow hills, because I don't coast down them.
It's wierd the first time you do a group ride on a fixie, you come to a slight uphill and everyone with gears suddenly starts going backwards!

Cheers,
W.

soy_sauce

I commute 2.5miles each way and it take 20mins each.....so its average 7.5mph...... :oops: *finding somewhere to hide*

ride_whenever

I'll do some speed sums around my commute, it has 8 sets of lights and is only about 1 mile!

RedJohn

I commute about 40.5km in about 1hr30 (on the way home - train in the morning), give or take a few minutes depending on the wind. Fairly flat all the way, the odd wee hill but nothing to speak of, it's mostly coastal. About 10km ro so is through the city, the rest basically rural with a few towns putting traffic lights in the way to slow me down by changing to red just as I have a really good head of steam up approaching them

"Weekend speed" - on the odd occasion I manage to find time - is going to be similar to the out-of-town section of my commute, ie low-mid 30's km/h.

On a light and fast road bike I have to add. A lot slower on the tractor, err mountainbike, obviously.