What is your Max & Average Commuting Speed

camerone

15 miles each way
climbing 383m in, 304m out
av speed 16mph in, 17mph out
max speed 36mph in , 38mph out
cadence average 82 max 122
HR av 176 max 185

shoulder_of_orion

thanks for all the replies its quite interesting. no really.

This morning I did:

11.6 miles
14.7 ave
29.7 top

So I increased my average by 1.7 mph and my top by 0.7, I am pretty sure that by the end of the week I will be able to improve these to over 15mph & 30mph respectively though I suspect that subsequent gains will come gradually and with a lot of pain.

The consensus seems to be that 15-19 mph is the range I should aspire to and that above 16mph in London could be tricky due to the physical limitations of red lights and traffic.

Some of your top speeds are quite amazing. I am assuming these are achieved on long and/or steep downhill sections?

Is anybody going 30mph+ on the flat??

@diggingdeeper - your commute is almost exactly the same distance as mine, where are you based?

nation

FCN 9

Commute about 6 miles ish

average speed 22.8km/h (14.1 mph)
max speed 49.5km/h (30.1 mph)

The one way system means I have to climb a relatively steep hill on the way in, but the descent is much gentler and has three sets of traffic lights on it.

Other than that it's pretty flat.

FyPunK

13.5 mile commute.
All flat but get the coastal winds (bloody strong in winter).
Average 14.1 mph
Max 29 mph
This is on my Hybrid errrban bike.

wgwarburton

Hi,
A few posts on cadence, I see. My average of ~17mph gives an average cadence of about 86rpm; peak (~35mph) gives 165rpm: I suspect there's some measuring error crept in there because I don't usually reckon on doing much over 150.

I'm intrigued that people are quicker on geared bikes, too: I'm way quicker on the fixie than on my geared bike- it's lighter and I can't take it easy on the hills (up or down).
Mind you, my geared bike is a classic 28lb tourer, not some plastic, disposable thing; whereas the fixie is sub-20lb with raceblades...

Cheers,
W.

hillclimbingnut

I may be wrong here W. But the speed would depend on the gear and hill ratios wouldnt they. Say for instance if you were using a 53 front 11 rear, you would get the speed and likely lower the cadence.

And if you had a high cadence you would likely be using either a compact crank or higher ratio gear on the block which would lower the speed.

It has been known for me to be corrected :?

By the way yer cakes look nice. Mind if I eat the lot!!

I enjoy cake stops on a ride

biondino

WGWarburton wrote:

Mind you, my geared bike is a classic 28lb tourer, not some plastic, disposable thing

Disposable? The focus will be buried with me if I have anything to do with it.

(touch wood touch wood, that last sentence is tempting fate a wee bit too much)

TopSpin

The computer on my new bike is useless. Yesterday it showed my avg speed was 4mph and my max was 76mph. A few days ago it showed the commute was over 100 mies.

Anyway on my dearly departed mountain bike with skinny tyres, stats are:
Round Trip: 7.2 Km
Avg Speed Range: 16.5-18.5 kmph
Terrain: Flat
Traffic Lights: 9 on way in, 7 on way back
Zebra Crossings: 7 on way in, 4 on way back.
Plus 2 spots where I'm on a busy foot path where they allow bikes.

So probably the slowest on here, but a lot of traffic stops. Not much faster on the new single speed road bike. Oh and yeah FCN12 before, now I appear to be a 9 though I don't think I'm a fakenger but am defo not "proper rapid" (as shown!).

DiggingDeeper

Shoulder of Orion wrote:

@diggingdeeper - your commute is almost exactly the same distance as mine, where are you based?

I am one of the NE London SCR crew that blasts in from Chingford to Warren Street (which for the uninitiated is abart 2 o clock on the Landan Tarn map, to the middle of the clock like.

A classic mixture of leafy crematoria, outlying slums of Walthamstow, exposed windy trans reservoir, gyratories (Tottenham), even slummier parts of Hackney/Finsbury Park and finally onto lovely lovely Camden where the fixies hang out.

To be serious half the journey is long slog bus lane, which is good for the time, but made up by the savage traffic clogs at the major arterial points and endless road works.

That's my life - what's yours?

Oy yeah 2009 best time last night, today - let's not go there? head wind in and blown about like a kite going home. Felt awful, very poor nutritional decisions made today

wgwarburton

hillclimbingnut wrote:

I may be wrong here W. But the speed would depend on the gear and hill ratios wouldnt they.

I don't find they do- The geared bike (let's call it "broken", for simplicity) is heavier and it's much easier to ride slowly on the uphills, since it can be downshifted to allow a comfortable cadence at low speeds. On the fixed, I have to push it at 15mph plus to keep up a comfortable cadence; and the bike is lighter (lighter frame & mudguards, no rack, freewheel, deraiileurs, shifters or gear cables, less chain & 'rings) so it's easier to push uphill anyway. On the dowhills the broken bike can freewheel ("coasting is a pernicious habit") but I have to spin on the fixed, so end up going faster...

Say for instance if you were using a 53 front 11 rear, you would get the speed and likely lower the cadence.
And if you had a high cadence you would likely be using either a compact crank or higher ratio gear on the block which would lower the speed.

Well, yes, but your speed is down to the energy you put in: the gear ratios affect the efficiency, so you might go a bit faster if you have the right gear, but not much.
Of course, a heavy load, long or steep climb, strong headwind or combination thereof makes riding more comfortable on the broken bike... Similarly a steep descent is more fun when you have big gears and a freewheel... but for my commute, the fixed is quicker and more fun.

By the way yer cakes look nice. Mind if I eat the lot!!

Sure, help yourself!

Cheers,
W.

shoulder_of_orion

I live in Ladywell, almost due south of you - 4 O'Clock on same clock and I travel to the ar$e end of Kensington (by the big billboards on the drag out to Heathrow). The first part of my way out is brilliant - no red lights due to London cycle network for 3 miles, then Peckham - Camberwell - Oval - Vauxhall - Chelsea Embankment - Earls Court.

I have found I am doing the first 8 miles in ~30mins and the last 3 and a half in ~20mins - so an ave of ~16mph for the first part and ~11mph for the second.

I think there must be an actual "max speed" that is possible through central London. If it's 12mph in car what is it on a bike?

I have no idea as to my cadence as I don't think my computer does that. I remember seeing the TdF on TV a few years ago and they were going on about Lance's high cadence on the mountains and "souplesse" and since then I have adopted a high cadence style - but given we don't have many alps around here that might not be the best policy???

crrazzzyy

Hi ive only just started to bike to work again (Been lazy) 2 days last week and so far 2 days this week hopefully more ........

9.1 miles each way
Avg speed 14 mph
top sped 28 mph

Time to work (6.40 am) 45- 50 mins
time home 35 mins

you can tell i sruggle on mornings ......... hopefully i will ride most days now just need motivaton .......... will improve slowly i reckon .....

on my kona fire mountain with mud tyres, i did struggle tonight though .

jimmypippa

I have had commmutes that were more enjoyable than tonight's

Headwind of doom.

I was changing down a gear whilst cycling downhill. I even went into th esmallest chainset for a while.

It was also fairly damp.

snellgrove

3.2 miles

Tops about 30

Average can be somewhere between 13 if I'm tired and its miserable weather, or just over 17 if I'm feeling strong and in the mood to go for it. Also the bloomin' red lights can ruin a good average.

My FCN is currently 8. I hardly ever see other bikes around on my route in :-(

roger_merriman

dpepends on area, average on (big green so heavy lump) tends to be around 10mph traffic makes a massive differnace. max speed mid 20's

years ago as a teen i had a job in the village way below my folks place, getting over 40mph with out trying wasn't hard even on a MTB with full set of knobblies on... some what slower on the way back!

bigease

My normal commute is:

Distance: 14.2 miles
Ave Speed: 17-18MPH
Max Speed 24 MPH

Commute is pretty flat, well is would be around Cambridge!

Riding the Fixed wheel with 42 x 15 ~73"

Rich158

jimmypippa wrote:

I have had commmutes that were more enjoyable than tonight's

Headwind of doom.

I was changing down a gear whilst cycling downhill. I even went into th esmallest chainset for a while.

It was also fairly damp.

You're not kidding, at one point I was nearly brought to a standstill going through a bridge under the A2. All the wind was chanelled into one narrow space and it felt like riding into a brick wall :shock: :shock:

The upside is the sail affect when you catch the side wind correctly, had me coasting along at 30ish with no effort at all.

il_principe

Don't normally commute with a computer, but rode in this am with my new Garmin 705 (fab fab fab) and:

AV Speed: 16.1mph
Top Speed: 31mph
Distance: 8.1 miles (Willdesden to Borough)

Feltup

Does the 705 warn you of speed cameras ;-) Glad you like it.

itboffin

Dist 21miles
avg 15.5mph
max 35mph oh yeh baby 8)

I held 24mph on the flat several times and finished the last mile at a steady 21mph avg. on a single speed as well, i'm just itching to get back out there 8)

cheehee

Distance: 10 miles

Average: ? (I've not reset my computer for aaagggeees)

Top speed: 37mph

Time: 30mins20secs (best so far) 45 mins when I started

Jamey

When it comes to averages, are some of you using proper averages and some of you using the "clock stops when I'm not moving" school of averages?

Because it's unfair to compare the latter against the average speed stats for cars, since they use proper averages, where the timer stays running at red lights and other stops.

I seem to recall that when I asked this question in the training forum (ages ago) the vast majority of people were using the second kind of average, where the cycle computer automatically stops the timer if you're standing still or doing less than a certain speed (ie 2mph).

While that may be useful for training, I'd suggest that for commuting purposes any figures recorded that way are null and void. As far as I'm concerned a commuting average is the total distance divided by the total time it took you to cover that distance and if you had to wait at 87 red lights then tough luck, that time still gets counted.

Dudu

Stats about the same as the OP

Dist 10.6mi
Avge 13mph
Max 33mph

It takes the same time as travelling to work by bus+tube+bus or bus+train, and is a lot quicker than bus+bus.

I wouldn't even think of driving - I've seen the traffic queues.

shoulder_of_orion

Jamey wrote:

When it comes to averages, are some of you using proper averages and some of you using the "clock stops when I'm not moving" school of averages?

Yup spot on. I only realised that in the past day or two when I looked at my computer and saw that the clock had stopped at the lights (I know, I'm thick they did tell me in the LBS that it will start working when I start riding).

I want to be able to work out my proper averages, because it's actually the overall time it takes me to get to work that I am interested in. I can then use the computer to help improve my time (I find it useful to have the speed in front of me as whenever it drops below 20mph I give another kick to help bring the average up). Also I normally coast into red lights as there is no point expending energy at that stage - that costs me on the computers average, but would make no difference to the proper average.

The distance measurement on the computer should be accurate, so all I need to do is start timing myself independently to work out the proper average.

Maybe I can reprogramme my computer so that it starts measuring when I start it and stops when I stop it :?

I think my "proper" average is around the 12mph that the press stat said cars can achieve although I am pretty sure I would beat a car over my particular commute.

fatherted

SM6 - EC4
18mph average

nation

Shoulder of Orion wrote:

Maybe I can reprogramme my computer so that it starts measuring when I start it and stops when I stop it :?

Mine has two different functions for measuring time, "stopwatch" and "ride time". The former doesn't stop until you hit the button, whereas the latter pauses the clock when you're stationary. Perhaps yours has something similar?

El Capitano

My average is: 15.4 mph
My Max is: 57.1 mph

I got very confused doing the FCN thing...

ris

fcn 2 / 4 for the road bike (guards or not...)

today's figures
dist 11.8m
ave 16.3mph
time 42.55mins
top 36.3

my best time to home is 39.30, i think the ave for that is a bit over 17. my morning run to work is usually 41 - 43 mins. my route includes a 350ft climb, on the way home it's in one go over 1.8 miles, on the way out it's in shorter steep stages.

my top speed is still 40.8mph down one of those steep drops, on my folder. i'm hoping that warm weather will mean i can set some new top speeds on the roadie.

greg66_tri_v2.0

7.5 miles
Ave 17mph
Max 35mph (on the flat; from a standing start)

The averages get pulled down by any sort of traffic. The time spent decelerating and accelerating is fatal.

biondino

My proper average is maybe 13mph, but then I do have (I think) 22 sets of traffic lights in my 7 mile journey, as well as London traffic. I agree with Jamey that it's a more realistic measure when talking about commuting - after all, the key thing is getting to work/getting home in a reliable time!