What average speed for Club runs?

peanut

Looking at some local club webpages i was surprised to see one stating that the average speed on their beginners/ social runs was 17mph ! :shock:

It may be 10 years since I went on regular Sunday club runs but I reckon thats a very high average speed to either chat at or for beginners to maintain over a lumpy 40 miles .

I would have expected an average of around 12-14mph for beginner/ social rides.

What is the average speed of your clubs social rides ?

random man

I've just started going out with a group on Sundays and it's brilliant! The first ride was just over 50 miles, no real hills, average 14.5mph.
The next ride was into Derbyshire, some steep climbs and fast descents plus a fast stretch along the A6, 60 miles, average 16mph.

No-one was dropped, and the faster riders would stop and wait for the rest of the group, so it's a very friendly social ride with a cafe stop, but caters for most regular riders. There is a faster group who went off separately.

freehub

I remember my first club run, it was the beginner group, 72 miles I did, 14.5mph average. The next could got longer, up to 120 miles but still around 14-15mph average so I would think that would be the sort of speeds most club runs do.

peanut

am i the only one that thinks that advertising average speeds of 17mph to beginners looking to join a cycle club for the first time would be rather off-putting ? :roll:

freehub

I dunno, I'd give it a go, see if I could hold on, it might be a fast club, the club runs I go on we can average over 20mph for over 100 miles with thousands of ft ascent in as it's always pan flat at start/finish.

Go and see, or look for another club am sure there will be a slower ride. If that fails then train to get to 17mph, but if you can do say 15-16mph on yer own, I reckon you'd cope in a group doing 17mph or abit higher as in a bunch you're saving lots of power and is much easier as long as you're close to them back wheels.

gbs

[quote="peanut"
I would have expected an average of around 12-14mph for beginner/ social rides.

What is the average speed of your clubs social rides ?[/quote]

I am still uncertan as to what people mean: possible meanings are 1) average speed on the flat, 2) rolling average - this must be greatly influenced by terrrain..

peanut

the average speed of the entire club ride ie from start to finish.

The terrain is immaterial in this respect .

Generally the route that club runs take vary week by week. The routes are frequently published in advance but just as often a decision is taken on the day depending on numbers, weather and other factors .

If its say a hilly 40 miles then the average speed will drop maybe to 12mph or even less on a social run . On a flattish ride the average speed could rise considerably to perhaps 16mph+

Remember this club is advertising this club run as a second ride specifically for beginners and the terrain in Sedgmore is decidely hilly with the Quantocks and Exmore adjacent which is why I would suggest that 17mph average speed for beginners on a hilly 40 mile ride is too high and likely to put off new membership

SBezza

Our club has runs from a 10mph average to 18+ average, then again we have 7 different clubruns to choose from.

I don't think there is a normal pace a clubrun will take, over the numerous clubs in the country. Also the speed in a group maybe higher than what you do on your own, but in a group it is alot easier keeping an average of 17mph than on your own.

peanut

yes it is easier to maintain a higher pace in a group ride but a beginner looking to join a club probably wouldn't know that, having not ridden in a group before .

Social club runs do vary in average speed naturally depending on how big a club is and how many club rides they can support.The question wasn't how many club runs your club can support

A big club can manage 3x different rides on a Sunday wheras a small club can probably only support a single ride due to numbers. Naturally this will effect the speed the club runs are made at.

Lets make it easier .....what we are talking about here (or the topic of the thread is) .............


' Do you think that 17mph average speed for a 40 mile Sunday club ride over a hilly terrain is too high and would discourage new members and beginners from joining that club ?

SBezza

peanut wrote:

' Do you think that 17mph average speed for a 40 mile Sunday club ride over a hilly terrain is too high and would discourage new members and beginners from joining that club ?

For a general cycling club, yes that would be probably restrictive to new members. For a racing club, then no, thats the sort of speed you would expect.

Is the club in question an all round cycling club, or more of a racing club?

You also did ask in your original question, what sort of speeds is your club runs, I gave you an answer to this question

Chris James

peanut wrote:

Lets make it easier .....what we are talking about here (or the topic of the thread is) .............


' Do you think that 17mph average speed for a 40 mile Sunday club ride over a hilly terrain is too high and would discourage new members and beginners from joining that club ?

17mph for somewhere genuinely hilly would be pretty quick. However, Sedgemoor, smack in the middle of the Somerset Levels, doesn't count as hilly to my mind, therefore 17mph sounds quite achievable.

12-14mph for Somerset would sound very slow and would put me off. FWIW I average 15mph on my own in the Peaks / Pennines and I am not very fit.

Brewsterwmb

In a pea'nut' shell, i would say yes, that 17mph could be off putting to some. Maybe its more a question of fit? That the club in question was formed by a group of serious guys, that 17mph to them isnt 'fast' and can be maintained for a 40 mile club run. Thus only wanting people who are capable of that level to join? Come up to Bath where there are 4 groups that go out ever Sunday and range from 14mph average to 19mph for 80 miles

bigmat

I've just joined a club and done a couple of Saturday morning rides, first time average speed was just under 17mph, second time it was around 18.5mph. That is "moving" average, although there was very little stopping either time. Our club run splits into sub-groups - fast, medium and slow, and those averages are for the fast group. There are other rides for really fast people I think (and the fastest are off racing!) - still getting to grips with it all. If there is only one regular ride, 17mph might be a bit offputting, but best to be honest, people don't necessarily want to be waiting for slowcoach newcomers the whole time.

Bronzie

peanut wrote:

' Do you think that 17mph average speed for a 40 mile Sunday club ride over a hilly terrain is too high and would discourage new members and beginners from joining that club ?

It's possible that this is the intention - ie to be selective about who turns up for the club run.

For smaller clubs, it's difficult to cater for a wide range of abilities. So as not to inconvenience the entire club run, is it not acceptable to have some sort of minimum standard?

From my own club's website:

The rides normally cover approximately 60 miles mainly over country lanes at an average speed of around 17mph with a cafe stop halfway.

How fit do I have to be to ride with you?
Our club runs are not "full-effort" training rides. We try to keep a steady pace and ride as a group at all times, dropping to the pace of the slowest rider if necessary on climbs. So you don't have to be super fit to ride on our club runs. As a guideline, if you can manage a 40 mile solo ride at a reasonable pace (average 16mph), you should have no problem riding with us.

We tend to ride in a fairly close group, riding two abreast unless road or traffic conditions require us to ride single file. Don't worry if you feel a little nervous at first when riding in a group, you will soon get the hang of it.

There are a number of unwritten "rules of the road" that we expect new riders to pick up as they go along such as calling out potholes in the road, not overlapping your front wheel with the rear wheel of the person in front etc. You will soon pick these up as you gain more experience of riding with us.

Mr Smooth

Peanut - why advertise a speed at all? What's more important is that the fastest stop every so often and allow a re-group, and no-one gets left behind. That to me is what I'd like to hear.
On our Wed night rides I'd never leave the last rider on their own - always make sure there's someone there to help out/fetch help if there's a mechanical.

yogi

Interesting debate this, and one that we have recently had in our club. We now have 2 runs on a Saturday one at around 12mph average and the other usually comes out at around 15.5mph average. It is pretty hilly around the Plymouth area.

GavH

You appear to be asking two different questions:

peanut wrote:

Do you think that 17mph average speed for a 40 mile Sunday club ride over a hilly terrain is too high

NO. A subjective assesment required here but as it seems most have already noted, it could well be a big group and may not be quite as 'hilly' as you think. As I discovered in a thread I started a couple of weeks ago, the definition of 'hilly' varies between individuals quite significantly. I'm sure the same can be said about the average speeds achieved in Sunday club runs.

peanut wrote:

and would discourage new members and beginners from joining that club ?

Yep, no doubt about this, I agree absolutely. When I was a beginner, I was happy to achieve averages of 15mph around the undulating but not exactly hilly county of Hampshire. I had no real concept of a group going quicker because it's a group, hence the idea of joining a club that I would have been struggling to stay with would not have been entertained any longer than it took me to read the bit about average clubs runs being 17mph!!

chrisw12

Trying hard to be funny.

Why is this question being asked in the training forum? Everyone should know that a club run has nothing to do with training.

Tom Butcher

I don't do ours often but it used to be 17-18mph for 60-80 miles in the Peak. I think it's slowed down these days but haven't been out this year. I did the supposedly steadier Saturday morning ride at the weekend and came back with 17mph plus for 65 miles round South Derbyshire - apparently it's normally a touch slower than that though.

jackp

local club does about 17 on slow sunday rides-depends on course profile though for talking comftaibly though

smithy1.0

17-18 for longer, slower rides.

20+ on the wednesday night shorter/harder ride.

liversedge

chrisw12 wrote:

Trying hard to be funny.

Why is this question being asked in the training forum? Everyone should know that a club run has nothing to do with training.

Perfect for active recovery and endurance workouts... and fun too.

Bronzie

liversedge wrote:

Perfect for active recovery and endurance workouts... and fun too.

Active recovery rides should be around 1 hour max. Any longer than that and it's unlikely it'll be aiding recovery much.

Endurance workouts - well that depends on how fit you are.
At the minute, I haven't raced since I broke my collarbone in May so club runs tend to be at a reasonable endurance level for me.
But in March when I was going well, they were painfully slow for beneficial training purposes (I spent most of my time at <65% Max HR which is recovery territory).

freetrader

Just went out on my first group ride ever on Saturday. We did 37 miles, some hills, and maintained average of 18mph.

I've been road riding for a couple of weeks and managing an average of 14-15mph, so I was concerned I'd get dropped. I couldn't believe how easy it was cycling in a group, the reduction in resistance, and the team spirit really get you going.

It was easily one of the best rides of my life, and I'll definitely be doing it again. Go for it!