Speed over 30 miles?

richtw

What would be a reasonable average speed over 40 miles on a normal road bike for a late 30's (read nearly 40 yo male)?

Just trying to gauge if I need to hurt more :?

Airwave

Lot of variables but i would say for an average fit club cyclist riding solo on a road bike around a loop 18-22mph.

Garry H

You always need to hurt more

Around 02 mph is decent.

Garz

Is this speed over 30 or 40 miles then? :?

If your not in a club and as your asking this I take it your fairly fresh to road cycling then I would say between 16-18mph average is good.

thel33ter

I average around 17-18 quite easily for ages, but then trying to keep 20+ with 2 other guys is pretty hard :? I was in trainers and had the rack on the bike for that though.

freehub

Depends on the terrain, some 30 mile loops I can average around 23mph, some loops around 16 cause they've got lots of hills in.

richtw

Just curious really, used to race bikes when I was younger. Recently got back on a road bike after years of MTB, riding solo I am doing between 18 - 22 over 30 - 40 miles. If that is about average I am happy with that - it does hurt a bit mind, but not too bad!

neeb

If that's total average over the whole route on your own, that's pretty good. I find it pretty difficult to get over 20mph average on a 40 mile route on my own and I'd say I could reasonably easily keep up with most fast club runs.

But it greatly depends on hills, traffic lights, etc etc...

danowat

Just remember, real avg speed +10-20% = internet avg speed 8)

Pokerface

I think a more honest answer would be anything over 15mph up to 18 or 19mph if you're getting back into it.

inseine

Just remind me of the protocol. Don't count warm up cool down, add 10%, oh and move to Norfolk! 23mph my a**e

danowat

inseine wrote:

Just remind me of the protocol. Don't count warm up cool down, add 10%, oh and move to Norfolk! 23mph my a**e

HEY, it ain't all flat round here ya know!

Garz

Pokerface wrote:

I think a more honest answer would be anything over 15mph up to 18 or 19mph if you're getting back into it.

:?

Garz wrote:

If your not in a club and as your asking this I take it your fairly fresh to road cycling then I would say between 16-18mph average is good.

Buckled_Rims

Depends if you have any hills in the area. On a flattish route and on good roads about 17 to 19 mph is good.

I personally think averaging mph is useless. I have to go through 10 minutes of traffic junctions, roundabouts and traffic lights before I even get to a decent road. I've actually seen my average mph at 5.7mph on a warm sunny day for the few miles.

I hate where I live!

jibberjim

freehub wrote:

Depends on the terrain, some 30 mile loops I can average around 23mph.

If you can do 23mph for 30miles how come the 10mile TT's you were doing you didn't manage to break 24mph ?

Average speed is measured completely differently by different people on the same ride some people say 18mph others 21mph Unless you know exactly how it's being measured you can't compare. Training speeds are also irrelevant, if you want to see how you compare to others, do some time trials.

mrwibble

I'm 42 and recently did 30 miles at 20 mph average on my onw. I was broken after though...

freehub

jibberjim wrote:

freehub wrote:

Depends on the terrain, some 30 mile loops I can average around 23mph.

If you can do 23mph for 30miles how come the 10mile TT's you were doing you didn't manage to break 24mph ?

Average speed is measured completely differently by different people on the same ride some people say 18mph others 21mph Unless you know exactly how it's being measured you can't compare. Training speeds are also irrelevant, if you want to see how you compare to others, do some time trials.

Havent a clue, maybe it's the conditions and the profile of the course.

I did a 50 mile loop a couple months ago on my own, I averaged 21.4mph, seeing that you'd probably assume 24mph over a 10 mile should be easy. Maybe it's something to do with threshold power or something, maybe I have a low threshold but I can hold a certain amount of power so close to that threshold for a long time? Dunno if that makes sense.

stagger

mrwibble wrote:

I'm 42 and recently did 30 miles at 20 mph average on my onw. I was broken after though...

is it a fast bike, the onw?

jeez, round the peak district this time of year 14-15mph is hard enough , all you boys doing 20mph obviously live somewhere not too hilly...!

freehub

stagger wrote:

mrwibble wrote:

I'm 42 and recently did 30 miles at 20 mph average on my onw. I was broken after though...

is it a fast bike, the onw?

jeez, round the peak district this time of year 14-15mph is hard enough , all you boys doing 20mph obviously live somewhere not too hilly...!

Where do you live? Round the Manchester area and round Macclesfield is pretty bumpy, I can average 19-20mph on a 45 miles ride with around 2500ft of ascent.

briantrumpet

freehub wrote:

Where do you live? Round the Manchester area and round Macclesfield is pretty bumpy, I can average 19-20mph on a 45 miles ride with around 2500ft of ascent.

Very similar to my Devon routes - they vary between 500ft and 1000ft of climbing per 10 miles, but I can get round the 20mph average for up to about 60 miles for the flatter ones, if I'm on form, though yesterday's 4,100ft of climbing over 53 miles reduced me to 18.8mph. It's virtually impossible to do an interesting route round here with less than 500ft of climbing per 10 miles. Good training.

amaferanga

Another average speed thread turns to pathetic and pointless willy waving...

chrisw12

Funny how the people who race to a decent standard on this forum realise that a 20mph+ ave is pretty unbelievable.

Why do people bs about their average speed in training but not back it up with a real average speed during races?

Not aimed at anyone in particular but how often do we see a new rider come on here and give a wildly inflated av speed figure. There was one thread in particular where one guy said he was doing 20's on a slicked up mtb then another one where a guy claimed 20's on his hour commute in hilly Scotland, it just aint happening.

briantrumpet

amaferanga wrote:

Another average speed thread turns to pathetic and pointless willy waving...

Sorry, guilty, but in partial defence, the OP was looking for some sort of comparison (and someone else questioned flatness), so perhaps not entirely pointless, even if willy was waved in the process.

stagger

freehub wrote:

stagger wrote:

mrwibble wrote:

I'm 42 and recently did 30 miles at 20 mph average on my onw. I was broken after though...

is it a fast bike, the onw?

jeez, round the peak district this time of year 14-15mph is hard enough , all you boys doing 20mph obviously live somewhere not too hilly...!

Where do you live? Round the Manchester area and round Macclesfield is pretty bumpy, I can average 19-20mph on a 45 miles ride with around 2500ft of ascent.

well done. hilly -ish, rather than really hilly?

or willy-ish?

tbh the OP's post should just really have been answered as 'average speeds are a very poor comparator, there's just too many variables'

Pokerface

chrisw12 wrote:

Funny how the people who race to a decent standard on this forum realise that a 20mph+ ave is pretty unbelievable.

Why do people bs about their average speed in training but not back it up with a real average speed during races?

Not aimed at anyone in particular but how often do we see a new rider come on here and give a wildly inflated av speed figure. There was one thread in particular where one guy said he was doing 20's on a slicked up mtb then another one where a guy claimed 20's on his hour commute in hilly Scotland, it just aint happening.

I'm with you. I just went over my Garmin logs and I don't have any solo rides over 20MPH average. Road races vary between 20 and 25MPH average. TTs from 24 to 26MPH avg (on a TT bike). And fast chaingangs (including the hilly bit on the way back) are also around 20MPH (24 not including the hill).

I admit I'm not the fastest, but claims of over 20MPH for over 20 mile SOLO rides make me want to :roll:

chrisw12

I do have solo rides over 20 mph but they're done in the season and on a tt bike and with some favourable lights and traffic, they are very rare (oh no I've just waved my willy

I've just come back from a fast club run with three of the best current Welsh timetrialists and we were no where near 20mph ave. (I'll get the figure later) but it was hilly and long. I doudt very much there were many faster club runs out today. (again more will waving )

freehub

stagger wrote:

freehub wrote:

stagger wrote:

mrwibble wrote:

I'm 42 and recently did 30 miles at 20 mph average on my onw. I was broken after though...

is it a fast bike, the onw?

jeez, round the peak district this time of year 14-15mph is hard enough , all you boys doing 20mph obviously live somewhere not too hilly...!

Where do you live? Round the Manchester area and round Macclesfield is pretty bumpy, I can average 19-20mph on a 45 miles ride with around 2500ft of ascent.

well done. hilly -ish, rather than really hilly?

or willy-ish?



tbh the OP's post should just really have been answered as 'average speeds are a very poor comparator, there's just too many variables'

Hilly and mixed.

chrisw12 wrote:

Funny how the people who race to a decent standard on this forum realise that a 20mph+ ave is pretty unbelievable.

Why do people bs about their average speed in training but not back it up with a real average speed during races?

Not aimed at anyone in particular but how often do we see a new rider come on here and give a wildly inflated av speed figure. There was one thread in particular where one guy said he was doing 20's on a slicked up mtb then another one where a guy claimed 20's on his hour commute in hilly Scotland, it just aint happening.

Some people can back stuff up with Garmin logs, I'd say the average racer in Cat 3/4 must be able to keep up 20mph average, I can average 20 on loads of rides yet I'm a pos when it comes to racing and my best 10 mile TT is a pretty lame 25:15.

Airwave

I'm not a fast TTer.Best this year was 25mins for a 10& 1:04 for a 25.These are sporting courses&just clip on bars.So pretty ave club rider really.Looking through my garmin logs i did a few training rides on my own well above 20mph up to 60miles.So a very fast club rider would go past me like i'm going backwards.http://connect.garmin.com/activity/37383197 a flat ride i know but 20mph+surely not that hard...it can't be i can do it. :roll:

Garz

Pokerface wrote:

I'm with you. I just went over my Garmin logs and I don't have any solo rides over 20MPH average. Road races vary between 20 and 25MPH average. TTs from 24 to 26MPH avg (on a TT bike). And fast chaingangs (including the hilly bit on the way back) are also around 20MPH (24 not including the hill).

I admit I'm not the fastest, but claims of over 20MPH for over 20 mile SOLO rides make me want to :roll:

I'm in your camp too. I only started cycling with my road bike less than 18 months ago now and with a reasonable weight loss, few sportives and a handful of 100+ rides I noticed improvement in my average speed.

When I download my current Garmin data it is all there for me to see. Before this I used cycle computers and mapping sites to see how I faired.

When I give it some effort I can only sustain a 19mph average when I do less than thirty miles, as the distance increases my av speed tails downwards. Most of my riding solo is faster than my usual buddies (they aren't in best condition and mainly are work colleagues) and have noticed hitting 20mph average is tough.

I am glad then I am not the only one that thinks anything above 18mph is good going, I mean the courses I ride are deliberately hilly to make it tougher and this of course brings averages down.

If they are not members of a club then they should certainly race if these stats are true!

chrisw12

Airwave wrote:

I'm not a fast TTer.Best this year was 25mins for a 10& 1:04 for a 25.These are sporting courses&just clip on bars.So pretty ave club rider really.Looking through my garmin logs i did a few training rides on my own well above 20mph up to 60miles.So a very fast club rider would go past me like i'm going backwards.http://connect.garmin.com/activity/37383197 a flat ride i know but 20mph+surely not that hard...it can't be i can do it. :roll:

A couple of points to try to defend my wild claims.

'Pretty ave club rider' I think you sell yourself a little bit short with those times and conditions.

Clarify 'few' and clarify time of year. I didn't say a solo 20mph ride was impossible, it's just not that common.

Looking at you heart rate in the file it was quite high suggesting a race pace effort, not something you'd be knocking out day after day.

It also suggests you are quite fit and I don't think there will be many people on this forum that can hold that hr for that duration. Again I think you sell yourself a bit short with your modesty.

(I don't know your max hr so I'm guessing a bit here)

Airwave

chrisw12 wrote:

Airwave wrote:

I'm not a fast TTer.Best this year was 25mins for a 10& 1:04 for a 25.These are sporting courses&just clip on bars.So pretty ave club rider really.Looking through my garmin logs i did a few training rides on my own well above 20mph up to 60miles.So a very fast club rider would go past me like i'm going backwards.http://connect.garmin.com/activity/37383197 a flat ride i know but 20mph+surely not that hard...it can't be i can do it. :roll:

A couple of points to try to defend my wild claims.

'Pretty ave club rider' I think you sell yourself a little bit short with those times and conditions.

Clarify 'few' and clarify time of year. I didn't say a solo 20mph ride was impossible, it's just not that common.

Looking at you heart rate in the file it was quite high suggesting a race pace effort, not something you'd be knocking out day after day.

It also suggests you are quite fit and I don't think there will be many people on this forum that can hold that hr for that duration. Again I think you sell yourself a bit short with your modesty.

(I don't know your max hr so I'm guessing a bit here)

During the TT season i would do one of these intensity rides a week.Some times longer sometimes shorter.I would'nt say 80%of MHR is very high as i would race around 85-92%.My max is 186(not tested it for a year or two though)42yrs old..gulp!So no it's not a ride i would do everyday that's for certain.But regularly enough.And this time of year-me thinks not.Today 80miles hilly group ride at 15.9mphave.