What is your average / top speed?

andrewlwood

Peddle Up! wrote:

suzyb wrote:

That's where my Gramin is handy. Gives you moving time and average moving speed.

Even so, stopping and starting take quite a bite out of the average. Don't worry about it though.

Exactly. My average is up around 16.5-17.0 for 7 miles of my commute - drops to 15-15.5 in the last mile, and not because I'm tired!

Dodger747

Taken from the stats from my good bike i.e not on the turbo since January 2011...

Distance: 2,034.23 mi
Time: 109:12:51 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 35,536 ft
Avg Speed: 19.1 mph
Avg HR: 166 bpm
Avg Bike Cadence: 88 rpm
Calories: 77,041 C
Max Avg Speed: 21.0 mph
Max Speed: 49.7 mph

briantrumpet

Dodger747 wrote:

Distance: 2,034.23 mi
Elevation Gain: 35,536 ft

Haha. Just goes to show about the usefulness (or otherwise) of comparisons - in about the same time (from the end of January) I've done:

Distance: 2,346 miles
Elevation gain: 147,487 ft.

Who put all those hills there?

kev77

Mine is 13.13mph

Hour best: 17.55 mile

10 mile best: 32 min 5 secs

20km best: 40 min 25 secs

30km best: 1 hour 13 min 16 secs

20 mile best: 1 hour 20 min 7 secs

Hills ( that have been recorded )

Constitution hill 4 min 29 secs

The Devils Staircase 9 min 40 secs

Need to get my ass in gear!

unixnerd

You know, I think we all need to put one thing into perspective. I recently witnessed a relative who's only a few years older than me but going on for 75% heavier huffing and puffing his way up a country walk and emerging with his brow covered in sweat. My wife was wondering if he might be on the verge of a heart attack. This is a guy who used to go to the gym.

Anyone who's going out and doing 20 miles on their bike at any speed is extending their time on this earth by many years compared to the bulk of the population.

Bozman

It all depends on where i ride, i live in Derbyshire, if i go for a ride up the peak it'll knock 1.5-2mph off my average, put me in a group and my average will go up by 2mph.
Whether its 17 or 20mph average as long as i get off my bike and feel f****d i'm happy.

How steep is the hill + how long is the hill + how big are your balls = Top speed.

SLX01

What a totally pointless thread!!

There is no such thing as an average speed unless everyone cycles the same distance over the same terrain. Person (a) may average 20 mph on the way to work 5km down a pan flat road whilst person (b) may only average 17mph on his journey but travels 45km down hilly country lanes.... which one is fitter??

CiB

suzyb wrote:

I wonder CiB, would it be possible to find out if I am the slowest cyclist on the stats board (at least of those who enter times).

Unlucky Suzyb. I've dug in to find who's not up to it and you don't even show up. You're just not bad enough.

To keep it brief, this list shows those who enter times, ignoring those who are either pootling or have entered figures incorrectly and ended up with sub-4mph rides, and excludes any non-commute rides too to exclude family pootles with the kids etc. This is those who scrape in with average speeds between 4 and 10mph. A list of the worst performers; how many rides rounded to integer values by rider. It's not pretty...

3	4 mph	Finlab
3	7 mph	chrizy_d
4	8 mph	chrizy_d
1	8 mph	StuAff
1	9 mph	barry_kellett99
3	9 mph	carlosdsanchez
11    9 mph	chrizy_d
1	9 mph	salsajake
2	9 mph	Sketchley

iPete

Piece of string etc etc etc but lets play..

Only ever done 2 recorded 'race' situation rides:

58 miles @ average 20mph - New Forest Sportive
24.5m (40km) @ 22mph - T2 in the Bournemouth Olympic Distance Tri

Rolling average on the commute is around 18mph over 20miles.

If I leave the computer running these days it'll come to around 17-17.5mph over 200+miles

niblue

On road bike my average speeds vary from 13.5 to 16.5 mph, on my tourer/commuter it'd be more like 12-14mph. On the mountain bike it varies very widely however 8-10mph covers most of the range (that's all off-road on trails, not road riding) although it can be lower at trail centres with a lot of climbing.

I use a Garmin on all my rides so that's based on averages from that (and the overall averages, not the moving average).

briantrumpet

SLX01 wrote:

What a totally pointless thread!!

Not nearly as pointless as the eternally circular helmet debates over on Cycle Chat.

suzyb

CiB wrote:

suzyb wrote:

I wonder CiB, would it be possible to find out if I am the slowest cyclist on the stats board (at least of those who enter times).

Unlucky Suzyb. I've dug in to find who's not up to it and you don't even show up. You're just not bad enough.

To keep it brief, this list shows those who enter times, ignoring those who are either pootling or have entered figures incorrectly and ended up with sub-4mph rides, and excludes any non-commute rides too to exclude family pootles with the kids etc. This is those who scrape in with average speeds between 4 and 10mph. A list of the worst performers; how many rides rounded to integer values by rider. It's not pretty...

3	4 mph	Finlab
3	7 mph	chrizy_d
4	8 mph	chrizy_d
1	8 mph	StuAff
1	9 mph	barry_kellett99
3	9 mph	carlosdsanchez
11    9 mph	chrizy_d
1	9 mph	salsajake
2	9 mph	Sketchley

pah I'm not even the best at being the worst

borisvanhalen

when i lived in suffolk average over 20mph... 50 miles used to take 2hr 15'ish

now living in hilly wiltshire average 17.2mph... 50 hilly miles takes 2hr 55

however i do now have some good downhills so have maxed at 48.3mph (still want to get to 50)

Big Hairy Wallapers

With regards to the 'Norfolk bashing'.....
While we may long for some nice hills to play on I'd welcome anyone to ride from Hunstanton to Cromer into a block headwind and then understand more about why the wind is sometimes dubbed 'The East Anglian Alps'!!

Thebigbee

SLX01 wrote:

What a totally pointless thread!!

Thanks for taking the time to read it though....lol!!

keef66

Having posted earlier that my average is invariably 14.4mph, I went out last night with my eldest son and came back with a 16mph average.

For a slightly knackered 53 year old there was clearly additional motivation in being chased by an athletic 22 year old. He assured me he could've breezed past me at any time, and likened it to an F1 car pootling round behind the safety car. I've no reason to disbelieve him; at one point he did overtake and disappear, uphill, in the 53 ring.

rolf_f

CiB wrote:

To keep it brief, this list shows those who enter times, ignoring those who are either pootling or have entered figures incorrectly and ended up with sub-4mph rides, and excludes any non-commute rides too to exclude family pootles with the kids etc. This is those who scrape in with average speeds between 4 and 10mph. A list of the worst performers; how many rides rounded to integer values by rider. It's not pretty...

3	4 mph	Finlab
3	7 mph	chrizy_d
4	8 mph	chrizy_d
1	8 mph	StuAff
1	9 mph	barry_kellett99
3	9 mph	carlosdsanchez
11    9 mph	chrizy_d
1	9 mph	salsajake
2	9 mph	Sketchley

Something not right there. Sketchley doesn't seem to record times and barry_kellet and carlosdsanchez have a fair turn of speed. Stuaffs interesting though - he's done over 5000 miles this year but barely ever gets over 15mph. He must spend a lot of time on the bike!

Thelittlesthobo

Averages. The age old question.

Even locally i can have two different types of average. North of the motorway it is hilly, south it is flattish. Did a 70ml ride on sunday and averaged 16mph. Did a 30mile ride last night and was chuffed to get 15mph. Both within the carlisle/cumbria area.

I can also get higher 17's & 18's on the shorter rides if i wish to but they dont benefit me as much as the 15 & 16mph hilly rides/longer rides.

Whatever average you get it is incomparable with anyone elses

Thebigbee

Thelittlesthobo wrote:

Averages. The age old question.

Whatever average you get it is incomparable with anyone elses

I think that was basically my initial point. One guy reckons he averages 16/17 MPH over 30 miles on a mountain bike - another says that he "only" averages 20 MPH!

I understand that there are loads of variables, like traffic and lights, hills and prevailing winds.

I have to admit that I do like the Garmin stats that people have posted because apparently it stops recording when you stop - which makes your average speed more realistic.

I also realise that a lot of bike computers aren't actually that accurate or haven't been set up correctly.

snickwell

It took me 6 months of being a newbie cyclist to learn to disregard average speeds as they really don't tell you much.

I pushed my 'best ever' average last night, but I didn't feel as satisfied as I had done over the weekend where I got a slower average, but much more interesting terrain involving some nice hills.

There are some local guys I know who like to talk up their averages as if they REALLY matter, but ultimately, an average speed is meaningless.

rolf_f

snickwell wrote:

There are some local guys I know who like to talk up their averages as if they REALLY matter, but ultimately, an average speed is meaningless.

No, it isn't meaningless; far from it. An average, by definitiion, is the distillation of a data set into one representative value. As long as the data set is appropriate and there are enough values, an average is never meaningless. However, it becomes more meaningful when you look at it more carefully. Adding in variance helps but in the case of cycling, simply time of ride might help (eg if you commute).

Eg see below. A simple plot of my average speeds for each ride this year. You can see lots of commutes - the fast, outbound commutes clearly distinguished from the slower return trips. You can see when I changed from commuting on the old tourer to the carbon Ribble. You can see a suggestion that the uphill commute pace is increasing recently but that the downhill is decreasing (and there have been more morning headwinds and fewer tailwinds recently).

The data doesn't include distance so some of the slower rides are tough, long distance trips but even they don't really stand out as outliers. Those that do are usually short test runs round the block.

Obviously, it isn't telling you as much on its own as power does but the same graph I produced for last year shows damning evidence of overtraining as my average speed drops from August through to December. So, not the best guide to performance but in no way meaningless

briantrumpet

Rolf F wrote:

A simple plot of my average speeds for each ride this year.

Ooh, I like this! I think I might try something like this. I collect data from any solo non-commute rides simply to chart progress (or lack of it), and to give myself targets - and plotting a graph like this gives an excellent at-a-glance way to spot a trend. Definitely not meaningless or irrelevant.

rolf_f

briantrumpet wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

A simple plot of my average speeds for each ride this year.

Ooh, I like this! I think I might try something like this. I collect data from any solo non-commute rides simply to chart progress (or lack of it), and to give myself targets - and plotting a graph like this gives an excellent at-a-glance way to spot a trend. Definitely not meaningless or irrelevant.

Oh go on then - here is 2010 with the dreadful slow down in the second half of 2010 (pushing relentlessly for 10,000 miles). Somewhere I also have versions where I took weekly and monthly averages. The different degrees of data precision all highlighted different things (eg weekly removed the impact of the out and back nature of my commute and monthly highlighted when I'd cut my mileage down after an accident). All averages though!

Escadrille Ecosse

briantrumpet

Ooh, I like this! I think I might try something like this. I collect data from any solo non-commute rides simply to chart progress (or lack of it), and to give myself targets - and plotting a graph like this gives an excellent at-a-glance way to spot a trend. Definitely not meaningless or irrelevant.

Oh my. Part of me thinks I should back away slowly avoiding eye contact whilst another part is wondering how I would collect the data and plot it all out. I assume you must use a GPS device not just a basic cycle computer?

When I stared this commuting lark on a hybrid my average was around 13mph for a 10 mile each way. On the Poprad my average is now around 17.5 in the summer dropping a bit in the winter, more when it's icy and I've got the nobbly tyres on. Although last couple of winters with all the snow and ice it was hovering around 10 mph. Today I took the Gunnar and made 19.9mph for 14 miles (damn) morning run where the roads are a bit quieter. Got passed by a car at the top of the one big down hill then caught him up and was cursing him under my breath for holding me up. Checked the speedo as we passed the junction where I got knocked off a couple of years ago and was doing 38 mph (in a 30) so calmed down and backed off a bit. The average bit is definitely not meaningless, it gives a good idea of general fitness

briantrumpet

Escadrille Ecosse wrote:

Oh my. Part of me thinks I should back away slowly avoiding eye contact whilst another part is wondering how I would collect the data and plot it all out. I assume you must use a GPS device not just a basic cycle computer?

I personally use a cycle computer and spreadsheet. (I just stick the info in after each run, before I reset the computer for the next run). I don't do commuting speeds as there are far too may variables for it accurately to reflect my performance, but on longer runs there are enough miles and enough data to start seeing trends. But obviously the more (relevant) data points you can get, the better you'll be able to see trends rather than scattered points. Rolf's obviously got a lot of data points, so although there is day-to-day variation, you can see distinct trends.

cyco2

I find this average speed topic a bit, well totally flawed and in order to bring some similarity into the comparisons I would suggest you all pick a windless day and from a full bladder expulse its content as forcefully as possible. After several goes calculate the average. Then post the distance you achieved on here. That's the way to compare averages.

What do you reckon?

daviddb

As an old and weary 57 year old two months into a 5 days out of 7 fitness(hah!) routine on the same route every time I'm doing 8.7miles at 13.6mph.

In my defence I'd plead in aid that the finish/cup of tea line is at 1000 metres and the lowest point is 780 metres according to Mr Google and his very fine maps.. The distance/time sounds better in metric as well - 14k @ 22kph has a symmetry. Imperial figures make it sound depressingly woosy.


regards

david

Escadrille Ecosse

cyco2

I find this average speed topic a bit, well totally flawed and in order to bring some similarity into the comparisons I would suggest you all pick a windless day and from a full bladder expulse its content as forcefully as possible. After several goes calculate the average. Then post the distance you achieved on here. That's the way to compare averages.

What do you reckon?

I think that would technically be racing. And you would need to specify the method of filling one's bladder. Quite honestly though I don't want to start discussing that ore we'll end up having the post hijacked by the "I drink seventeen litres of pure spring water every day" brigade.

Moving back on topic, thanks briantrumpet. It's the trends you want to look at and compare. I'm am now tempted to start doing this too although as you say I'd probably separate out the commuting from the evening/weekend runs.

daviddb

The distance/time sounds better in metric as well - 14k @ 22kph has a symmetry.

cyco2

On average my ride speeds are quite respectable for my age and condition but when I was younger, 50, I found it really difficult on a 50 mile circular slightly hilly circuit to obtain 21mph average. Speed is easier to do. Interestingly though I have done all the averages posted on here over the years.

rolf_f

Escadrille Ecosse wrote:

briantrumpet

Ooh, I like this! I think I might try something like this. I collect data from any solo non-commute rides simply to chart progress (or lack of it), and to give myself targets - and plotting a graph like this gives an excellent at-a-glance way to spot a trend. Definitely not meaningless or irrelevant.

Oh my. Part of me thinks I should back away slowly avoiding eye contact whilst another part is wondering how I would collect the data and plot it all out. I assume you must use a GPS device not just a basic cycle computer?

Blame CiB (who posted on the previous page) - he came up with this monster; http://www.startfarm.co.uk/aspStats/Default.aspx

I have just used a normal bike computer (albeit one that does pedalled time rather than just the elapsed time) but I do now use a GPS device. For these plots though it all goes via manual cut and paste of SCStats.

As Briantrumpet points out, it helps if you do a lot of individual rides. In theory, if I really was anal about it, I could record wind speed and direction as well though I could probably also work it out just by looking at the numbers.

The obvious flaw is that windspeed affects riding speed but not power output. But, I haven't got a power meter and I doubt I'll be getting one and the weather conditions do average (!) out as well. I do have heart rate and cadence as well though and they all help.