Average speeds

mikey1982

just wondering what sort of average speed is good for a beginner?

Im got this today after work, with quite a few inclines, would be interested in comparisons

Distance
11.75 miles
Duration
55m:35s
Avg Speed
12.7 mph
Max Speed
35.2 mph
Calories
771 kcal
Altitude
72 ft / 619 ft
Elevation
614 ft ↑ / 342 ft ↓


Cheers

peejay78

you may wish to do a search on this topic.

average speeds are notoriously difficult to compare. i suggest you ride the same route again and again and use it as a benchmark; when your average speed comes up in roughly similar conditions you'll know you're getting faster and fitter.

and lastly, most of the average speeds mentioned on here suffer from hefty inflation.

nochekmate

Hold tightly! - Here we go again.

...but 12.7mph average does not look that impressive

jibberjim

Above 1mph below 60mph is pretty good, outside that you're probably doing something wrong.

millymoose

Popcorn anyone?

mikey1982

thanks for the advice peejay78, its a route I will be doing daily now so should hopefully improve!!

DaveL

You will improve mate, but who cares anyway, so long as your enjoying it.

Dave

essjaydee

DaveL wrote:

You will improve mate, but who cares anyway, so long as your enjoying it.

Dave

^^ Agreed
I got all hung up about average speeds on my commute as I wanted to join a club and do some longer rides, but I found there are too many variables on a daily basis :!: I found I could have, what felt like a great ride to work, only to find my average was below what I'd call a reasonable ride, and then I'd get despondant and think that I wasn't improving. I went out with a local club and first ride did 53 miles with them, really enjoyed it, but no idea what the average speed was, but I didn't have any issues riding with them 8)
If I feel good I'll push myself harder, if I don't I'll take it easier, but I enjoy every time I'm on the bike whatever, so don't get hung up over it

Bozman

It's a can of worms, that's your average over your route, use it as a starting point and move on by trying to beat that average.

Lossie Loon

You're best considering your average speed by doing a full circular route (or at least A to B to A again) so that other things such as wind speed/direction and climbs/descents neutralise themselves as much as possible.

I find that the flatter the route you do, the better your average speed will be - e.g. my average speed is damn near 2mph faster when cycling around Lossiemouth (which is surrounded by very flat roads bulit over reclaimed sea) than when cycling around Warwickshire country lanes with all their ups and downs.

Without knowing what your route is like, what stops you have to make for junctions etc, it's difficult to judge your average speed, but I should think you should be able to add a few mph at least to that after some practice. I think getting 16-19mph would be attainable for most people in most road types.

nochekmate

Lossie Loon wrote:

I find that the flatter the route you do, the better your average speed will be - e.g. my average speed is damn near 2mph faster when cycling around Lossiemouth (which is surrounded by very flat roads bulit over reclaimed sea) than when cycling around Warwickshire country lanes with all their ups and downs.

Well you learn something everyday!

whojanicanackerov

Buying a power meter could lower the guess work and also your bank balance

Lossie Loon

nochekmate wrote:

Well you learn something everyday!

I wasn't too sure to what degree the descents would negate the climbs to be honest, assuming you do a circular route as obviously your max speeds are far higher on undulating routes (for me typically in the high 20s in Moray compared with high 30s in Warks).

roger_merriman

try something like http://www.strava.com great fun though don't take it too seriously!

dabber

On the question of the downhill sections balancing out the uphill bits I think the type of descent has a bearing.
A lot of my rides are on small country lanes little more than one vehicle wide, blind curving/bends, not great road surfaces.
Whereas on my ascents this doesn't greatly effect my speed, on the downhill bits I don't really go flat out... I haven't got enough bottle. At this time of the year they are especially dodgy with lots of debris/mud on the road, often with only narrow clear lines.
So, perhaps I'm climbing these at 9 mph but instead of coming down at 30+mph I'm only doing perhaps 24 mph.

amaferanga

23mph.

gmacz

Between 16 and 17 mph, country roads with mud everywhere and I have to be aware of big pot holes.
Wet and dirty roads and I slow to a crawl on the bends and speed goes down to under 16mph.
Comfortable at this speed, could go a bit quicker if I pushed it, I want to enjoy bike ride and this is where I am happy.
I am also in the right section of the forum, when do you stop being a beginner.

Zoomer37

The more time you spend riding, the less you'll focus on what your average speeds are.

Pross

Lossie Loon wrote:

nochekmate wrote:

Well you learn something everyday!

I wasn't too sure to what degree the descents would negate the climbs to be honest, assuming you do a circular route as obviously your max speeds are far higher on undulating routes (for me typically in the high 20s in Moray compared with high 30s in Warks).

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. It would be easy to think that if you went up a 1 mile long climb at 10 mph and down a 1 mile descent at 40 mph then your average speed would be 25 mph but it would actually be 16 mph as you would take 7.5 minutes to complete 2 miles.

How long before the first person turns up with a 'genuine' response to trump the OP's average??

rolf_f

It will depend on the form of the gradients. A long, alpine style climb followed by a very short, steep descent is going to take much longer than the reverse of the steep climb followed by the long descent. There is a probably an optimal profile for overall speed and it might not be flat!* Would like to know though.

* even if optimal is flat, you'd have to account for headwind effects which are usually more damaging on the flat than hilly country.

rolf_f

Pross wrote:

How long before the first person turns up with a 'genuine' response to trump the OP's average??

My not dissimilar trip to the OPs this morning is

18.5 miles
01:07:50 riding time
16.4 MPH average speed
33.8 Maximum speed
633 feet altitude gain (according to the dubiously reliable barometer in the computer).

A more downhill than uphill route and a heavyish bike. But I'm not a beginner anymore so as pointed out, the comparisons aren't really meaningful.

hmbadger

Pross wrote:

Lossie Loon wrote:

nochekmate wrote:

Well you learn something everyday!

I wasn't too sure to what degree the descents would negate the climbs to be honest, assuming you do a circular route as obviously your max speeds are far higher on undulating routes (for me typically in the high 20s in Moray compared with high 30s in Warks).

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. It would be easy to think that if you went up a 1 mile long climb at 10 mph and down a 1 mile descent at 40 mph then your average speed would be 25 mph but it would actually be 16 mph as you would take 7.5 minutes to complete 2 miles.

How long before the first person turns up with a 'genuine' response to trump the OP's average??

I've been interested in this lately. I had a look at some of the data from my rides last year. Distance didn;t make much difference to av speed, but amount of climbing did. Here's a graph of how average speed (Y axis) varied with av amount of ascent (feet per mile). All of the figures are slow, but on really hilly rides they get pretty disastrous!

RoadMeridaBen

I dont read too much into average speed anymore, but for some reason as new cyclists we seem to obsess over it.
I live in a hilly area (damn wales! :P) and rarely do I average under 18. My advice would be dont get hung up on it and just enjoy getting out

rolf_f

hmbadger wrote:

I've been interested in this lately. I had a look at some of the data from my rides last year. Distance didn;t make much difference to av speed, but amount of climbing did. Here's a graph of how average speed (Y axis) varied with av amount of ascent (feet per mile). All of the figures are slow, but on really hilly rides they get pretty disastrous!

Put the Excel away - I'll get all excited!

What would be interesting is if you had the same route in opposite directions - though you'd have to allow for overall height gain there but it might give an indication of how the shape of the climbs affects timing. What surprises me often about my commute is how close my fastest times are in opposite directions given that I live a fair bit higher up than the office.

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

I dont read too much into average speed anymore, but for some reason as new cyclists we seem to obsess over it.
I live in a hilly area (damn wales! :P) and rarely do I average under 18. My advice would be dont get hung up on it and just enjoy getting out

That's because average speed tells you a lot though oddly quite a few folk would have you it doesn't. BTW - that's some excellent willy waving there. I give you 9.5 out of 10 for 18 mph in a hilly area

PS - bet my area is hillier than yours..........

RoadMeridaBen

I may have said I rarely average under 18, but I often average over 18 willy in the air like I just dont care! :P

wishitwasallflat

I ride in a hilly area and my average speeds are way below that - I wonder if it's because of the weight of my enormous willy?

rake

Pross wrote:

Lossie Loon wrote:

nochekmate wrote:

Well you learn something everyday!

I wasn't too sure to what degree the descents would negate the climbs to be honest, assuming you do a circular route as obviously your max speeds are far higher on undulating routes (for me typically in the high 20s in Moray compared with high 30s in Warks).

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. It would be easy to think that if you went up a 1 mile long climb at 10 mph and down a 1 mile descent at 40 mph then your average speed would be 25 mph but it would actually be 16 mph as you would take 7.5 minutes to complete 2 miles.

a rather interesting point here is that if you did the first mile uphill at the 10mph mentioned it would be impossible
to average 20mph for the 2 miles at any downhill speed you can imagine.

The Man Chump

My average on the commute to work (Lights and roundabouts and nasty things like that is high 14's low 15's
While out of the flats of Norfolk over a longer distance 16's maybe a couple of 17's (20 or 30 mile rides) I'm new to the sport so no idea of how well these compare

lemoncurd

wishitwasallflat wrote:

I ride in a hilly area and my average speeds are way below that - I wonder if it's because of the weight of my enormous willy?

Hack if off and see if your average speed improves.

wishitwasallflat

Nice idea lemon - tried and 1.3 mph faster and hit a high C at the same time!