How long would it take you to ride this route???

HueyTheBull

SurreyChris wrote:

I do a very similar route, starting at Knaphill, and going straight on at Bisley, where you go left.

I average 19-20 mph normally, slow on the run back down towards knaphill though, with the roundabouts and lights.

It's a damn good route though, the climb up Gapemouth road is a great rolling climb, and the run down Red Road gets the big gears spinning!

I think I do this in reverse to you. The climb through red road is a tough one but Gapemouth is a pleasure in comparison! I normally do the hill (Red Road) in my granny ring although may try getting out of the seat to see if it improves times. Feel free to join in!

Velonutter

I don't tell lies lads, I was just trying to help.

At this time of the year, most people will be riding 2-3 mph slower than in the summer and on clubs rides sometimes slower as we ride to the slowest rider.

You need to be aware that speed can come quite quickly if you practice, I find endurance much harder, in the winter 150 miles a week is the norm, but in the summer I regularly do 250-300, but a couple of sessions will be speed work and I find this comes back very quickly.

Most fit people will be able if they practice to ride at 20 mph + over 20 miles, trying to hold that speed over further distances is where planning and thinking needs to come into play.

The OP asked a question, but what he needs to remember that in time he will look back and laugh at his speeds now and his speeds then.

Just enjoy the riding and keep going and it will come together, remember you only get out what you put in!

okgo

Also a lot of people will quote group ride speeds.

Ive done our chain gang route of 23 mi at an average of 23.7 mph with a stop here and there, but solo I would find it tough to be over 22 I think, drafting gives you a huge rest!

Might try it solo though, interested now!

briantrumpet

nochekmate wrote:

Averaging 18mph is some way short of averaging 20mph - the 2mph differential does not sound that much but over a sustained period of time, the difference is considerable.

Yes, indeedy. It's something to do with wind resistance and something squared (hence not a linear increase in power needed). I have a silly target involving a certain solo distance and a 20mph average, and the last less-than-1mph that I'd like to achieve looks like it'll be just too much for me to crack at my age (though that won't stop me trying). Inversely, if I ease off 1mph it's relatively a pootle. It's all in the maffs, innit.

Will Nunez

ForumNewbie wrote:

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Omar Little wrote:

Will Nunez wrote:

Not sure wether i count as a newbie, been riding now for 2.5 years, do 600+ miles a month, but im no where near the speeds being touted. Im not overweight (BFI around 12%) and considering miles think im reasonably fit. My bike is reasonable spec (105 with Aksiums). I can get 20mph+ but when solo not for long. Is 20mph+ realistic for an average joe? My averages are closer to 16-17mph.

There are real world averages then there are internet averages. Then there are real world averages taken on a float day on flat roads in optimal conditions that happened once 2 years ago

On undulating terrain then 20mph+ is not realistic for an average ride by an average joe - IME if someone regularly rides over 17 mph solo on undulating terrain then they going to be amongst the faster riders at most clubs.

Why does everyone think you are telling porkies if you can average over 20 on a ride?
I nearly always ride solo and an 18 mph average isnt difficult even over larger distances. Man up and mash the pedals :P

I'm sure you are telling the truth about what you can do and not everyone is telling porkies, but some do seem to be exaggerating a bit. What gets me is people coming on saying things like averaging 20 mph is no problem for 50 miles or so riding solo. That might be the case if you are young, very fit or an experienced cyclist with lots of hard miles in your legs, but everyone, especially on a Beginners Fourm, is different ages, have different qualities of bikes and at different stages of cycling fitness. For a beginner doing a 10 mile Time Trial , I understand 30 mins (20 mph) is a good starter time to aim for - but that is going flat out on a flattish course for 10 miles. It is a bit different for us mere mortals trying to do 50 miles at that speed.

I am in my 50s and will be well pleased if I can get my averages up to over 15 mph on solo rides on hilly terrain this year on my new bike.

This is a great post, willy waving aside, i thought it was just me that drops my speed in winter (2-3 mph on summer)

I am 44 and have only ever done 20mph+ for 22 miles once. Edinburgh to North Berwick (reasonably flat). I was however assisted with a 30-35mph tail wind

I will be entering local 10 mile time trials this year and was thinking 35 minutes would be a reasonable goal. The best I do on my commute is 17mph (all lights green, no T junction kn@bheads, etc). I guess Im going to have to "man up" and "mash the pedals" to do any better

springtide9

Velonutter wrote:

I don't tell lies lads, I was just trying to help.

At this time of the year, most people will be riding 2-3 mph slower than in the summer and on clubs rides sometimes slower as we ride to the slowest rider.

You need to be aware that speed can come quite quickly if you practice, I find endurance much harder, in the winter 150 miles a week is the norm, but in the summer I regularly do 250-300, but a couple of sessions will be speed work and I find this comes back very quickly.

Most fit people will be able if they practice to ride at 20 mph + over 20 miles, trying to hold that speed over further distances is where planning and thinking needs to come into play.

The OP asked a question, but what he needs to remember that in time he will look back and laugh at his speeds now and his speeds then.

Just enjoy the riding and keep going and it will come together, remember you only get out what you put in!

Not that I'm anywhere near that pace myself, but there is nothing wrong with the pace you stated.

As we know triathletes get a lot of stick from roadies, but a tri mate in his late 30s manages to regularly ride 100 miles (underlating) with an average 20+ mph. He did an IM last year and completed the 115mile leg in 5h06m (average 22.5mph).
OK the IM road leg is pretty flat, but he did have to run a full marathon at the end (3h45m for anyone who's interested). The guy is very fit, but also has a young family and a full time job.

I think some people struggle to believe that it's possible to get to this level of fitness; but people who manage 20+mph centuries struggle to understand what you have to go to get to the level of fitness of a Tour rider.

Recently read a book called 'History of the Tour De France'. There are lots of great quotes in the book from interviews from various Tour riders, but there is one prominent point that really stands out. Riders talk about winning the Tour, but knowing that a competitor is both stronger and fitter. They talk about mind games, with not letting the other riders know how much pain you are in. If there is one word that is spoken more than any other it is 'pain'. There is a film called 'The Flying Scotsman' which is about Graeme Obree breaking the 1hr record. Apparently pretty accurate to the facts, but Graeme talks about the pain he had to go through for the record basically finished his career, as he never felt he recovered.

Back to the point, and I know I am as guilty as anyone for pushing hard, but when was the last time you pushed so hard that it took you days to recover? From what I understand, this is the key to raising the bar.

okgo

Usually those guys ride on a TT bike though right?

But it is impressive, but its a often a totally different rider who can do those kind of rides, I rode last night (briefly as he went past me fairly easily) with our club TT record holder for 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles (his record for 100 miles is 3.48 - 26.3 mph avg), as you can tell he is fast, and he fast up hill too, but over a really hilly route there would be much slower riders who could stick with him I should think, its all about terrain!

A flat 17 miles with no interuptions I should imagine most fit club riders could do over 20 mph avg (as long as the wind wasn't silly)

richh

Velonutter wrote:

Most fit people will be able if they practice to ride at 20 mph + over 20 miles, trying to hold that speed over further distances is where planning and thinking needs to come into play.

Exactly this. 20mph average over about an hour is entirely possible for someone who's reasonably fit (nothing extraordinary mind you). Trying to keep that up for longer periods of time is much, much harder. For me on an all day ride I've never averaged over 17.5mph but getting a 20mph+ average over an hour is perfectly doable.

sfichele

Agree with the above. There's nothing super human about 20+ mph for an hour if you are fairly fit and are prepared to put up with a little discomfort. I do that all the time when I get a chance to ride a flattish quiet route. However, sustaining 20 + mph for more than one hour becomes much harder.

ForumNewbie

sfichele wrote:

Agree with the above. There's nothing super human about 20+ mph for an hour if you are fairly fit and are prepared to put up with a little discomfort. I do that all the time when I get a chance to ride a flattish quiet route. However, sustaining 20 + mph for more than one hour becomes much harder.

Okay, I agree that 20 miles in 1 hour will be achievable for a lot of fit riders, but I still doubt that many on the fourm would be able to average over 20 mph over 50 undulating miles on a solo ride, like we were talking about earlier in this thread. I would be surprised if more than say 5% of all riders on these forums were able to achieve that level of fitness, i.e. these sort of speeds are the exception and not the norm.

jim55

meanwhile back in the commuting world ,,,,!!!
this was going to work yest so as u can see from top speed i wasnt hanging about but traffic and stopping has to play a part ,,what a crap average !

HueyTheBull

jim55 wrote:

meanwhile back in the commuting world ,,,,!!!
this was going to work yest so as u can see from top speed i wasnt hanging about but traffic and stopping has to play a part ,,what a crap average !

Oh My God! Your service provider is 3!!! :twisted:

What app is that?

jim55

strava
and 3 is better than u think ,,i stay in glasgow and coverage is very good and fast

ForumNewbie

jim55 wrote:

meanwhile back in the commuting world ,,,,!!!
this was going to work yest so as u can see from top speed i wasnt hanging about but traffic and stopping has to play a part ,,what a crap average !

I would say a nearly 6 mile commute through Glasgow in under 30 minutes is good going, no matter what some people will say. I used to live in Glasgow and it would usually take me more time than that to travel a shorter distance into work using public transport. From your map, it looks like your route is from Cardonald to Springburn or vice versa? Looks a busy old commute to me - probably bike is as quick a way as any to get there?

Will Nunez

jim55 wrote:

meanwhile back in the commuting world ,,,,!!!
this was going to work yest so as u can see from top speed i wasnt hanging about but traffic and stopping has to play a part ,,what a crap average !

37mph? Were you hanging off a bus? I can unly do that in free fall!!

I decided to go for it on the commute today 16mph, wind assisted over 12 miles, 26mph top. Abviously below average :? :?

HueyTheBull

I went for it today, as much as I could, and managed to take 4 minutes off - 64 minutes total. Hopefully that 60 minute barrier will be broken by the summer. Averaged 17mph.

Also, advice please!? This time I went for a higher gear (much lower cadence) and it seemed to be much easier to get my average mph to about 17. Is a lower cadence advisable for shorter routes like this and a higher cadence better for longer rides? I'm still learning technique etc... Or just each to their own?
Cheers all

okgo

Higher cadence at all times is the usual advice.

sfichele

17 mph average is pretty respectable. Just keep riding and pushing yourself, you'll get quicker.

If I'm trying to ride a route quickly I find riding out of the saddle for a few seconds every so often helps to keep my speed up. I tend to push really hard, and then sit back down and spin "easily" letting my legs sort of rest whilst maintaining a high speed. Then a few minutes later back out of the saddle and increase speed by a few miles and hour and then sit back down again...

The a constant effort + high cadence thing doesn't work for me, I have to keep chopping and changing my riding position, and getting in and out of the saddle, if I'm trying to ride as fast as I can.

jim55

ForumNewbie wrote:

jim55 wrote:

meanwhile back in the commuting world ,,,,!!!
this was going to work yest so as u can see from top speed i wasnt hanging about but traffic and stopping has to play a part ,,what a crap average !

I would say a nearly 6 mile commute through Glasgow in under 30 minutes is good going, no matter what some people will say. I used to live in Glasgow and it would usually take me more time than that to travel a shorter distance into work using public transport. From your map, it looks like your route is from Cardonald to Springburn or vice versa? Looks a busy old commute to me - probably bike is as quick a way as any to get there?

yep ,,nearly right ,,springburn to drumoyne ,,it takes about 15 min in the car only because there is a motorway link right next to my house and the work is very close to the off ramp ,,however iv drove the route i go on the bike which is all main rds and it takes about 40 min!!!obv the bike lets me get to the front of traffic at the lights ,,and re top speed ,,no i wasnt hanging off a bus lol
there a wee bit of a downhill gradient (not very steep ,,prob about 4% for about 3-400 yds or something )and it runs on to a flat bit and i can get up a fair head of steam on the flatish bit after the hill(ish)section ,i can see the traffic lights at the bottom and if i dont have to stop then i can go for it ,,but look at the average!! rubbish,,you cant maintain a good rolling ave on my commute

RoadMeridaBen

Well didnt quite manage the 50 miles with 20mph average in level 2 (wasnt quite 50 miles either lol)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/145252417

springtide9

iestynt1 wrote:

I went for it today, as much as I could, and managed to take 4 minutes off - 64 minutes total. Hopefully that 60 minute barrier will be broken by the summer. Averaged 17mph.

Also, advice please!? This time I went for a higher gear (much lower cadence) and it seemed to be much easier to get my average mph to about 17. Is a lower cadence advisable for shorter routes like this and a higher cadence better for longer rides? I'm still learning technique etc... Or just each to their own?
Cheers all

You have already got the idea.
Whats needed is fast cadence (80+) and tough gear lol

Speed will come with time and fitness. Just keep knocking those mins off every week or so.

Think of it like you are on a journey, where other people started before you, and others behind.
You can catch up over time by training harder, but this process takes time. Just enjoy the journey!

MarksMintness

ForumNewbie wrote:

sfichele wrote:

Agree with the above. There's nothing super human about 20+ mph for an hour if you are fairly fit and are prepared to put up with a little discomfort. I do that all the time when I get a chance to ride a flattish quiet route. However, sustaining 20 + mph for more than one hour becomes much harder.

Okay, I agree that 20 miles in 1 hour will be achievable for a lot of fit riders, but I still doubt that many on the fourm would be able to average over 20 mph over 50 undulating miles on a solo ride, like we were talking about earlier in this thread. I would be surprised if more than say 5% of all riders on these forums were able to achieve that level of fitness, i.e. these sort of speeds are the exception and not the norm.

Yes mate, gotta say that I have never been that fast over any route out from where I live. It's too undulating, and when it is flat you have winds to contend with! I did 25 miles today and felt strong, but still only 13.5mph average. There were at least 3 out of the saddle climbs though! I guess as with all these things you just have to keep pushing, dropping weight and getting fitter and stronger!

ForumNewbie

It was a lovely day today and I managed a 53 mile ride. Don't laugh but my average was only 12 mph. My longest ride of the winter and I wasn't really pushing myself - just enjoyed getting out there. Only time I really pushed myself was when I saw 4 cyclists 100 yards in front and after 4 miles or so I eventually caught up with them.

My excuses for such a slow average were it was on my audax/winter bike with mudguards, rack and rack pack on top, lights (which I didn't need today). In summer I reckon I could maybe get up to 14 mph average on that route.

siamon

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Well didnt quite manage the 50 miles with 20mph average in level 2 (wasnt quite 50 miles either lol)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/145252417

What is impressive is that you seem to ride at the same speed whether the 5 mile split is up or downhill? Miles 40-45 seem to have a fair whack of climbing and you are still at just under 20mph :shock: , whereas 0-5 with a nice descent you are at 21.4mph average?

RoadMeridaBen

siamon wrote:

RoadMeridaBen wrote:

Well didnt quite manage the 50 miles with 20mph average in level 2 (wasnt quite 50 miles either lol)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/145252417

What is impressive is that you seem to ride at the same speed whether the 5 mile split is up or downhill? Miles 40-45 seem to have a fair whack of climbing and you are still at just under 20mph :shock: , whereas 0-5 with a nice descent you are at 21.4mph average?

Got stuck in traffic at the start which dragged the average down, and mile 40-45 i actually pushed a bit lol

sfichele

MarksMintness wrote:

ForumNewbie wrote:

sfichele wrote:

Agree with the above. There's nothing super human about 20+ mph for an hour if you are fairly fit and are prepared to put up with a little discomfort. I do that all the time when I get a chance to ride a flattish quiet route. However, sustaining 20 + mph for more than one hour becomes much harder.

Okay, I agree that 20 miles in 1 hour will be achievable for a lot of fit riders, but I still doubt that many on the fourm would be able to average over 20 mph over 50 undulating miles on a solo ride, like we were talking about earlier in this thread. I would be surprised if more than say 5% of all riders on these forums were able to achieve that level of fitness, i.e. these sort of speeds are the exception and not the norm.

Yes mate, gotta say that I have never been that fast over any route out from where I live. It's too undulating, and when it is flat you have winds to contend with! I did 25 miles today and felt strong, but still only 13.5mph average. There were at least 3 out of the saddle climbs though! I guess as with all these things you just have to keep pushing, dropping weight and getting fitter and stronger!

I only ever achieve something like 20+ mph when its flat(-ish) and I'm really going for it. Its not my normal riding and its painful! I only posted to say that it is possible. Normally, my averages are similar to yours, i.e between 21 kph and 28 kph (which is 13mph - 17.4 mph). I do most of my riding in the Peaks District so its very hilly. Anyone claiming to do 20+ mph over 50 miles in an environment like the Peaks is either a pro or in the very top few percent any riders. or lying!

HueyTheBull

sfichele wrote:

I only ever achieve something like 20+ mph when its flat(-ish) and I'm really going for it. Its not my normal riding and its painful! I only posted to say that it is possible. Normally, my averages are similar to yours, i.e between 21 kph and 28 kph (which is 13mph - 17.4 mph). I do most of my riding in the Peaks District so its very hilly. Anyone claiming to do 20+ mph over 50 miles in an environment like the Peaks is either a pro or in the very top few percent any riders. or lying!

It's good to know... It would take a while to average 20mph+ over that course. One day!! 8)

springtide9

I find it always useful to see data from other riders. I have one year under my belt on the roadie, but another year on the MTB (being a bit more serious at improving fitness)

http://app.strava.com/rides/3700933

DISTANCE : 42.2 miles
ELEVATION: 2,574 ft
Time: 02:24:50
Elapsed Time: 02:25:07
Max Speed: 35.6 mph
Avg Speed: 17.5 mph

Carrying a bit of weight that I should be, at approx 89kg (I'm 6 ft); should be hopefully down to 80-82kg within a few months; the extra weight is really noticeable on the hills ATM
Still a way off a 20mph average speed at the moment, but building speed/fitness doesn't happen overnight.
As a FYI - I'm expecting (or hoping) to be around the 18.5mph for this route come the summer.

RoadMeridaBen

springtide9 wrote:

I find it always useful to see data from other riders. I have one year under my belt on the roadie, but another year on the MTB (being a bit more serious at improving fitness)

http://app.strava.com/rides/3700933

DISTANCE : 42.2 miles
ELEVATION: 2,574 ft
Time: 02:24:50
Elapsed Time: 02:25:07
Max Speed: 35.6 mph
Avg Speed: 17.5 mph

Carrying a bit of weight that I should be, at approx 89kg (I'm 6 ft); should be hopefully down to 80-82kg within a few months; the extra weight is really noticeable on the hills ATM
Still a way off a 20mph average speed at the moment, but building speed/fitness doesn't happen overnight.
As a FYI - I'm expecting (or hoping) to be around the 18.5mph for this route come the summer.

Thats a quality ride, was bloody freezing this morning so i settled with http://connect.garmin.com/activity/145521990

Team4Luke

Velonutter wrote:

On a flat route like that I would hope to average about 21-23 mph (maybe a little quicker on the right day) on a road bike and a little bit quicker on a TT bike and I'm just an average Joe!

your way from average if you can average those speeds on a road bike.


As a rule of thumb, anyone who can average 20mph for around about an hour has a high level of fitness.