How do I get my average up, I feel slow

s1mon

Hi,

So I've not been riding long but I used to do alot of mtb'ing a few years ago, got a another mtb a year or so ago but now seem to prefer on road 8) got myself a nice TCR Advanced. I ride on my own although have friend that's soon to be getting a road bike. My routes are only about 15-20 miles most I've down is a 36 mile. My average is 15mph I feel slow and unfit. I know if I ride more it's gets easier but I don't seem to push my self too hard i mean i do get tired and struggle up some hills. Looking to get a Garmin 800 in week or so will this help me get faster ? I thought about joining a club but at my speed and distance I'd have no chance keeping up :oops: any tips to get faster and fitter ?

Thanks.

Barrzy257

The garmin edge 800 not used correctly will not make you faster, it will just show you how slow your going every second... But used correctly it can motivated and help technique, give confidence to try new routes etc.
More riding will help with the hills, the more base miles the better to start off with. I'm just started training with a Chris Carmicheals book "the time crunched cyclist" and only 2 wks in can already see the difference. There will be plenty of opinions on which books are good or bad but this seems great for me. For the time being, don't worry about your speed so much, get good technique down and enjoy the miles, speed will come eventually

dormer88

HEY, im pretty happy with 15MPH

simon_masterson

Don't obsess over your average speed, unless you are comparing with cyclists of your level who ride on the same, or similar, roads as you. (i.e. DON'T compare numbers with strangers on the internet)

But if you want to cycle faster, that is what you must do: cycle faster. You should eat a proper diet, there are some things you can do to make yourself a bit faster and comfortable on the bike (position, saddle position and height, handlebar height, correct use of gears, etc), but the main factor is you.

So try incorporating sprints into your rides. Go for short bursts as fast as you can, and then drop back to a 'resting' speed. Try to increase this speed. If you have HRM and cadence (I don't), you can go even deeper into this kind of training. Sprint up steep hills, spinning as fast as you can. The object is to train yourself into being able to sustain higher intensity cycling for longer, and spinning fast will help with flexibility and strength.

Using a computer WILL help (even a very basic one that displays your speed), but I would put it to you that you don't have to have an expensive GPS one, even if many people around here do swear by them. Speed, cadence and heart rate are the most important measurements. There are various suggested training regimes that incorporate an HRM and cadence; use them. Use your speed to motivate you; that works for me, though I will get a fancier computer at some point.

Having GPS functionality can be useful to you, but so can a lot of things. I think there could well be more useful things that you could do with the extra money. Just over £100 will buy you a really good quality computer with cadence and HRM, and about £150 will get you a basic GPS computer, but unless you're a regular Audaxer or long distance tourist, full-blown GPS navigation is an indulgence.

Don't expect miracles, but this method does work.

lc1981

15 mph doesn't sound too slow to join a club to me. It partly depends on the terrain you're covering to achieve that average, but I would have thought that most clubs have a regular ride at around that speed.

simona75

My advice would be to start increasing your distances. I found that when I started to regularly ride 50-75 miles I built a better base endurance and my avg speed over shorter distances (20-30 miles) started to go up. Of course I have no solid evidence for this and it may just be circumstance, maybe someone with a better understanding of training can validate it

ShutUpLegs

Pedal harder

StillGoing

Do a search as there are umpteen threads on the subject and a recent one at that.

viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12872226

Pigtail

Prepare yourself for a whole lot of pain and effort! I saw someone recently saying if you wanted to get faster you need to have a 3 year plan. I started cycling in October 2010 and am obsessed with speed, particularly average speed. Small gains from a multitude of different areas have been my lot, but they do gradually add up.

I don't know your age or fitness level, but I was heading for 50 and quite overweight.

Some thoughts - mix up your training, some long rides as well as short ones. A long time in the saddle builds endurance, try to build to 3 hours plus. Then add in speed work once you have the base fitness. 'Feel' what it's like to go fast, do short bursts (between 2 lamposts?) as fast as you can and recover, then gradually increase the distance. I'd say the garmin 800 will definitely help. Look at some training info, possibly from cycling magazines. I have a 500 and it has been one of my best cycling purchases.

Upping my speed and fitness has been one of the hardest things I've ever done, and it's still very much a work in progress, but it has also been one of the most satisfying.

lc1981

Pigtail wrote:

I saw someone recently saying if you wanted to get faster you need to have a 3 year plan.

I'm sceptical about that, to say the least. At least when you're relatively new to road cycling, it should be relatively easy to make quite big speed gains. I started in January having only been an occasional mountain biker before that, and by cycling longer distances and with faster groups, my maximum average speed has probably increased by 4 mph since then.

velvetytoast

Maximum average? Not sure what you mean by that...anyway

You will get some big gains in the first year pretty much whatever you do - however the trap I fell into was to ride for longer at the same pace without adding in the sprint stuff - you won't ride faster unless you condition your body (thats ride at the target pace) for short bursts at first and then longer as time goes on. This is what will increase your speed (but its going to hurt I'm afraid) In terms of conditioning you also need to be riding regularly (every other day at least) as the volume you do will be proportional to the gains you get. The 800 and the Garmin site will help you plan and track this which I've found quite useful.

One last thing - this morning I was chasing one of those big JCB tractor things at about 30 MPH (not KPH) it was a short sprint and I was off the back of a 50 but its taken me three years to be able to achieve that speed (although I'll admit I don't follow all my own advice) I started at an average of 13MPH and can now hold 20 for an hour on a flat day - just accept that cycling is a lifestyle sport and you're in it for the long haul

B.M.R.

Bear in mind that often in cycle club you'll be riding as a group, so will benefit a great deal from reduced wind resistance and drafting, so your average speed will improve as a by-product of that. Don't let the fear of being the slowest stop you from joining a club, everyone had to start somewhere.

Mikey23

Did a sportive today of nearly 50 miles in the gorgeous new forest at an average just under 15mph. Was chatting to a guy on the way round who smoked heavily, drunk heavily and had a heart attack at 40. He would have left behind three young children. I am aged 61 and pleased to be still fit and active but i dont know for how long. Neither of us were the slightest bit interested in average speed and who we measured up to. Just happy to be alive and enjoying our cycling...

ShutUpLegs

Mikey23 wrote:

Did a sportive today of nearly 50 miles in the gorgeous new forest at an average just under 15mph. Was chatting to a guy on the way round who smoked heavily, drunk heavily and had a heart attack at 40. He would have left behind three young children. I am aged 61 and pleased to be still fit and active but i dont know for how long. Neither of us were the slightest bit interested in average speed and who we measured up to. Just happy to be alive and enjoying our cycling...

Did you beat him :?:

Pigtail

lc1981 wrote:

Pigtail wrote:

I saw someone recently saying if you wanted to get faster you need to have a 3 year plan.

I'm sceptical about that, to say the least. At least when you're relatively new to road cycling, it should be relatively easy to make quite big speed gains. I started in January having only been an occasional mountain biker before that, and by cycling longer distances and with faster groups, my maximum average speed has probably increased by 4 mph since then.

I think the poster was probably talking about competitive riding, and while I saw some early gains it has taken a lot of work and effort to build on that. I'm still not where I want to be, or more importantly where I think I'm capable of being, but the harder it becomes the prouder I am of it.

The initial gains you are talking about depend on a lot of things, how fit you were to start with, how far you want to progress, weight, age etc. I track all my miles; commuting, in traffic, flattish rides, hills, headwinds etc and whilst the profile of the riding you do can make a big difference, I' m talking of an average of them all - not a maximum average. I do very few group rides. I joined a club and enjoy it, but timing is difficult. I can be out very early on a Sunday morning, do a decent ride before my children are up, where the club ride takes half the day.

Average speed is very unforgiving. I can find 4-5 miles on the flat where I can get a good rhythm going, and watch the average mph for that ride creep up 3 or 4 tenths of a mile per hour, but then lose it all and more on a big hill.

springtide9

As people have said above, it takes time and effort to increase your speed.

When we talk about 'time', it's not just how long you have been riding, but how often you ride. Unfortunately there are no short cuts to improving, but there are techniques that can be used in your 'training' (interval work etc - as mentioned above as well as in the linked post)

What stops most of us getting to our 'best' is time. I'm sure a large number of us have busy jobs and probably families with small children which take priority.

You can always find time to cycle, but you may not like the time of the day. It's about finding a routine that works for you; and making sure that it is enjoyable.

Oh and one last thing... we ALL feel slow!

There will always be someone faster than you as well as always someone slower than you. The speed of others is unimportant (unless you race)... so ignore the performance of others and concentrate on your own fitness until you are happy. The only useful reasons to look at other people's data is to get an idea on how they train; and to use it as a way of motivation (i.e. ... "if I do this and this - I will probably get similar results..")

lc1981

velvetytoast wrote:

Maximum average? Not sure what you mean by that...anyway

Yes, that wasn't all that clear of me. I meant the average I can achieve if I push myself a bit, rather than simply going for a leisurely ride.

djhermer

Mikey23 wrote:

Did a sportive today of nearly 50 miles in the gorgeous new forest at an average just under 15mph. Was chatting to a guy on the way round who smoked heavily, drunk heavily and had a heart attack at 40. He would have left behind three young children. I am aged 61 and pleased to be still fit and active but i dont know for how long. Neither of us were the slightest bit interested in average speed and who we measured up to. Just happy to be alive and enjoying our cycling...

...and very nice it looked too! I was pedalling my way around the Forest yesterday morning and spent most of my route passing you lot in the other direction. I didn't realise there was an event on or I would have entered - i know now of course that it was the New Forest Rattler. Gutted. 'twas a beautiful day up there, but would have been more enjoyable as part of a group.

Back on topic....if you do want to get hooked up on average speeds (and i admit that i do, even though i know all the arguments against doing so), I would start with not being too disappointed by 15mph. Particularly given that you're fairly new to road biking and you're always on your own. A Garmin will help with the training, which in turn can only help with your bike fitness (speed, distance, endurance etc.) - particularly if you're the type that is hooked on improving averages (this won't go away if you are). It will enable you to train smart as well as hard. The latter is easy, the former not so.

Other than that, as everyone else says repeatedly. Pedal harder more often....

Mikey23

@shutuplegs... Yeah kicked his ass in the last 100m! It was a staggered start so I think he was about 5mins ahead

Wrath Rob

ShutUpLegs wrote:

Pedal harder

This plus this

Simona75 wrote:

My advice would be to start increasing your distances.

Its not rocket science. The difference between the pro's and us is that they're doing 30+ hours in the saddle a week. And that's 30+ hours of meaningful training, not a 4 hour ride to the local cake stop with your mates.

So, if you want to go faster, you'll need to spend more time the in the saddle, i.e. ride for longer. Then try riding a shorter distance at a higher speed. If you really want, you can get into training plans, intervals, speed endurance work, strength sessions etc. But to start with, the mantra boils down to More Miles, Harder

Manc33

I used to always look at my average and how it hardly goes up.

Then I realized it never will just jump up like 1 MPH in 2 weeks.

When you go from an average of say 13 MPH to 14 MPH you are adding X amount of effort.

As it goes from 14 to 15 and so on you exponentially have to add more effort.

That is, a rider averaging 25 MPH like in a pro race is not using double the effort of a guy averaging 12.5 MPH, he is using something ridiculous like 5 or 6 times more energy!

So, I know average speed is a general indicator, but there's no point worrying about it not changing much, it doesn't.

You have bad days and good days which is one of hundreds of variables. One day after averaging 14 MPH for weeks on end, you suddenly do 15 MPH one day and wonder how. Then 14.5 MPH the next time but you've kinda "cemented" it then, you might do 14.2 MPH and worry again etc but it does gradually go up. It just doesn't go up anything like as much as you'd think - or that is you put in HELL effort on a ride and end up only going 0.1 MPH faster overall.

One things for sure, on a ride over 10 miles you can't just blast off in the beginning, you'll feel worse at the end and probably have an even lower average than if you "took your time".

I am on 700c x 23 and I did Snake Pass the other night (Stockport > top of Snake Pass > back again) about 26 miles and my average was 11.9 MPH. I was absolutely thrashing it as I got near home, trying to get it to 12.0 MPH but it didn't want to budge lol.

That is annoying - looking at the speed and it says 16 MPH to 18 MPH all the time but for 10 minutes of that speed the average goes nowhere, not even up 0.1 MPH.

It is a misunderstood thing simply because of wind resistance. I ride at say 16 MPH and wonder how the hell riders could ever average 25 MPH. I nearly said they absolutely must be on drugs to be doing that, but I better not lol.

mr bricolage

I have managed to increase my average from around 13-14 mph to around 16-17mph by doing the following.

Long ride at the weekend typically over 2 hrs usually 3 hrs but not going so hard that I am dead at the end. 2 rides during the week which usually have a number of strava segments where i push myself and have a heaving chest at the top / end of the segment then recover in between but I do not stop to recover but continue to cycle. This means that your body will learn to recover on less steep sections of a hill. These rides are typically over 20 miles and around 1.5 hrs.
I also do a gym spin session for 30 mins once a week which is pretty hardcore intervals and then some core excercises.
I've been doing this since June and the results are pretty good. I'm training for a 100 mile sportive in October and want to enjoy it not die on it

Tricycleboy

Buying an edge 800 made me 2 mph faster on average.

I assume it measures average speed differently than my Bryton did- either that or i had and EPIC week.

So buy the 800 it WILL make you faster.

slowbike

Tricycleboy wrote:

Buying an edge 800 made me 2 mph faster on average.

I assume it measures average speed differently than my Bryton did- either that or i had and EPIC week.

So buy the 800 it WILL make you faster.

Are you a salesman?

We get that sort of argument at work - buy XYZ system and increase your sales ...
Nope - it might enable you to access data to target sales more accurately - but it will in no way increase your sales ...
Same way - a bike computer will enable you to see what you're doing - and the 800 recording cadence, hr & speed will give you a lot of information (a powermeter would be a significant bonus) - but all it does is show you what you have done - and therefore where you can work on to improve - but the only thing that is going to make you get faster is you!

My speed has increased a lot this year - but then so has my mileage ... and Strava has helped keep the interest up (and provides an opportunity for interval training) - I also have the 800 ... but at the end of the day, it's me putting in the effort on the bike that has increased my speed ...

ianbar

everyone feels slow i think, especially when you always seem to get overtaken! i personally try and aim for climbs and interestingly on sunday i did the york 100. some went past me on the flat but on the 16% climbs i was catching them back up! and i thought i was rubbish on the climbs! i don't think i will ever be brilliantly fast but i keep working on certain things. a bloke i spoke to at the end said he was strolling past some who were hardly moving on the flat but going hell for leather on decents(dangerously so). ps, if i could average 15mph most days i would be very happy, i have said when i average 16 over 50 miles i can buy a new bike!

Wrath Rob

Slowbike wrote:

Tricycleboy wrote:

Buying an edge 800 made me 2 mph faster on average.

I assume it measures average speed differently than my Bryton did- either that or i had and EPIC week.

So buy the 800 it WILL make you faster.

Are you a salesman?

We get that sort of argument at work - buy XYZ system and increase your sales ...
Nope - it might enable you to access data to target sales more accurately - but it will in no way increase your sales ...
Same way - a bike computer will enable you to see what you're doing - and the 800 recording cadence, hr & speed will give you a lot of information (a powermeter would be a significant bonus) - but all it does is show you what you have done - and therefore where you can work on to improve - but the only thing that is going to make you get faster is you!

My speed has increased a lot this year - but then so has my mileage ... and Strava has helped keep the interest up (and provides an opportunity for interval training) - I also have the 800 ... but at the end of the day, it's me putting in the effort on the bike that has increased my speed ...

Its a well known fact that every time you buy a piece of cycling related kit it makes you faster