Increasing average speed

jmillen

Evening folks,

As per the topic title really.. But to help, a bit of background info on my current riding. I'm currently riding about 100 miles / week. This consists of:

> Commute every day, 2.5 miles in, and then I try to extend the ride home to about 10 miles. Nothing particularly hilly.
> Long ride on a Saturday, typically between 45-60 miles, but did a 72 yesterday. These are normally between 3500-5500 feet of climbing. Couple of long/steep hills thrown in for good measure.
> Trail centre on the mountain bike on Sunday as a kind of recovery ride from the efforts of the previous day. This ride is more about having fun than speed, but I do generally end up pushing myself on certain sections.

My question is, how do I go about increasing my average speed? At the moment, my average for the longer weekend rides is between 10 and 12 mph, slightly higher on the less hilly ones of around 3000ft of climb. I've read alot of text on the subject, but would appreciate your views/experiences.

Many thanks in advance

James

danlikesbikes

Lots of options but all boil down to riding faster. I'm not trying to be funny just pointing out that is the only way to do it.

You do have lots of different types of training that you can do, none are right or wrong but all get you going quicker
1) Group rides - in a group you will rider faster due to the drafting effect & if taking your turn on the front will expose yourself to do harder turns
2) Interval training - basic quick slow quick slow. Getting your speed up and reducing your recovery time. Lots of different types do a quick google search and you will see there lots to choose from
3) Shorten your long rides but concentrate on go your speed. Do a loop that you know and aim to be 5% faster each time sort of like your own TT. Should be hard but if you want to go faster its not going to be easy
4) Use your commute, presume you have several routes you do & know well mix it up a bit and do flat out efforts on the way home.

MattyDeez

10-12mph?

Are you on a MTB?

Shouldnt be going that slow surely on a road bike?

I agree with the above, get out and just ride faster. Go out with a group works best, that is slightly above your pace mark. You'll soon get faster that way.

slowbike

MattyDeez wrote:

10-12mph?

Are you on a MTB?

Shouldnt be going that slow surely on a road bike?

1000 METERS of climbing in 45 miles .. for me that's a lot of climbing - I've just worked out a "hill" course for my training and total gain is just 1700 feet in 25 miles ... perhaps I need to rethink it!

smidsy

No magic answers. The more you ride the fitter you get and the average will increase.

Cookie91

MattyDeez wrote:

10-12mph?

Are you on a MTB?

Shouldnt be going that slow surely on a road bike?

I agree with the above, get out and just ride faster. Go out with a group works best, that is slightly above your pace mark. You'll soon get faster that way.

Its a basic pace for a amateur, on a windy day by yourself and if a hills thrown in.

I hate it when people brag they ride 19+mph solo by themselves on 70mile rides and question if they are fit enough to race.

Fortunately you will see your average creep up over time, as someone mentioned earlier i have found that intervals have helped me most over anything.

ShutUpLegs

Try adding a tempo ride once a week.

danlikesbikes

Just as a further point of info for you this website http://www.turbotraining.co.uk/indoorCy ... nav=search is designed for people to post turbo sessions on. However I use some of them on the road as the principles are the same you could always do these as part of your commute that way your not eating into or having to sacrifice your Saturday/Sunday rides.

jmillen

Thank you for the replies so far folks, much appreciated.

Yes, most of my rides are over Dartmoor, which unfortunately is far from flat, and I'm generally on my own so no wheel sucking to hide from the bloody head winds, haha...

The last couple of weekends rides have been:

72 miles, 5500 ft, 12.9mph
62 miles, 5000 ft, 10.7mph (this was with a friend who is new to road cycling).
53 miles, 4600ft, 13.1mph

I had read that some kind of interval, tempo training could be the way forward...more research required ! I guess some form of specific hill training may also help given that I come across several pretty long/steep hills on my rides.

danlikesbikes

Shouldn't be an issue if you can't get a group ride.

If it were me I'd try and turn some of your commutes into interval, temp, hill climb rides that way you can still do the longer weekend rides to keep your fitness/endurance up.

Either way good luck!

Anonymous

Hi jimillen,
how fast are you doing the downhill sections of the hilly rides?
I have just got back from a hilly 20 mile circuit. It was the first time I have done it (or anything) as specific training for the London-Surrey 100.
I did it at an average of 17mph which I was v pleased with.
I took a couple of wrong turns and it was windy so I did not go too mad downhill, but was concious that I had to gain something back in the downhill sections to keep my average up.

Have you got a Garmin? I found that a big help with running times and have just got an edge 500 to do the same with cycling.

andyeb

I'm going to contradict virtually everyone else here and suggest you ride SLOWER!

Buy a heart rate monitor and do some long rides at 60-75% of your maximum heart rate(*) - doing this will establish your base fitness. Once you've done this, up the effort and you should find you are suddenly riding faster for the same expended effort.

* The standard formulas for working out maximum heart rate can be hit-and-miss. My max should be 185 BPM, when it is in fact 206 BPM. There are several techniques for discovering your real maximum heart rate.

robbo2011

To be honest, i don't think you are particularly slow. The rides you do are hilly and that takes a lot out of both you and the average speed.

My 67km ride yesterday with 1430m of climbing was done at an average of about 14 mph. So i think your speeds are ok if you comare yourself against the average rider.

bigpikle

you dont ride enough - 1 long ride at weekends and few short little commutes isnt enough. 2.5 miles isnt enough to warm you up and 10 miles is just about getting started. Neither of those is enough to stress you enough to increase fitness.

The weekend long ride is OK but just need to get 2-3 x 20-30 mile quality rides in during the week IMHO eg steady, no stops, not much coasting down hills, solid effort that takes some effort and focus to hold. If you cant then you need to think about other ways to train eg indoors etc.

okgo

"Had to gain something in the downhills to keep my average up" - Jesus wept.