Average speed guide?

sloppyschleckonds

sparklehedgehog wrote:

by the way the 12.7 gradient nearly killed me

You wait till you meet some proper hills.

Bye bye 20mph average

sparklehedgehog

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

sparklehedgehog wrote:

by the way the 12.7 gradient nearly killed me

You wait till you meet some proper hills.

Bye bye 20mph average

Quite honestly at this stage and with my 11-25 rear cassette on a compact i don't think i could get up anything steeper

sbbefc

sparklehedgehog wrote:

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

sparklehedgehog wrote:

by the way the 12.7 gradient nearly killed me

You wait till you meet some proper hills.

Bye bye 20mph average

Quite honestly at this stage and with my 11-25 rear cassette on a compact i don't think i could get up anything steeper

Well done on the 50.

You seem a little obsessed with maintaining a high average speed, for me its ok to TT once in a while but you will feel exhausted if you're riding close to your max heart rate throughout a ride. Slow it down a little and rank it up slowly, that way you might enjoy your longer rides too and improve at the same time. That's the beauty of cycling, you can vary your rides in many different ways.

sparklehedgehog

I'm trying to vary them more, some with climbing, some hilly, some short blasts.

Today i did a 10.5 mile ride at 21.1mph but again as you say, i was just watching the speed the whole time.

I think the problem is i used to be a motorcycle racer so pace is an addiction. Will try to relax more. The other problem is i'm desperate to get rid of my excess weight (all 4 stone of it!) so going all out all the time

antfly

If you are only going one way average speed is even less relevant, especially in these strong winds. It looks like you have exhausted yourself now anyway. Slow down to get faster is sometimes said..

ai_1

sparklehedgehog wrote:

I'm trying to vary them more, some with climbing, some hilly, some short blasts.

Today i did a 10.5 mile ride at 21.1mph but again as you say, i was just watching the speed the whole time.

I think the problem is i used to be a motorcycle racer so pace is an addiction. Will try to relax more. The other problem is i'm desperate to get rid of my excess weight (all 4 stone of it!) so going all out all the time

Forget average speed entirely for 90% of rides.
If you want to track your ability, pick a suitable route and do it solo in zero wind conditions. Use this as a baseline and repeat it periodically to get an idea if you're progressing. Even using the same route in calm weather will only give a rough idea of your progress but anything else is almost completely meaningless. If you keep monitoring speed averages on hilly, steep and windy rides you'll end up over working on some, underworking on others and getting discouraged or falsely optimistic based on results that give grounds for neither.

On a motorbike pace is I presume mostly a function of fearlessness, control and grip. On a road bike pace is a function of terrain, weather, rider weight, rider ability and rider form and riding position. Resist the urge to bring habits from one to the other. It's not productive.

sloppyschleckonds

Ai_1 wrote:

Resist the urge to bring habits from one to the other. It's not productive.

As long as the OP is enjoying his cycling, who is anyone else to tell him what to do?

markhewitt1978

One does wonder how those who seemingly do no cycling can go out and bang in 18mph average whereas I regularly do 50+ miles and yesterday went out and did 40 miles as fast as I could and got 15.5mph average. Oh well.

ednino

markhewitt1978 wrote:

One does wonder how those who seemingly do no cycling can go out and bang in 18mph average whereas I regularly do 50+ miles and yesterday went out and did 40 miles as fast as I could and got 15.5mph average. Oh well.

Don't worry. I did 300 miles in Mallorca last week with an average of about 12mph lol

The only people that care about average speed are new cyclists. Once you've been on the bike for a while you just enjoy riding.. not boasting about how fast you think you are

wavefront

ednino wrote:

The only people that care about average speed are new cyclists. Once you've been on the bike for a while you just enjoy riding.. not boasting about how fast you think you are

Agreed. Enjoy the riding and enjoy how much fitter you become. I gave up using speed on my garmin quite a while back. A simple headwind will make a huge difference to the av speed. My race yesterday was exactly double my av speed of my recovery ride this morning. Both hugely enjoyable for different reasons. Enjoy the variety and you'll get so much more back from it.

Colinthecop

ednino wrote:

The only people that care about average speed are new cyclists. Once you've been on the bike for a while you just enjoy riding.. not boasting about how fast you think you are

Really...? Bugger. When I finish i'm always hoping for 16mph+ as that feels like a big jump from last years 15 average.

I thought I could finally call myself a cyclist. I'm even getting those tan lines. :oops:

And I got my first ever KOM last week, that must mean something...? Anything....?

MountainMonster

I think this is one of those topics that split opinions. There always seems to be a fairly even split in opinion those who feel average speed is a good gauge of performance over similar rides, and those who think it is useless. I sit in the camp where I think it is useful, especially when my riding is not that varied. I don't travel much out of the area to cycle, so ride almost the same routes over and over again, and that means that average speed is a great gauge of whether I am doing better, or worse, than other rides.

To new cyclist, don't be discouraged!

zx6man

sparklehedgehog wrote:

ednino wrote:

I think I saw you out on that ride

That is how i feel i look hence the reason i'm doing it however at the same time i think that bloke is owed respect for getting out there and doing it!

It's the ones that do nothing...

I was 16.5 stone when I got mine, now 11.5, we all gotta start somewhere :-)

jibberjim

sparklehedgehog wrote:

The other problem is i'm desperate to get rid of my excess weight (all 4 stone of it!) so going all out all the time

But you're actually never going all out for any duration shorter than the entirety of your ride, that's why people say don't care about speed, because the way to get a high speed is not good training, it makes you in to a very one dimensional rider and you rapidly adapt to it meaning you don't get any more gains, as you're already well adapted to those aspects of fitness.

By doing some rides where you do very little in between, but go absolutely all out over shorter durations (5 minutes, 10 minutes, even 1 minute or 30seconds although that's generally less useful in simply making you fitter) will do a lot more to help your fitness, and will make you faster when you do push it all the time.

jgsi

jibberjim wrote:

sparklehedgehog wrote:

The other problem is i'm desperate to get rid of my excess weight (all 4 stone of it!) so going all out all the time

But you're actually never going all out for any duration shorter than the entirety of your ride, that's why people say don't care about speed, because the way to get a high speed is not good training, it makes you in to a very one dimensional rider and you rapidly adapt to it meaning you don't get any more gains, as you're already well adapted to those aspects of fitness.

By doing some rides where you do very little in between, but go absolutely all out over shorter durations (5 minutes, 10 minutes, even 1 minute or 30seconds although that's generally less useful in simply making you fitter) will do a lot more to help your fitness, and

I'd listen to the above but probably will make you faster when you do push it all the time.

I'd listen to the man.. this 'push it all the time' nonsense stems from somewhere as it seems to be all pervading.

My advice for losing the weight over the next 6 months..? re align your life to do 3 x 75 mile rides at endurance and a bit at tempo pace per week.. watch you diet.. i.e. eat healthy and well and perhaps 4 stone might disappear... you never know.. worth more than wooing over doing 20 mph average for just 10 miles ..hmm?

gubber12345

antfly wrote:

Slow down to get faster is sometimes said..

funny enough I'm thinking that to,when I ride with a mate(which is most of the time) its mostly flat out or 90% for me but its probly just cruising for him,although I think that riding with a faster rider has brought me on I seem to have plateaued now and don't seem to be improving,so thinking of doing some slower rides on my own and see if this helps bring me on a bit again.

CXrider

markhewitt1978 wrote:

One does wonder how those who seemingly do no cycling can go out and bang in 18mph average whereas I regularly do 50+ miles and yesterday went out and did 40 miles as fast as I could and got 15.5mph average. Oh well.

I hear you..

As the next poster says, average speed becomes less relevant with experience.
I admit that I am still a noob and still a bit obsessed with average speed.

Also, hills make a difference. They can add to overall fatigue, some people are just better going downhill than uphill, or vice verca, affecting the average over the whole length or loop.
Once you start thinking about wind, temperature, tyre pressure, diet, time of day then comparing average speeds form one ride to another is only a very iffy gauge of performance progress.

As one poster mentioned - take a ride that you will always do but in non-windy conditions and use that as the benchmark. You can make notes on your progress over the same exact route including such things as 'felt fit', 'well fed', 'got a bit of cold', 'hangover' etc

15.5 average over a mixed terrain sounds good, like a decent amateur pace.
That would cover you nicely on a friendly cycling club in the lower group. Getting in the 16-18 will get you in the better group.

KevChallis

You opened up a whole can of worms on this one John lol.

Sir Velo

gubber12345 wrote:

antfly wrote:

Slow down to get faster is sometimes said..

funny enough I'm thinking that to,when I ride with a mate(which is most of the time) its mostly flat out or 90% for me but its probly just cruising for him,although I think that riding with a faster rider has brought me on I seem to have plateaued now and don't seem to be improving,so thinking of doing some slower rides on my own and see if this helps bring me on a bit again.

+ 1

On a similar note, I used to run (well go for a jog with a couple of exceptional runners) one was a GB record holder (actually know him well but was clearly out of my league) and the other was a 2' 23" marathon runner and jut over 4" for a stand alone mile. Both told me that too many people have an obsession on trying to run a pb on every training run. What they said was that most runners fell into the category of their "fast" being too slow and their "slow" being too fast. This just makes you a mediocre runner (cyclist?). Therefore learn how to suffer on the wheel of a better rider or eye balls out in a TT, but also build strength and technique with slow social rides.

Worked for them at running, now only if I could make myself suffer a bit more often!!

SV

OverTheHillAt21

Colinthecop wrote:

ednino wrote:

The only people that care about average speed are new cyclists. Once you've been on the bike for a while you just enjoy riding.. not boasting about how fast you think you are

Really...? Bugger. When I finish i'm always hoping for 16mph+ as that feels like a big jump from last years 15 average.

I thought I could finally call myself a cyclist. I'm even getting those tan lines. :oops:

And I got my first ever KOM last week, that must mean something...? Anything....?

Well done! Now don't be bashful, give us the link? Maybe I'll learn a new hill, though I've only been as far north as Duke's Pass so far...

Colinthecop

A link to my tan lines...?


Get lost you pervert. :oops:

sparklehedgehog

KevChallis wrote:

You opened up a whole can of worms on this one John lol.

Just for asking a question i felt relevant... Gotta love forums!

:roll:

ai_1

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Ai_1 wrote:

Resist the urge to bring habits from one to the other. It's not productive.

As long as the OP is enjoying his cycling, who is anyone else to tell him what to do?

Try again, I'm not biting

homers_double

I'm the same height but slightly lighter than you by about 20lbs and this was an average mornign ride over the weekend, very windy on the tops sould I would have expected a km/hr higher than the average but there you go.

http://app.strava.com/activities/132137481

sparklehedgehog

homers double wrote:

I'm the same height but slightly lighter than you by about 20lbs and this was an average mornign ride over the weekend, very windy on the tops sould I would have expected a km/hr higher than the average but there you go.

http://app.strava.com/activities/132137481

Nice climbing!

Makes this http://app.strava.com/activities/134407607 seem puny!

This was yesterday with a little bit of climbing http://app.strava.com/activities/134009082

Elfed

ednino wrote:

I think I saw you out on that ride

Respect to this guy, he's out there riding, end of!

sparklehedgehog

Elfed wrote:

ednino wrote:

I think I saw you out on that ride

Respect to this guy, he's out there riding, end of!

I agree with this!

Same as when there's a large runner and people take the p1$$ yet they are usually the ones not even trying

OverTheHillAt21

Colinthecop wrote:

A link to my tan lines...?


Get lost you pervert. :oops:

Try again. A link to the KOM ride. How would I 'learn a new hill' looking at a picture of your tan line?

Colinthecop

Ah right. :?

Only if you promise not to steal it. It's taken me 8 months to get one. :oops:

http://www.strava.com/activities/130860695

sparklehedgehog

Colinthecop wrote:

Ah right. :?

Only if you promise not to steal it. It's taken me 8 months to get one. :oops:

http://www.strava.com/activities/130860695

You're 3rd that doesn't count :P

Get a clean 1st, not that i ever will