Increasing Average Speed

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Comments

  • ZMC888
    ZMC888 Posts: 292
    kingpinsam wrote:
    ZMC888 wrote:
    Average speed is meaningless, as it's so terrain dependent. If I wanted to I could ride only smooth flat roads with a tail wind and have an average speed of 40 km/h. More like I have an average speed of 22-25 km/h because I choose to ride in the mountains and do cat 4s, 3s and 2s on rough roads and lanes.

    I suppose if you lived in the fens or somewhere it would make some sense, but anywhere hilly gnarly or mountainous it quickly isn't comparable.

    It's not meaningless in the slightest, your friends tend to ride the same routes as you so it's easy to make comparisons, and it's easy to make comparisons against your own previous efforts.

    I don't think there are any magical loops with tail winds the whole way around :roll:

    Nonsense. Not every day has the same wind and weather. You can use the wind and choose a loop that doesn't have many direct headwinds, sometimes the wind changes halfway through and your average speed plummets. Sometimes you get a headwind and long uphill drag and your average speed will plummet.

    Everyday doesn't have the same traffic or red lights to slow me down leaving the city. Plus I always choose a different mountain route to keep things interesting. You're applying where you live to other people's situations, and it simply doesn't work.

    For example yesterday despite being 15c max there was snow on about a 500 meter stretch of mountain road. Do I switch off my Garmin to protect my average speed or walk with it on?

    There's even people on Strava that get their wives/gf's to drop them 100 miles away and then cycle home with a tailwind, happens often.

    Where I live I have a flat as heck river flood plain to the north and mountains with 700 meter mountain passes to the south. If I wanted to willy-wave with high average speeds I could just ride on the flat land. But the flat land riding is pretty boring, whereas the mountains are soul-food.
  • Alex99
    Alex99 Posts: 1,407
    drwae wrote:
    Do I need to get a heart rate monitor if i want to get faster. I have got stick at around 25km/h average speed (which isn't too bad because I live in a very hilly and windy area) no matter whether I'm doing 30K or 75K but I want to get faster, the speed I cycle at doesn't even get me out of breath but I'm worried about pushing it too much in case I burn out before I've finished my ride

    If you're not getting out of breath, then what is to stop you just going faster until you are out of breath?
  • Man Of Lard
    Man Of Lard Posts: 903
    drwae wrote:
    Do I need to get a heart rate monitor if i want to get faster. I have got stick at around 25km/h average speed (which isn't too bad because I live in a very hilly and windy area) no matter whether I'm doing 30K or 75K but I want to get faster, the speed I cycle at doesn't even get me out of breath but I'm worried about pushing it too much in case I burn out before I've finished my ride
    Smash the last 5k at full pelt then. If you don't need to be lifted off the bike when you finish, next time smash the last 10k. Keep upping the bit you're smashing until you can't keep it up... Once you get habituated to it, up it again.
  • drwae
    drwae Posts: 223
    Man Of Lard wrote:
    drwae wrote:
    Do I need to get a heart rate monitor if i want to get faster. I have got stick at around 25km/h average speed (which isn't too bad because I live in a very hilly and windy area) no matter whether I'm doing 30K or 75K but I want to get faster, the speed I cycle at doesn't even get me out of breath but I'm worried about pushing it too much in case I burn out before I've finished my ride
    Smash the last 5k at full pelt then. If you don't need to be lifted off the bike when you finish, next time smash the last 10k. Keep upping the bit you're smashing until you can't keep it up... Once you get habituated to it, up it again.
    I think I just couldn't be bothered to push myself tbh. today I made a conscious effort to go faster and did 27.4km/h average for a really short 35km ride with 280m elevation and I still had some left in the tank
  • Alex99
    Alex99 Posts: 1,407
    drwae wrote:
    Man Of Lard wrote:
    drwae wrote:
    Do I need to get a heart rate monitor if i want to get faster. I have got stick at around 25km/h average speed (which isn't too bad because I live in a very hilly and windy area) no matter whether I'm doing 30K or 75K but I want to get faster, the speed I cycle at doesn't even get me out of breath but I'm worried about pushing it too much in case I burn out before I've finished my ride
    Smash the last 5k at full pelt then. If you don't need to be lifted off the bike when you finish, next time smash the last 10k. Keep upping the bit you're smashing until you can't keep it up... Once you get habituated to it, up it again.
    I think I just couldn't be bothered to push myself tbh. today I made a conscious effort to go faster and did 27.4km/h average for a really short 35km ride with 280m elevation and I still had some left in the tank

    Lack of heart rate monitor probably isn't your limiting factor.
  • Man Of Lard
    Man Of Lard Posts: 903
    Alex99 wrote:
    Lack of heart rate monitor probably isn't your limiting factor.
    Tend to agree with this based on the OP's comments.
  • drwae
    drwae Posts: 223
    Man Of Lard wrote:
    Alex99 wrote:
    Lack of heart rate monitor probably isn't your limiting factor.
    Tend to agree with this based on the OP's comments.
    You mean I'm just too slow to need one? :)
  • Man Of Lard
    Man Of Lard Posts: 903
    No, "I think I just couldn't be bothered to push myself tbh" (your exact words).

    Unless a HRM is going to cure your apathy, it isn't going to make a jot of a difference.
  • drwae
    drwae Posts: 223
    Man Of Lard wrote:
    No, "I think I just couldn't be bothered to push myself tbh" (your exact words).

    Unless a HRM is going to cure your apathy, it isn't going to make a jot of a difference.
    Well it's third that and two thirds that I'm scared on the longer rides of going hard and bonking before I'm finished. but I get your point!
  • burnthesheep
    burnthesheep Posts: 675
    Power over time is better than speed as a measuring stick.

    No way to know who rides with a club all the time, who is riding on TT bars for a triathlon, who had a tailwind.
  • Man Of Lard
    Man Of Lard Posts: 903
    drwae wrote:
    Well it's third that and two thirds that I'm scared on the longer rides of going hard and bonking before I'm finished. but I get your point!
    Hence smash the last part of your ride - if you smash it 5k from home and bonk, then you only have 5k maximum to limp home.

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