Average Speed
RUPRECHT
Posts: 12
What average speed does everyone achieve say on a relatively flat route over c.50 miles?.
I seem to be stuck at 20 mph, I am 34 and weigh around 11 stone 5. I am reasonably fit and average around 80 miles per week at the moment.
I seem to be stuck at 20 mph, I am 34 and weigh around 11 stone 5. I am reasonably fit and average around 80 miles per week at the moment.
0
Comments
-
-
I would still like to increase the ave though if poss, it seems like intervals are the way to go to achieve this, does anyone have any good tips / routines please?0
-
Get racing then - 20 mph is perfectly good as an average !!!
I average close to 20 mph on most of my runs, but it's hit by a fair few hills and traffic lights.
That is a fair pace as in reality you will be hitting 23 mph mainly.
I'm 37, 5'9" and 80kg's (down from 90kgs 4 months ago) and back to my old race weight. Much lower and I would be too light for my build - fairly powerful legs.....
Find some hills, that will really push your fitness.. I'm lucky is S. Manchester, flat'ish rides or hilly, short runs or long.... can do 1 hour flat, or very hilly, or much longer and the same...0 -
20 mph average on a 50 mile TT is 2 hrs 30 which wont win it, but ther courses are flat, and have no stops in them unlike a typical training ride. Try taking your average speed during the loonger sections of the ride, if you can keep up 23+ ignoring the traffic light stops etc then thats pretty good going. Intervals can only help.0
-
At this point you need to start adding a mix to your training.
1 ride a week do intervals, 5x2/6x2 minute intervals after a good warmup is a decent start. Then maybe another day that week do 2x20 minute intervals.
Don't overdo the speed work as this is the off season and you should be building a base that you can then sharpen with sprints, intervals and chaingangs in spring.
For a simple challenge, try just going 1 gear higher on the flats but spin at the same rpm. This will make your rides harder and probably shorter, but will make your speed go up. Yet it isn't too big a jump. For me I used to do 50-23 t 95rpm as my flats gear, now it's 52-23 at 100rpm, and my speed has gone up and within a about 2 months I'm used to it and find it as easy as before."I hold it true, what'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost;
Than never to have loved at all."
Alfred Tennyson0 -
Did you really just say that Steve :?SteveR_100Milers wrote:20 mph average on a 50 mile TT is 2 hrs 30 which wont win it,0 -
Having trouble with your maths Toks? I can help you if you want.
Why does this question come up every now and then and why does it always focus on that magic 20mph?
As I've said before, I find it difficult to believe that there are many people going faster than 20mph AVERAGE on a greater than hour training loop. I know, for me, as hard as I try, I'd have to pick the flatest route possible and then run every red light, roundabout and giveway sign I came to, to get over 20mph. But as Steve says, in a race, 20mph is no problem and in fact would be um....lower half of most fields (depending on course and distance obviously.)0 -
Speed is all relative. It's relative to your fitness, effort, distance, conditions, training bike or racing bike, and terrain.
Now if you wanted to increase your average speed for a particular training ride then you would ride your best bike, taper your training etc. In fact do everything that you would do prior to a race.
But should you treat every training ride like a race? Of course not.
Well if you want to improve then you need to have some aims. Every single training ride should have an aim. This time of the year for most of us it is enjoyment; and just keeping yourself ticking over so there is not so much catching up to do later. Also losing some surplus weight, or maybe gaining strength with gym exercises.
Whatever it is your average speed will drop over the winter months regardless of anything to do with your fitness levels due to the conditions and the extra weight of clothing.
Try and keep your cadence high, ride hills and not flat roads, and your average speed will take care of itself as your fitness improves. 20 mph or 19 pmh? Doesn't matter like I say it's all relative.0 -
Toks wrote:
Did you really just say that Steve :?SteveR_100Milers wrote:20 mph average on a 50 mile TT is 2 hrs 30 which wont win it,
Yep. Why? Intriguingly, it equates to 5 hours for the 100.... 0 -
It was the "won't win it bit" which I found quite intriguing. Did you get the impression the OP might think that 20mph in a flat 50mile TT might win him a race? :roll:SteveR_100Milers wrote:Toks wrote:
Did you really just say that Steve :?SteveR_100Milers wrote:20 mph average on a 50 mile TT is 2 hrs 30 which wont win it,
Yep. Why? Intriguingly, it equates to 5 hours for the 100....0 -
Toks wrote:
It was the "won't win it bit" which I found quite intriguing. Did you get the impression the OP might think that 20mph in a flat 50mile TT might win him a race? :roll:SteveR_100Milers wrote:Toks wrote:
Did you really just say that Steve :?SteveR_100Milers wrote:20 mph average on a 50 mile TT is 2 hrs 30 which wont win it,
Yep. Why? Intriguingly, it equates to 5 hours for the 100....
I just dont assume that everyone in "Training" races. If you havnt then you might not realise how fast TT ing actually is.0 -
If I ride a route involving junctions, traff lights and some traffic - though good bit of open road (with some wee hilly bits) and wherever I can seem to be busted meself keep 23mph asap, my computer will still say 19.5 ave at best. How fast do I need to be averaging as I ride to ave 20 on me computer? 25? Cos that seems rather fast to me riding solo.0
-
Well that depends. What do you want to achieve? If you want to be competitive in the Nationnal 10TT probably 30mph on a flat clear windless stretch of road. If you want to race as a 4th cat, assuming you're fine with group riding skills you're good to go! The bench mark will depend on your goals reallyzeroshoddy wrote:If I ride a route involving junctions, traff lights and some traffic - though good bit of open road (with some wee hilly bits) and wherever I can seem to be busted meself keep 23mph asap, my computer will still say 19.5 ave at best. How fast do I need to be averaging as I ride to ave 20 on me computer? 25? Cos that seems rather fast to me riding solo.
0 -
Ive done 6 rides of around 50 miles this year and all were at 18 to 19mph ave,but i,m not bothered about going racing or TTing so I think thats a decent pace to go at for solo road rides,in fact as the winter approaches ive knocked my pace back to 15-17ave and find it a relief not to have to push the pace all the time like I did during the summer ,20mph ave is a good speed though, I can only manage that pace for an hour tapering back to about 18mph for 100 mile rides0
-
At present I'm happy with a 13-15 mph average on a set 20 mile run - that's constrained by a chronic knee problem (ligament injury) a heavy budget road-bike and roughly 8-9 miles being uphill....... I manage the 1st section around 17.5-18.5 mph average (a few downhills help) - that gets pegged back though with the final 8-9 miles being mostly uphill - I usually also pull over for literally a couple of 20-30 seconds stops to shake the leg/knee - happy enough to be able to do that much at the moment given the constraints
0
