getting from 15mph average to 18mph on a 65mile route
bobpzero
Posts: 1,431
will get photos of my roadie bike soon. im not buying a heart rate monitor, rides consist of 20mile up and down hills, some sharp some gradual. usually ride alone (my dad rides a bikeE, one of 2 in northern ireland) if i could have some sort of training that wasnt insanely technical. any constructive advice most welcome
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Just push hard on the up hill and recover on the down hill, and try to keep a good steady pace on the flats.0
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And then again you could ride 'within yourself' on the up hills and keep you effort level high on the down hills - thereby getting a much more consistent and beneficial aerobic workout. The secret of averaging 18mph or faster over 65 miles has nothing to do with the ability to climb hills fast but it has everything to do with endurance and the ability to ride at a reasonable pace comfortably for long periods.
Ruth0 -
I agree with Ruth here - smooth out your pacing over the entire ride.
'If' you hammer it on the hills, it will take you longer to recover, and this recovery time will get longer with each hill you climb.
Also, start the ride slightly slower than normal, so you can build and sustain speed over the whole distance.0 -
probably best to work yourself up to a 65 by doing some 30/40/50 mile rides at a faster pace say 16/17mph to develop some endurance which as Ruth says is more important for whats going to be a three and half hour ride if its typical british weather ie a 10/15 mph wind aim to keep a steady 15 to 17mph into the wind faster if you can and dont attack the hills just nice steady pace up them ,you need to save your strength so that if and when you get a tailwind you can up the pace to 23 to 25 mph on the flat and down th
e bigger hills aim for 30mph+ do this over the ride and you should be on for an18mph ave thats where the endurance part comes in at some point in the ride your gonna have to grit your teeth to keep the pace up. Just like what I did last week to do 63 miles at 18.9 ave with 640 m of climbing0 -
Similar aims, so what I have been doing is to aim for an average of 18+ over most of my rides and building up. So I started with my 15 mile loop and kept working on that until I reached my target average. Then I started adding in miles, 20,25,30,35 and 40 over a period of 8 weeks. I varied the routes to keep it interesting and made sure that I was eating and drinking properly on rides to keep up my energy levels.Norfolk, who nicked all the hills?
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Yep, in the right doses.redddraggon wrote:I don't thing there's any easy way or magic formula, just loads of hard work?0 -
Don't expect miracles, its a perfectly attainable target but it does involve quite a big change in power output, so it will take some time.0
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Unless you have a power meter, yer wasting yer time. :roll:ding dang do0
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well apart from angelic upstart(you can keep rolling your eyes), many thanks for help, im really thankful for the amount of response. my weight 9 stone and a half..
heres the bike
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Well, seeing your bike, do you want the easy way to go from 15 to 18mph?
That's not ment to be funny, there's some obvious things you could do like take the mudguards off, but do you want to go down that route?0 -
Also, how tall are you? That looks like quite a big frame for someone who only weighs 9st 5lb. Or maybe you're as sticky thin as a sticky thin thing?
Ruth0 -
I'm not really understanding this obsession that a lot of people on this forum seem to have with average MPH over some route they are riding. How can you plan to ride at, say, 18 MPH on any given day on any route. Maybe in a perfect world, on perfect roads, on that
perfect day you could average some perfectly predicted speed, but to what end? The
reality of it is that 18 MPH doesn't mean a thing no matter how you did the ride. Against the wind, with a tailwind, sucking wheel all the way, or riding in the sag wagon, it's
all to variable for people to honestly care. If this is a ride then try to enjoy the ride and forget about averages. If this is a race you had best forget about averages, once again,
and put your mind to the task at hand. There are no awards for average speed, only
for winners. Pesonally I don't believe average speed is an indication of much of anything.
Dennis Noward0 -
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People "obsess" about average speed because it is our easiest measure of effort and improvement. As long as it isn't taken as "the" measure, all is good.0
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Swannie wrote:People "obsess" about average speed because it is our easiest measure of effort and improvement. As long as it isn't taken as "the" measure, all is good.
How can it be much of a measure in riding, say, a 65 mile course when conditions(wind,
rain, etc,) can vary so much. How could you tell if it was actually you going faster or if
it was that big tailwind you didn't realize you picked in the last 25 miles or if it was because of the great job you did working with a group and / or sucking some wheels.
Seems all too variable to mean much of anything. I say all this because I have a friend,
whom I ride with, and he tells me this kind of stuff all the time. Even after all these years
he still hasn't realized that, to be honest, for the most part, I really don't care if he went
16 MPH or 25 MPH for that matter. I've known him forever and we are the best of friends
but he's a bit of a bragger and that to me is about the only reason you would want to tell
anyone your average speed. And on top of that if you write into this forum and tell people
that your average was 50 MPH someone will write back that theirs was 55 MPH. It's just
like when people claim they rode up a 22 percent grade for 10 miles, someone else will come along claiming 31.1 percent for 20 miles. I guess bragging is not my favorite thing.
I simply don't believe most of it.
Dennis Noward0 -
http://www.entrycentral.com/index.php?raceID=100180
its this here. please enough of the stupid question/answers
im not doing this to brag its a personal goal, usually i ride alone and if i come across a group its always them passing and riding away from me. yes i will be taking the mud guards off if the weather is dry, as i dont want to be like some noobs last year didnt have mud guards on when it was raining. seriously did i forgot to mention i was looking for constructive advice not b.s.Well, seeing your bike, do you want the easy way to go from 15 to 18mph?
That's not ment to be funny, there's some obvious things you could do like take the mudguards off, but do you want to go down that route?0 -
dennisn[b] wrote:I'm not really understanding this obsession that a lot of people on this forum seem to have with average MPH over some route they are riding. [/b]How can you plan to ride at, say, 18 MPH on any given day on any route. Maybe in a perfect world, on perfect roads, on that
perfect day you could average some perfectly predicted speed, but to what end? The
reality of it is that 18 MPH doesn't mean a thing no matter how you did the ride. Against the wind, with a tailwind, sucking wheel all the way, or riding in the sag wagon, it's
all to variable for people to honestly care. If this is a ride then try to enjoy the ride and forget about averages. If this is a race you had best forget about averages, once again,
and put your mind to the task at hand. There are no awards for average speed, only
for winners. Pesonally I don't believe average speed is an indication of much of anything.
Dennis Noward
it's called time trialling, and some folks take that VERY seriously
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dennisn wrote:I'm not really understanding this obsession that a lot of people on this forum seem to have with average MPH over some route they are riding. How can you plan to ride at, say, 18 MPH on any given day on any route. Maybe in a perfect world, on perfect roads, on that
perfect day you could average some perfectly predicted speed, but to what end? The
reality of it is that 18 MPH doesn't mean a thing no matter how you did the ride. Against the wind, with a tailwind, sucking wheel all the way, or riding in the sag wagon, it's
all to variable for people to honestly care. If this is a ride then try to enjoy the ride and forget about averages. If this is a race you had best forget about averages, once again,
and put your mind to the task at hand. There are no awards for average speed, only
for winners. Pesonally I don't believe average speed is an indication of much of anything.
Dennis Noward
Yes, but if you ride sportives and want to do a decent time then getting your average speed up over a given distance is important. When I did my first sportive last year I was surprised how much faster than me a lot of the other riders were, I've been working on my speed since then. But of course average speed depends on several factors, course and weather conditions and how good your legs are on the given day.0 -
Would you think 14-17% gradients on hills are steep? I did a couple today and wondering if they will help me improve up the hill for next time, was around 8mph going up those hills and it was murder.0
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bobpzero wrote:http://www.entrycentral.com/index.php?raceID=100180
its this here. please enough of the stupid question/answers
im not doing this to brag its a personal goal, usually i ride alone and if i come across a group its always them passing and riding away from me. yes i will be taking the mud guards off if the weather is dry, as i dont want to be like some noobs last year didnt have mud guards on when it was raining. seriously did i forgot to mention i was looking for constructive advice not b.s.Well, seeing your bike, do you want the easy way to go from 15 to 18mph?
That's not ment to be funny, there's some obvious things you could do like take the mudguards off, but do you want to go down that route?
That's fine, you ask for advice then insult the people giving you advice. Carry on, good luck.0
