Average Speeds -getting Downhearted!

[liz_999]

Hi I am new to the forum (my first post) and new to cycling, I have only been doing it three weeks - not been on a bike since I was 15. 3 weeks ago, my boyfriend was teaching me how to ride with cleats... cue many bruises from falling off! Since then I have done 120 miles spread with one big 42 mile trip in the Lake District in Uk (very very hilly for those of you that dont know!) and smaller rides lasting between 40minutes to 2 hours. I have been going to the gym a few times a week for the last couple of years and so wouldnt class myself as unfit, but I find hills extremely hard - i have had to get off a couple of times and try and start again. Also my average speed looks very low compared to those I have seen on the posts here. It started at about 8.5 and is now 2 weeks later 9.6. My boyfriend who cycles regularly says it should be around 12 - 13. (miles per hour) I do ride in a very hill area but even if I seek out a relatively flat route my speed isnt too much better. I know in some part its because I am not making up some of the speed I have lost ascending on the descent - a bit scared right now to let the bike go! Although I usually let it reach 25mph before I start with the brakes!

Anyway just wondered whether I should be going a lot faster and if so why I am going so slow! I am nearly 5'7" and weigh just under 10 stone. Also is there any training I could be doing so that hills are easier - at the gym I mean?

Oh and I am riding a Specialized Dolce road bike.

Thanks!

[bmccasland]

Liz999 - welcome to the list! We're a friendly bunch, for the most part.

Your speed - it'll come. Being a flatlander myself I have trouble relating. I'll let you know after my ride on sunday through some hills. If you have a spin class available at your gym that'll help for general cycling - or it did me. I could worry about technique without worrying about affecting the riders around me. And if it got too much, I could gear down, thus ending the pretend hill.

[indysteel]

Welcome and please don't get discouraged. Keep riding and skill and speed will come. IN the meantime, please try to ignore your BF's comments about how fast you "should" be going. Short of being in a race, what matters is that you ride, that your ride safely, and that you respect what your body is capable of doing at any one moment. There's no right or wrong.

That said, there are things you can do to get faster if you choose to make that a priority. I would direct you to this thread on getting faster for some helpful suggestions, along with a few "pep talks."

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...6427&highlight

Most of all, have fun.

K-

[Torrilin]

That's actually a pretty good average speed for a hilly area. It is very easy for your speed on steep or long uphills to drop down to around 3 mph... which is an average walking speed. It's also quite normal to need to get off and walk your bike. If you can't ride in a fairly straight line up a hill because you're breathing so hard and are wobbly, it's past time to get off.

It takes practice to get the full benefit of a downhill too. And sometimes it's not safe to try to get the maximum speed off a downhill. You might have bad pavement, or a busy road, or tricky curves... It is a judgment call. I don't try to go full speed down my nemesis hill. It has a cross street at the bottom with poor line of sight, pavement in bad condition, and a curve right after the intersection at the bottom. Not a good place for me to try to set a speed record .

Hills do really good things for your endurance and speed on the flat. So it's not all bad

[mimitabby]

Welcome to TE! how many pounds are in a stone??

It took me a YEAR to improve .4 of a mile an hour. You're doing GREAT!

Tell your boyfriend to cool his jets. You're going to get there; but not in the next 3 months. If he's in such a hurry for you to be as fast as he is, tell him to buy a tandem; then he'll never be able to get away from you. (That's what we did!)

keep doing hills, they are the best thing to train you to get faster. One of these days you're going to notice that this hill or that hill is easier than it used to be.

Patience! and keep working out.
mimi

[uk elephant]

yay! another UK'er on TE! Don't worry so much about the speed. It'll come. I started off doing about 10mph and I live in the flatlands of Essex with no hills and have been commuting by bike all my life. I'm now up to 13mph on long rides, but that's after over a year of serious bike training. What got my speeds up was just lots and lots of bike-time, and some focus on pedalling technique to make the most of going clip-less. And I started doing some interval training too which helped. But it all takes time. And in my opinion, as long as you're having fun the rest will come by itself eventually.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I can't believe you did a 42 mile ride after riding only 3 weeks!

I am 53 and I started riding a year ago after not being on a bike at all since I was about 14.
It has taken me a YEAR to go from a 9.5 average speed to a 10.5mpg average. We live in very hilly area. I typically ride about 100 miles per week. My rides vary from 10 miles long to 70 miles.
I go as slow as 2.5mph up steep hills to as fast as 40mph downhill.....but the average comes out to 10.5 overall.

I would say you are doing VERY well so far! It takes MONTHS to build up the muscles in all the places you need them.
Just be proud of yourself and your major accomplishments so far! Your boyfriend should be proud of you too and he should try to enjoy riding with you without watching the computer so much.

[batsheva]

Welcome to TE! how many pounds are in a stone??

mimi

1 stone = 14 lbs -
so just under 10 stone is a little less than 140 lbs

pretty trim for 5' 7" !!!!

bat

[indigoiis]

Give yourself a break... you only started three weeks ago! Just keep riding. Keep it fun!

[Cyclesome]

You are doing great! Give yourself time and bike, bike, bike and you will improve. I have many hills here and they are a pain! I thought I could make up the MPH going downhill, but haven't found this to be true. I have managed to increase my mph on the same route from 10 mph to 14 mph in two years of riding.

What helped me besides more time on the bike was the free website called bikejournal.com. This site enables you to customize a journal for yourself where you can keep track of such things as goals, distance, average mph, date of ride, description of route, calories, etc. Over time, you can see improvement and I am sure you will. The ladies on this site and bikejournal.com are the best motivaters for fun, exercise, and improvement I have found.

[Scarlet]

Hey Liz,
2-6 of us cycle at about your speed ( I wish)
get in touch
i live in Leyland and the others Blackburn
sometimes we do flats like southport and Blackpool and other times we do hills like Rivington (killer)
we do between 20 to 40 miles but aim to do more as 3 of us are doing JOGLE next year so need to build up before summer 2008 to 80 per day for 12-14 days
scarlet

[liz_999]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Pleased to read that my speed is ok for the area I am travelling in. I have already noticed the difference on certain routes - some hills that I was crawling up at 3mph I am now nearing 5 - 6mph on a day I am feeling good. I have had a little look at that link that was posted on how to improve speeds, and will try to follow the advice and have more realistic expectations. I think what I need most is base miles and I just need to get out on the bike. I see that the general speed does seem to be about 12 - 13 so I can make that my long term goal. I will have a look at the bikejournal website - will be very useful to monitor my training.

Just to mention that BF is not some crazy 'cycling fascist'! I think because I am reasonably fit he expected me to be riding a bit faster thats all, on our 42 miler (yes i know very soon to be doing that distance!) he was very patient and actually gave me a helping hand literally when i was struggling up the hills!

Scarlet - am definately up for cycling with your group!

Have another question too... Am going on a cycling tour Nice - Milan on Wednesday (hence how fast I have thrown myself into cycling!) with my BF. We are going to be carrying everything on our panniers and camping but will be packing as light as we can. What do you think is a realistic mileage per day if we are wanting to be cycling most days of the 2 weeks? Obviously I dont want to kill myself. I found with the 42 miler that my legs were aching in places I never knew I had muscles, but I had fairly quick recovery and did another 15 miles the next day to get the muscles moving again. But it is going to be a holiday so it should be enjoyable!

Oh and I am really enjoying cycling so far, have already noticed the difference in my bum!

Liz

[wiseowl]

some hills that I was crawling up at 3mph I am now nearing 5 - 6mph on a day I am feeling good.

\

That sounds like a significant improvement to me! I don't have anything new to say, except please update us on how the tour goes- that is a very interesting question for me too (how far is reasonable without being deadly!)
And it sounds like a fantastic tour!

[Torrilin]

Use the maximum weekly miles you've done so far as a baseline. If 150 miles is the max, that works out to around 5 days of 30 miles a day on tour, with 2 rest days a week. The second week you can reasonably extend the mileage around 10%, so 165 miles. If the area you'll be touring is much flatter than your home turf, you'll be able to go somewhat further (but from what I recall of geography, I don't think Nice to Milan is likely to be flat...). A 50 mile day is probably a reasonable maximum for you right now.

That's much less than an experienced bike tourist would plan on. But a lot of experienced bike tourists have *practiced* doing much longer rides, so they know their bike works well for 100-150 miles in the saddle every day. You don't know how your bike works for those sorts of distances, so shooting for them is a good way to get hurt. Also, doing 100 miles every day doesn't leave a lot of time for sightseeing .

After you've completed this tour, you'll have a much better idea of how well your bike fits. And you'll be in much better shape for long rides. Fix up the bike if any problems develop, and for your next tour you'll be able to go longer

Oh, and remember riding with a load changes things. You *do* feel it. Don't be surprised if a distance that felt easy unloaded feels much harder loaded. If you can get a loaded practice ride or three in before you leave, it will help a lot.

[KSH]

Hey, you are a new rider! It takes months to get your riding legs under you.

How do you get better at hills? Ride hills. Plain and simple.

And don't let what you see other people doing discourage you. You don't know their terrian or how flat it is for them. I ride in Dallas, TX USA- and it's pretty much flat here. So my average will be faster than yours. If I rode hills, it would not be.

Keep at it. Do not get discouraged. It takes time to get better.