How fast?

[GraysonKelly]

Hi Again,
I have asked something like this before, but now I hope I'm a little more specific. How fast should I be riding? I am consistently riding 20 miles 4 times a week now. I have also been shaving time off every time, but how fast should I be able to ride? My plan is to be able to ride 20 miles in a decent amount of time before I start going riding further. I do get 30 to 40 miles once every 2 weeks (work and life gets in the way sometimes, darnit). Does that sound like a good training plan? Of course I slow down on the hills, but the hills (even the steep ones) are part of the 20 miles. I'm working on getting faster going up those too. But what kind of time should I be shooting for? I ride a mountain bike 26 inch wheels. The new tires are a bit slicker than my old ones and I do find that I can ride a bit faster (or maybe it just feels smoother). Thanks
Gray

[alpinerabbit]

I think you should shoot for 20-22 mph.

just kidding...


.....
Not knowing the terrain, the bike or your fitness level, I don't think anyone can tell you "this is how fast you should be going".

So don't go by speed, but by heart rate or exertion level, and compete against yourself, or others. Looks like you are doing that by shaving off time.
Go at a good clip, attack the hills, come back refreshed one day or knackered another. You'll get better. Try riding with others to figure out how strong you are.

Re: training plan, ride differently: easy a couple times a week, hard (think intervals) another couple times. Vary the routes. Don't do the same thing all the time, that will just make you fit to do the same thing all the time.

[lph]

I'm guessing that you mean something like "how fast should I be going to get better/faster in an efficient way", and I would second alpinerabbit's idea of going by heart rate or perceived exertion. Think of it as a workout, keep up a rhythm, don't coast, keep pedalling, mix it up with intensity spurts up hills and easier parts on the flats. If you're tired afterwards, you worked hard. If not - kill those hills a bit harder next time.

I have quite different average speeds on a ride depending not only on which bike I'm using, but what the terrain on a specific ride is like, and which way the wind is blowing, and if I'm having a good day or not... so really, it's impossible to tell you what speed you "should" be aiming for in general. Measure yourself on the same route every now and then, and set yourself a time goal, if that's your thing.

[7rider]

How fast do you want to go?

Going fast is really dependant on your own goals...and "fast" is really a subjectve term.

Are you currently cycling for overall time, or do you have a computer to measure your average speed?

Beyond that, I agree with the others - monitoring heart rate and intervals -- and riding with a group -- are good ways to up the speed. Oh, and watching your cadance.

[Skierchickie]

I agree 100% with what everyone else has said. There is no "right" speed. I usually look at the average speed I am at in the early part of the season, and then set myself a goal of 1 or 2 mph higher by the end of the season (my biking season usually runs from May through September), depending on where I start out. Right now I am riding around 2 mph faster than I was in May. Then again, I decided to only bike this summer, while some years I am swimming and running for triathlon training, or almost exclusively running for marathon training. That makes it harder to really work on my biking speed (and it has definitely suffered over the past few years). Actually, for the past 2 or 3 years I thought I would be forever stuck at a particular average speed, but now I've nearly clawed my way back to where I used to be. A week ago I was able to ride 100 miles by myself at about the same average speed I was riding 20 miles a few months ago, struggling to try to draft behind other people.

Practice, practice, practice! And have fun, fun, fun!!

[aicabsolut]

In West Virginia, the terrain is such that even with a road bike, I'll hit a mountain where I feel lucky if I don't have to put a foot down. And then I'll be going 40+mph on a descent for several minutes, doing absolutely no work. One day with a lot of back roads riding and gradients that made me want to cry, I averaged 15mph over about 50 miles. The next day, we hit a smooth rolling stretch of highway for a while, so the average went up to 17.3mph for 60 miles with a double rotating paceline. Obviously, those who could climb the mountains those days and had a weight advantage on the descents averaged much higher than me. Would I have sustained my averages solo? No. Would I have done that on a mountain bike? Hell no. Does it matter? Not at all.

It's nice to have some time and speed goals. There's a rolling 21 mile loop I like to do when I'm short on time as a kind of TT practice (it takes me a few rollers to warm up, and the fast part of the course is the back side). I only do that route by itself occasionally (usually it's part of a longer ride), and it's nice to see if I improve over time. It's also nice to be out there chasing a number on my cyclocomputer. However, I don't think there's a speed I *should* be going. If it was an actual race, I'd think I'd need to go a certain speed to have a good chance of placing well, but that's racing.

If you want to go faster, work on going faster, but there is no magic number you should be shooting for that will make you an adequate bike rider or anything. That speed may vary greatly depending on what terrain you hit, wind conditions, etc. The more you ride, the more you can use your previous rides as a good frame of reference, but there's no need to compare yourself to any of us who ride different bikes in different places.

[GraysonKelly]

How fast do you want to go?

Going fast is really dependant on your own goals...and "fast" is really a subjectve term.

Are you currently cycling for overall time, or do you have a computer to measure your average speed?

Beyond that, I agree with the others - monitoring heart rate and intervals -- and riding with a group -- are good ways to up the speed. Oh, and watching your cadance.

The only reason that I'm even asking this is because I don't want to be left at the back of the pack when I do the ALC. I don't really care how fast I get from point A to point B as long as I get there. The distance doesn't intimidate me, it's being able to ride with other's. I don't have any one to ride with. There is a club in pittsburgh that I could try to ride with but...oh, hell. Anyway, I just don't want to be left behind.
Thanks for the suggestions,
Gray

[aicabsolut]

Everyone gets dropped sometimes.
On hilly terrain, groups will often regroup after long climbs to accommodate a variety of climbing abilities throughout the group. Start with a group with a no-drop policy to be sure someone sweeps the back and checks up on everyone so you don't get lost if you do find yourself trailing behind. Talk to people about all the different group rides in the area so that you know if your abilities and equipment are well suited for the ride. Then pick the group accordingly. Also, don't worry about your 20 mile speed if your group ride is going to be 40 miles. Well rounded training may include working your butt off for 20 miles to go as fast as you can, but it will also include some challenging distances at whatever pace you can maintain for that distance. Riding in groups can make you faster because there are natural surges in pace that happen in a group that you'll need to respond to. It's kind of like doing intervals. That may help you by improving your recovery time which can translate to overall speed increases. It may also force you to hit speeds in the chase that you didn't think you could do or that you may not be able to do on your own (the group gives you extra motivation).

Some flat land average speeds can be good guidelines for finding out if your fitness level fits loosely into that of the group, but when you aren't actually riding on the flats much at all, most of that goes out the window, so you'll never really know if you can hang with the group until you try.