What's your average distance, pace, etc?

[indysteel]

I'm with Aggie Ama on this one. My average speed varies quite a bit these days depending on my mood, the terrain, the group, the weather, etc. For the past two years, I train and ride pretty hard up until the Ride Across Indiana in mid-July and then I get kind of burnt out and totally change gears, so to speak. For that reason, I'm thinking of skipping the ride next year. I just don't like what it does to my motivation.

My favorite ride is about 60 miles long regardless of the terrain, is with a group of about 8 of my favorite riding friends and averages around 17 to 18 mph for a flat ride, a bit slower if there are hills.

And I've been riding since July of 2006.

[kfergos]

Let's see... I've been riding a couple years now. The vast majority of my rides are commutes: 13.5 to 15 miles, trending uphill on the way out takes me 52 to 55 minutes. Trending downhill on the way back takes me right around 50 minutes (those are summer speeds; in the winter it's a whole different ball game!). Generally I measure my elevation gain in hundreds, rather than thousands, of feet. A hilly ride might include 1,000 feet of elevation gain.

I did my 3 centuries at a 16-mph pace; alone I ride 14.5 or 15 mph. Not exactly a speed demon here. I'd like to get a little faster, but I never push myself commuting because I know I have to do this ride 10 times in a week. Pushing myself one day means the remaining rides will feel endless.

ETA: The hilliest ride I've done so far, the King's Tour of the Quabbin, was a century that involved 7,000 feet of elevation gain. It took me forever and my legs wanted to fall off at the end.

ETA 2: This thread got me thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know). I should just start measuring all my riding metrics in metric units. I could ride 21.7 km at a 25.7 kph pace every day. It's like improving with no work!

[Aggie_Ama]

Indy- I have been there on the motivation peaks. Last fall I was all about the Imperial Century. I was spending all weekend doing 50-100 mile rides and had no problem. This year I completely tanked, I just couldn't do it. We did one 95 mile ride self supported this spring and that will be as close as I get to a century this year. I am happy to say my house is cleaner, my bathroom painted and in a couple weeks I will have the best landscaped yard in my neighborhood!

I log miles still but lately the adventure is what I crave. I get excited over the crane I saw, the llamas or ostrich being out, the cool house I never noticed or the sunflowers gently swaying but lately could care less if the average was 16 or 13 mph. And starting mountain biking brought a whole new level of chain love to my world. Now I get excited over finding a new trail that is easy enough for me or getting over a fear and trying something new.

[arielmoon]

I just started riding and logging my miles in May. My terrain is rolling hills.

I ride 20-30 miles a day on the weekdays averaging 18-19.6 mph by myself.

Group ride on Monday is 28 miles, and depending how many people come and which group I end up with, we average 20-22 mph.

I have taken some longer rides on the weekends 43 miles at 18.6 mph, 33 miles at 19.2 mph, and 55 miles at 17.5 mph.

For next weekend's century, my first, I am hoping to be in the 15-16 mph range.

[Jiffer]

I just started riding and logging my miles in May. My terrain is rolling hills.

I ride 20-30 miles a day on the weekdays averaging 18-19.6 mph by myself.

Group ride on Monday is 28 miles, and depending how many people come and which group I end up with, we average 20-22 mph.

I have taken some longer rides on the weekends 43 miles at 18.6 mph, 33 miles at 19.2 mph, and 55 miles at 17.5 mph.

For next weekend's century, my first, I am hoping to be in the 15-16 mph range.

Whenever I find myself hating you, I just tell myself I'm going to BE you some day and then I have to love you! You're a total inspiration! You've only been riding since July?!! Surely you were pretty fit before you started cycling.

I don't think you'll have any trouble at all getting a 15-16 average on your century with the pace you are doing your shorter rides at and you may, quite possibly, do it faster. It depends, of course, on if you get into a good group, as well as the amount of climbing.

My fastest rides were when I was 100% pulled by my "super cycling man" husband. He pulled me and two friends on a 66 mile ride to the beach and back at 18 mph. I was ecstatic at my time, even being pulled. I worked SO hard and kicked my butt! A week later, he pulled the three of us on what was me and my girlfriend's first century. I ended up with a 16.3 average. Since you are already faster than me, even not being 100% pulled, I don't see any reason you wouldn't get at least a 16 average, unless there's a lot more climbing or you have weather issues or something. I had about 3,000 feet of climbing and near perfect cycling weather ... other than the major headwinds the last 10 miles.

Good luck on your century and let us know how it goes.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We need to remember that everyone's definition of 'hills' is different.
We all bike over vastly differing terrain depending on where we live.

I went to Cape Cod this summer and someone who rides there during the summers described a route as being 'very hilly'....well there were a couple of teeny bumps on the path, but certainly not worth leaving my middle ring for. I kept waiting for the hilly part to start, but it never did. To my delight, I was magically transformed into a much faster rider as well. :-D

I think of my area as 'rolling hills' no matter what direction i go in from home, but when I went to New Hampshire last weekend I think their definition of 'rolling hills' was significantly steeper than my definition!

[wildhawk]

BleeckerSt: So true. Rolling hills to some could be mountains to others, and vice versa. I was told by my LBS guy that the Withlacoochee State Trail was “mostly flat”. But when we drove through Brooksville on the way there I thought that it looked very much like the terrain back home in Virginia. Some pretty good hills, but he was right. The state trail was mostly flat, but with some grades. And coupled with a headwind, I had a pretty fair workout on my 50k. And a lot depends on your ability and conditioning too. I will never complain about the “slight” grade on my home trail again - it feels like a piece of cake now!

Arielmoon: you will most definately succeed on that century - have an awesome time!!!

[Aggie_Ama]

We need to remember that everyone's definition of 'hills' is different.
We all bike over vastly differing terrain depending on where we live.

I went to Cape Cod this summer and someone who rides there during the summers described a route as being 'very hilly'....well there were a couple of teeny bumps on the path, but certainly not worth leaving my middle ring for. I kept waiting for the hilly part to start, but it never did. To my delight, I was magically transformed into a much faster rider as well. :-D

I think of my area as 'rolling hills' no matter what direction i go in from home, but when I went to New Hampshire last weekend I think their definition of 'rolling hills' was significantly steeper than my definition!

YUP. I consider my area rolling hills, gentle ones. Sometimes they are long but nothing extended. Some people come here and hear where I live and comment on how hilly it is. Then you go out to the Hill Country and some people call it rolling. I don't think a hill that is up to 3 miles long and 15% grade in short sections is rolling (Trisk if you read this I am talking about the road outside Leakey, you might know it). Some people call the famous Austin Dam Loop rolling, I think it is a little more intense than "rolling" but not full out climbing. It is just darn hilly that is for sure.

So my area is rolling but I don't go climbing around here! Of course I don't have anything to tell me my climbing stats and I don't normally care. I would like a Garmin but really I don't want to know my legs are screaming but I really didn't climb that much.

[Crankin]

This thread just confirms my depressing riding situation. My average is getting worse. Two years ago most of my rides, on rolling terrain averaged just under 16. Sure, I ride with people who average 13 quite a bit, but when I rode with my husband, I could crank it up. Then, when I got sick last year, I lost a lot of strength, despite the fact I never totally stopped exercising. I didn't ride much last fall, though, but I did walk, do yoga, etc. Over the winter I slowly built up my endurance with x country skiing, hiking, snow shoeing. I've tried to get back into weight training, but it's sporadic. I felt good in the beginning of the season, but since May I've had a lot of ups and downs. After my tour across MA, which involved 4 days of really challenging climbs, I should have rested, but I didn't. Then I went for my orientation course on the Cape and I took my bike. I wasn't sleeping well and I felt like I was getting sick, with allergies, swollen glands, etc. Getting up at 5 AM to ride made me look tough to the younger people, but it did me in. It took 4 weeks to get over the thing I had and now my fibro. symptoms are acting up. I swore I wouldn't miss another fall of riding, since the weather is gorgeous.
After a particularly bad week of symptoms, I started feeling better; I rode Tuesday and my average was 14.2 on my regular loop of 15.7 miles, that ends in a 10-15% climb. Yesterday I felt better while riding, but my average was 13.6 . Granted, I did go on a route that involved a little slowing due to traffic situations.... I am trying to look at this as like the time I had the flu really bad and I had to stop teaching aerobics for 5 weeks afterwards. I swam instead to build up my strength. I don't want to stop riding, but I am just telling myself to go slow and maybe I'll end up going fast. Another month of this, and I will concentrate on weight training, hiking, and spin class. I usually ride outside through December, but once November comes, it's sporadic. It's just so depressing. I know that I still do more than most people, and I'm not competing against anyone but myself. My "regular" friends think I'm nuts for worrying about this, but I find myself enjoying riding my Jamis around town and for errands more than riding my road bike...

[arielmoon]

Whenever I find myself hating you, I just tell myself I'm going to BE you some day and then I have to love you! You're a total inspiration! You've only been riding since July?!! Surely you were pretty fit before you started cycling.

~snip~

Good luck on your century and let us know how it goes.

Oh dont hate me! I was in pretty good shape before I started cycling in May. I compete in Dressage with my horse Ice:



And like Bleeker said- every terrain is different. Most of you would probably laugh at my hills although Ocala is not like most of Florida.

And thanks for the encouragement about the century. BF is now exBF and he is going to do the 45. So I am going to hook up with the LBS group and hope for the best.

[RoadRaven]

Always interesting to play with numbers.
I don't take note of average speeds anymore unless it is a particular course I am trying to improve on and am measuring myself against my own time or other's times.

So, I popped over to BikeJournal and worked out my stats for 2008...

So based on this year's 218 rides:

My average distance is 20.58km (a total of 4,487.87km for 2008)

My average time per ride is 59 minutes (a total of 209:15:57 hr:min:sec for 2008)

Therefore, that makes my average speed 20.93kph



However, to me that is a nonsense - interesting numbers, but not really a reflection of one of my average rides...

Usually, during training rides, I ride between 25-30kph

Hills, which slow me down will be ridden somewhere between 5kph and 16kph
Head winds will bring me back to about 25-26kph
Strong/gale force westerlies will have me moving under 20kph.

Usually, during road racing/riding in a racing bunch, I ride about between 30-45kph

My best time/speed this year was in a time trial race. That was 34.02kph over 19.3kms in March. I haven't approached that speed on my own again this year - which just shows you also that conditions as well as personal ability have a lot to do with averages. Some days everything just comes together.

So, as many have already said in this thread, although it is intriguing to play with number averages, it doesn't necessarily tell you about the type of riding a person does, the type of terrain they cover, the weather conditions on the day etc etc...

But thanks, its been an interesting thread to look through. Thanks all for giving us your stats

[Jiffer]

Oh dont hate me! I was in pretty good shape before I started cycling in May. I compete in Dressage with my horse Ice:

Hey! You're a horsey person! My daughter's do Hunter Jumper. Here's a pic of my oldest at a champ show a year ago. That same champ show is next week, but her horse is lame. He should be fine, but not in time for the show.

I think people underestimate the physical ability needed to ride a horse.

Yes, description of terrain can really vary from one person to another. That's why I mention feet of elevation climbed a lot and, sometimes, grade of incline. In my century, the "big climb" of Torrey Pines was about 2 miles of 7% grade. That, with other climbing resulted in 3000 feet total. There's a climb here that is maybe a quarter mile at 13%. That's stupid steep! And REALLY slows down your average pace.

I have ALSO found that when the terrain is literally "rolling", I can go a lot faster. I rode in Tahoe a couple of months ago and was able to sprint up a short rolling hill having just come down a previous one. Did this over and over again and really boosted my pace. That was almost 1400 feet of climbing. Doing that same amount of climbing here, where I might climb the entire 1400 at once or split into two climbs, yet not starting from a downhill roll ... gives me a completely different and slower pace.

[arielmoon]

Always interesting to play with numbers.
I don't take note of average speeds anymore unless it is a particular course I am trying to improve on and am measuring myself against my own time or other's times.

~snip~
So, as many have already said in this thread, although it is intriguing to play with number averages, it doesn't necessarily tell you about the type of riding a person does, the type of terrain they cover, the weather conditions on the day etc etc...

But thanks, its been an interesting thread to look through. Thanks all for giving us your stats

I agree completely! I compare myself only to myself and previous rides and also take into account different routes. On my farm route I am much slower due to having to turn around when I get the end of a lane!

Today for instance I added an extra loop that will be part of the century next weekend and it added almost 3 more miles to the scenic route I take a few times a week. I also recorded a personal best mph. So, I may not be able to compare with anyone else here but I know that I am getting stronger all the time.

That is what makes me happy!

Hey! You're a horsey person! My daughter's do Hunter Jumper. Here's a pic of my oldest at a champ show a year ago. That same champ show is next week, but her horse is lame. He should be fine, but not in time for the show.

I think people underestimate the physical ability needed to ride a horse.

Yes, description of terrain can really vary from one person to another. That's why I mention feet of elevation climbed a lot and, sometimes, grade of incline. In my century, the "big climb" of Torrey Pines was about 2 miles of 7% grade. That, with other climbing resulted in 3000 feet total. There's a climb here that is maybe a quarter mile at 13%. That's stupid steep! And REALLY slows down your average pace.

I have ALSO found that when the terrain is literally "rolling", I can go a lot faster. I rode in Tahoe a couple of months ago and was able to sprint up a short rolling hill having just come down a previous one. Did this over and over again and really boosted my pace. That was almost 1400 feet of climbing. Doing that same amount of climbing here, where I might climb the entire 1400 at once or split into two climbs, yet not starting from a downhill roll ... gives me a completely different and slower pace.

Sorry to hear your daughters horse is lame! They are a lovely pair! I agree there is much athleticism in riding HOWEVER not much cardio! And I will say this, I trained professionally for about 15 years and was never in the kind of shape I am now. And my riding? I can not believe how much stronger I am riding my horse. Not brute strength- horses are about finesse, but I have noticed the difference in my riding. My horse is so much more balanced!

Again I agree about comparing terrain. No one here in Ocala talks about feet of climbing or altitude.

You do what you can with what you have and keep working hard!!!

[shootingstar]

I was a bike computer junkie for first 5-6 years after returning to cycling. Kept a cycling journal plus mileage.

Let's see at that time average speed was 19-22 kms./hr. And I was cycling annually 4,000-6,000 kms. annually.

Now it's probably slower and each ride during the week, is half the distance I used to do due to impossibly convoluted and lengthy work commute that doesn't allow me to cycle the entire trip.. while weekends each ride is approx. 42-55 kms. each day. On self-loaded touring trips it increases to 45 - 80 kms. each day.

Stuation as somewhat temporary due to awkward location of my job and commuting distance. I won't be at this job forever...it ends soon.

I know the distance I ride nowadays by asking my partner who tracks his mileage religiously on Excel..with graphs. If he wasn't around, I might seriously consider using the bike computer more often. But I haven't used a bike computer for many years now. I gauge my level of bike fitness by how I climb certain hills each season, amount of weight I can cycle up and down on various routes and distances.

It isn't my cycling fitness that interests me so much these days compared to why am I munching so much more food throughout the day nowadays.. : Latter I consider something I must be more vigilant.

I care less about my fitness but feeling strong / enthusiastic enough to go out when the weather becomes lousier, colder and wetter. I seem to be losing my cold acclimatization this year which bothers me...since it affects how far I'm motivated to cycle.