Avg cycling speed I should be shooting for

[jobob]

I think that's a really hard question because we're all riding in different places, on different bikes, at different ages, and so on and on.

What she said.

I tend to tune out the reports that harp about average speeds (especially out to the first or second decimal place ).

It's a useful number for the individual to keep track of how fast she (or he) goes over a certain course in order for that person to help gauge her (or his) improvement, but, for the rest of us, who don't happen to know the terrain, the amount of climbing, the difficulty of the descent, the condition of the road, the amount of slowing down & stopping and speeding up on account of stop signs and traffic signals and other obstacles, and the wind direction and the weather on that particular day, it's a meaningless number. IMHO.