new to cycling--speed??

[owlice]

I often average under 12 MPH now! Last year, a lot of my rides were in the 8-9 MPH range, so my ~11 MPH is improvement!! I'd love to get to a consistent 13 MPH or so.

And oh, yeah, I ride mostly flat trails; we're not talking biking up mountains or anything here!!

[SadieKate]

Fast enough to keep the rubberside down. Next goal: ride in a straight line and predictably so you can ride safely with others.

[Tri Girl]

Like everyone said: don't worry too much about your speed. Most importantly- just have fun and enjoy yourself on EVERY ride. You'll get stronger, you'll get fitter, and you'll increase your speed.

When I started out I was obsessed with speed and getting faster. And I did. And then I got all burned out- and now I'm riding because I WANT to and I LIKE it and I go at whatever pace I want. I took the computer off my bike, but I think I'm averaging somewhere in the 10-12 mph range. A far cry from my 18-20 mph range from 4 years ago, but I'm having A LOT more fun now than I was back then and I'm riding for sheer pleasure instead of it being a "have to" kind of thing.

Ride the way you want. If you want to be a "hammer-head", do it. If you want to be a "smell the roses" kind of rider, do it. Just have fun no matter what kind of riding you do!!

[ny biker]

The bike you ride will affect this. Just by switching from knobby tires to slicks on my mountain bike, I rode faster on paved trails. Then switching from a mountain bike to a road bike sped me up again.

But yeah, just have fun.

[Zen]

I like to ride at a speed that makes me smile but not so fast as to make me scared.
In order to retain what little is left of my dignity I won't give actual numbers.

[Red Rock]

When I first started riding after a 20 year layoff, I did not have a computer. I think this was a good thing actually. My brother and Dad told me about them. Once I knew what it did I was like "cool".

By the time I actually purchased one, I think I had been riding for about 6 months. This was good for me because I was able to think about my body and how I was feeling as I rode. I had no direct speed in front of me as I rode. Since I was riding more I could feel my body become stronger. Areas where I would ride that were difficult in the beginning, eventualy were not much in the end.

If you find you are becoming a speed demon like TriGirl, you might want to disconnect the battery for a while. Then when you are ready, put the battery in and see how far you have progressed in the meantime. Just a thought.

I have an odometer on my road bike but nothing on my commuter or mountain bike. I have thought about it many times, but when I ride, I want to enjoy my ride. I can tell how I am doing physically by how I feel.

I hope this helps.

Red Rock

[chicagogal]

My cycle computer and I have a strange relationship. I use it on solo rides to make sure that I am at least maintaining my usual average speed on usual routes. However, sometimes I think that little computer makes me go slower. For instance, sometimes on group rides, I am feeling great, and we are flying down the road, and then a glance at my computer and see some crazy high number and then think to myself that I "should" be tired - that of course gets to my head and I end up feeling tired. Once last season, on a day when my computer was broken, a couple friends and I went out for a 30mi ride before work. I was doing a lot of the pace setting, feeling great despite some killer headwinds. When we got to the end of the ride, my friends were toast. They were like, "what was that?!?!?! we never go that fast/hard! Do you know how fast we were going?" Um, no my computer was broken, I was just having fun . . .

My point is that just going out and having fun without worrying about speed does not necessarily equate to going slowly. It just means listening to your body instead of being obsessed with some number on a tiny screen.

[tangentgirl]

I often average under 12 MPH now!

Glad I'm not the only one.

[Chile Pepper]

Glad I'm not the only one.

You and me both. On the other hand, I'm so much stronger than I used to be--a much better climber, with much better stamina. Hills are part of the issue: nothing is truly flat here, so it's always slow one direction and pretty fast the other, which averages out to 12-13 mph for me. And realistically, I ride alone, I'm 45, and I'm not interested in speed training. The pace isn't going to magically pick up on its own.