I use a computer to track mileage and being a beginner with a very heavy bike my avg speeds are slow in the 10-11 mph range. But this also includes time spent walking the bike partially up a hill and my walk speed is 3 mph. Nearly every ride still has me walking the bike up one or two of the more significant hills. I only have one route that is flat and only get to that one on occasion. In that case mileage increases to 12-13 mph range.

What I have come to rely on even more is time spent on a particular route and that has been decreasing. For the first 2/3 of the summer I didn't have a bike computer so my guess is that my mph was in the 7-8 range because my time spent on individual routes has improved considerably.

I also carry a camera and stop to take a lot of photos so this decreases average speeds with all the stopping and starting.

My goal for next riding season is to increase avg to 12 mph and don't think I can seriously get much higher than that without a new bike that is lighter and has more than 7 gears.

My only real reason for wanting to get any faster at all is to be able to add to my mileage per ride without increasing the time spent.

Compared to my turtle pace most of you sound like racers to me!