Where do I stand?

[ZenBiker]

I understand your interest in comparing, I wonder the same things and won't be able to resist reading the responses. At the same time, I'm trying not to think too much about how I compare to others. I have a tendency to get too caught up in the numbers and end up feeling bad about myself. For example: I'll be riding in an event this coming weekend with a bunch of friends who are all better cyclists than me and have been stressing over that. So every time I start out on a training ride lately I remind myself, out loud, to have fun. There will always be someone (in my case many someones) who ride further and faster and that's OK. As long as I'm progressing and enjoying it, it's all good. (Of course if I were training for a race it would be different, then the whole point is to compare - but I'm not).

Edited to add: just saw your reply about looking for motivation. Makes sense. I like maillotpois's suggestion about tracking your own stats and working to improve on them, or training for an event to give your rides structure.

[Velocivixen]

I live in a town that's a suburb of Portland, Or with the entire metro area of 1 million or so. There are plenty of flats as well as hills if you want them. I consider myself a leisure rider. I like to go out and see & smell new places. According to my Cateye Strada my average speed ranges from 10-14 mph. I have ridden about 197 miles in the last 4 weeks or so. My max. speed, usually down a hill is about 18-21 mph, although I can go up to about 16 mph on flats if I want. I find that when I ride faster I have to pay more attention, and it takes away from my enjoying the scenery and looking around. I have been riding in the past 6 months my new Trek FX 7.3 FX. I have ridden more in the past 6 months than the entire previous 25 years. This is due to having the appropriate bike, and one that I really enjoy. So, my typical rides involve riding to a destination, maybe 5-10 miles away, having a coffee or lunch, then riding home.
So that's it. Hope that helps. I find that motivation is a fickle friend-it comes and it goes, so I don't rely on it to keep me active. I just do it.

[jobob]

I've stopped bringing my Garmin on my rides. I have no idea what my average pace is anymore.

[maillotpois]

I've stopped bringing my Garmin on my rides. I have no idea what my average pace is anymore.

I did that for a while last year - after it was stolen. I'm back, but the break was refreshing.

[DarcyInOregon]

One thing I've learned is that cycling as an activity for sports and/or fitness and/or recreation is an individual process and comparisons to other cyclists are not useful. I do understand what you desire to know and that is how do other female cyclists ride. I am 57 years old and I ride a Trek Madone. I belong to three different cycling groups (no clubs), of which two are training groups and one is a recreational group. The weekend training group is mostly males and the focus is on distance and climbing, and my focus is trying to stay up with the lead pack so I don't get lost, and being the only older female, the males get up the steep climbs faster than me and I find myself sprinting on the downside to put them in sight again. The Tuesday a.m. group is about short and fast and bike skills. Members of the recreation group will join with me on event rides, even when there is a lot of elevation gain, and sometimes want to join me when I am out doing a solo ride for distance and/or climbing. I ride with my Garmin and keep track of my stats through the months and years. I now use http://ridewithgps.com to map hilly routes in advance as this site gives me the grade percentage that matches up exactly to the readings on my Garmin when I run the cursor over the route, and matches up to the GPS bike computers of other cyclists in my training groups, so I no longer have surprises like mile-long 20% grade climbs that are beyond my ability and I believe the site to be accurate. What is disconcerting for me though, is that most females my age want to bike the easiest way, slow on bike trails, avoid even the smallest of the hills, and in a group they take the short route options and ride real slow. This means I ride with males that are stronger and faster than me, and/or younger females that are lighter and faster than me. Despite my age, I've made considerable improvement over the past few years, can bike more category climbs and miles of continuous climbs, pull a paceline into a headwind and ride a century if I feel so inclined. I have no desire to do double centuries, brevets or tours as I am active enough and happy with the amount of cycling I do, which totaled about 6500 miles last year.

[Tri Girl]

I live in the flat plains and most of my rides average in the 15-17 range- when I'm on my carbon tri bike. When I'm on my steel commuter I average between 11-13. A hill around here is only about a 200 ft elevation change, but there aren't too many. I've been riding about 6 years, have done more centuries than I can count, more triathlons than I can count, one Ironman, and lots of short bike tours.

Funny how different people can be because I couldn't care less how I compare to others. I mostly ride alone because competition turns me into a green demon who is not pleasant to be around. Numbers mess with my head and make me go crazy with negative self-talk (I'm not fast enough, that ride wasn't long enough, I should have a higher avg., etc). I often will take the computer off the bike and just go ride for the sake of riding. There was a year a few years ago when I hated riding and it was because of the numbers (on the computer, the garmin, the HR monitor). I'm good enough and riding makes me happy- that's mostly what I care about. I'm never going to be as fast as some, and I'm probably faster than a few. Like Popeye says: I am what I am!

[suzbyrd]

I recently bought a Trek Madone after riding a Giant OCR for about 5 years. I have found that I average a higher mph on the better bike. I ride mostly because I can't run much anymore bc of my knees. I just like to know that, as a 44 yr old, that I am doing what others are doing. Motivation, yes, but also I pride myself on staying young and in shape. I ride mostly w/ hubby and have found that I can leave him struggling to keep up (and he's 5 yrs younger!). I also like to try to do things others can't or won't do. Anyways, thanks for the answers everybody!

[jobob]

Numbers mess with my head and make me go crazy with negative self-talk (I'm not fast enough, that ride wasn't long enough, I should have a higher avg., etc). I often will take the computer off the bike and just go ride for the sake of riding. There was a year a few years ago when I hated riding and it was because of the numbers (on the computer, the garmin, the HR monitor).

Oh, too funny, that's where I've been for the last several months! I think I'm finally crawling out of that funk, ditching the Garmin definitely helped.

I'm good enough and riding makes me happy- that's mostly what I care about. I'm never going to be as fast as some, and I'm probably faster than a few. Like Popeye says: I am what I am!

Bingo. Very very well said.