Average MPH

[gabriellesca]

Great to read this thread - I'm a super slow-poke but I don't ride as often as I would like thanks to a bum ankle. Today was only my second ride of this year and boy did those first 6 or 7 miles kill me. In the end I did 21 miles in about 1 hour 39 minutes - and I typically average 11 or 12 mph.

I have trained with a team for a century with Team in Training. I was 50 pounds overweight on a hybrid and had never ridden in my life - I upgraded to a great Trek road bike but in the 17 weeks of training for that century I think I finished last of a team of 25 each week. That helped me to not worry about being dropped and not really care how slow I was. I would get so excited just to finish, speed never seemed to be a thing for me. On the actual century I averaged 14 mph for the first 50 and literally like 10 for the last 50. It took me 9:47 (with stops) but I was so happy I finished I didn't care.

Riding with a group is very tough - I enjoy riding alone now except I get very nervous about mileage getting too high (being in remote areas) and riding roads I don't know. But I do find when I have riders around me and when I was on the team it did push me at times when I wouldn't have. And my coach HAMMERED into me to put myself in my biggest gear and push push down the hills - sure does push your average up - but I don't think it counts as much.

[owlice]

gabriellesca, thanks very much for your post! I, too, am a slow rider, and am working on getting faster so I can do a century. You give me hope!