MyTi

Usually do a long mixed ride around san francisco hills to the golden gate bridge and get 12mph or so due to some really steep gradients. I decided to try some flats.


I got 19mph average but only for about 7 miles..the longest flat I know that is enjoyable to ride. There were a few hills and some down hills, and stop lights/stop signs too but mostly flat. I felt like I was pushing myself, but there were stretches where I was admittedly coasting. If I was going 23-25mph on the flat, I would allow myself to coast until it would go back to 19 then pick it up again. Not sure how long I could keep it up. i think I could of gone 20 miles total at that pace possibly but too out of shape to try. Think next time I'll just do laps on that flat area and see if I can keep up the 19mph pace for longer. I'm a bit upright with a very tall steerer tube. I think when I drop the bars 20mm soon I'll see a slight improvement.


I do wonder if the aero 50mm carbon wheels are helping me. I read an article where test showed that aero wheels increased speed about 1.2mph compared to regular spoked wheels even when at under 20mph. That's a significant gain if true. I do feel faster on these 50mm carbon wheels versus the ksyrium sls that I got rid of.

Machka 

Yeah ... even on Zwift my rpm ranged between about 75 and 135, depending on what I was doing.



Anything below 80 is mashing ... unless maybe you're heading up a steep incline.

And you're not really spinning until you're well up and over 90.

If you want to improve your spinning, start going to spinning classes a couple times a week. It took me from an 80 rpm person on flat ground to something close to 90 rpm.

Machka 

All set ...
https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear...t-kickstarter/


Or see FB video, if you can ...
https: // www.facebook.com /LADbible/videos/4799783340068818/








Oh ... but sorry ...




https://knister-grill.com/

.

kbarch

FYE:

WhyFi

For segments, yes, but not for the ride average.

Dan333SP

That preview image tho...

drewguy

Indeed.

If one wanted to ask a possible relevant question for comparisons sake, it would be something like:

"What is your typical sustained speed on the flats, with minimal wind and riding solo?"

McBTC

Not into fasted riding...

DrIsotope

DON'T TELL ME HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE!! Though I imagine smoke might be an issue with mobile grilling, what with a handlebar mount. Could mount it on a rear rack... at the risk of attracting scores of wild dogs.

kbarch

Or you could do like the NY Cycle club does and use repeats of a well-known circuit as the guide. They use four laps of Central Park (which happens to be 24.4 miles, 1,836'), as the guide to what I'd call the cruising speed with which a rider would be comfortable (rides are advertised according to a combination of paceline skill and speed).

woodcraft

A neighboring club does similar- they have a 'speed trap' 4.4 miles, to gauge which groups to ride with.Pace Rating
AA
A
AB
B
BC
C
CD
D
Average Speed (mph)
8 - 10
9 - 12
11 - 14
12 - 15
14 - 17
15 - 18
17 - 20
≥ 18
Speed Trap (minutes)

>26

23 - 26

19 - 22

< 19


This was a chart, the format didn't come through

jitteringjr

I miss Matt's commentary on GCN.

I use Strava to see where I stand speed wise. I find thread like this pointless because the terrain could be so differently and then throw in the everyone is faster on the internet phenomenon. Strava segments are comparing the same conditions other than weather changes with the wind, but if you compare for just the day, that will keep it somewhat even.

I on average have two easy recovery day's for every hammer fest and the recovery days average about 4-5 mph slower than a hammer day. Although I might average slower on a hammer day than a recovery day if I am riding the foothill and mountain climbs for the hammer day and riding the Colorado flat areas for the recovery ride. So what number would I put in? If I say the "average number", it is going to be significantly slower than a ride where I am putting even a little effort in on. Compare that to another rider who takes a rest day instead of a recovery ride day. Not riding is not lowering his or her overall average speed like riding and taking it super easy for recovery. Seeing how I commute to work five days during the week when I don't have time to ride long rides, I rarely take weekends off when I can take advantage of getting longer rides on. Therefore, I pretty much end up riding 7 days a week. So the only times I get for recovery are during commute rides where I am going super easy, which lowers the average speed.

Carbonfiberboy 

Back when my group was posting club rides to attract possible new members for vetting, we had a 500' sorting hill. We'd all start together and hit the sorting hill after about 3 miles. Our 3 pace leaders would go up it, holding their usual pace, and see who was with them when they paused at a parking lot at the top. That worked well.

Bomb Komodo

Rock71

I started riding again in May after 8 years away. I started at 6' and 257lbs. lucky to break 10mph avg. I am now down to 227 and riding 20 to 25 miles atleast 4 days a week and just at 12.5 avg mph. Still hoping to see that 16 to 18 mph avg again.

kbarch

I love that idea - it's so friendly!

McBTC

TdF Stage 12 tomorrow features L'Alpe d'Huez (avg. 8% gradient maxing out at 13%) where you can bet, despite these competitors being the premier riders on Earth, that avg mph will be considerably lower at times than some of the averages posted here... Stage 11 today had some amazingly steep climbs--e.g., a single rider on a breakaway was getting pretty close to the finish where one of the commentators estimated he'd be in about 25 minutes, which seemed to work out to about 6 mph. Interestingly, there was a point in the Stage 10 coverage at about 98 kilometers from the finish when Phil Liggett casually observed that the peloton was going at a 6.8 to 7.4 mph pace just as the camera swept by I think a homemade road sign saying it was a 13% incline. On the Stage today, the guys were hammering going downhill which is pretty easy to do and obviously an effective way to increase the avg. mph of a ride.

McBTC

6-1/4 mph is about as slow as I can go peddling in the mid-70s and using he lowest gear I've got (34x32)-- if I had lower gears I'd probably have used them by now and then my avg. mph would be even lower. If anyone could use a 1-to-1 gear it's probably me.

McBTC

Stage 11 won by Geraint Thomas, 6'08" to go 67.4 miles which is ~11 average mph.

HTupolev

Thomas won in about 3 and a half hours, for an average speed of 19mph.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_T...ge_11#Stage_11

If you're bottoming out your gearing, there's a good chance that lower gears would help you go faster.

colnago62

Machka 

Where are you getting your stats?

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race.../2018/stage-11


108.5 km in 3:29:36 = 31 km/h (approx.)

MyTi

That's pretty insane...19mph average with a ride that has 11 miles on a category one climb. Pantani climbed Alp D'huez at over 14mph. Tour riders maintain well over 300 watts which is hard for most of us to do, and they are so light. These guys have the power to weight ratio to do unbelievable stuff. I really don't want to have the body of the cyclist however do to that level of riding even if I had the genetics to maintain over 300 watts for long periods of time. I'd rather be normal and well built like some the sprinters on the tour versus what these gc climbers look like. I'd be content to average 24mph solo/time trial on a standard road bike for 20 miles. That would be in great shape for me, but I need a power meter which is going to cost as much as my whole bike apparently...but it's really the only way to improve riding ability.

WhyFi

No, not it's not.

kbarch

But you can't dial it up to 400 watts of you don't have one to dial: so there!