JanMM

I was wondering how someone could average 17mph on practically their first bike ride!
I was able to maintain 20mph over several flat, straight rural miles on a club ride a few weeks ago but that was thanks to a nice tailwind.
Normally can only average 15-16 at best on a ride. Often less.

Riveting

31 yr old, fit 220 lbs, ex-mtb, on a nice bike, on all flatlands, in a park without stops? 20 mph for a 100 mile ride is your new goal.

NomarsGirl

Your pace over 50 miles is going to be slower than over 20 miles unless you're a machine.

caloso

You might consider asking at the LBS where the local group rides start.

cyclintom

I'm with you. I did a continuous 48 miler yesterday that went about 2/3rds of the way through urban areas and stop signs and lights. I then did some 2.000 feet of climbing trying to build leg strength with big gears. 39-23 up 7% and 39-25 for the over that rate of climb for the rest that was as steep as 16%. Getting home all tuckered out the speedo says 11.5 mph average. I'm 73 and tried to keep the heart rate under 160 ppm but that was pretty difficult.

cyclintom

Get prepared to feel like an idiot all the time. Toppling over like that goes with clipless pedals for several years.

DGoodrow

My hat off to you sir...160bpm is zone 5? I do think part of your training regiment should be to "live to ride another day."

cyclintom

I had a concussion which knocked all the sense out of me. I can't remember the heart rate zones but that is my 85% region which is what I try to keep at for high-moderate training. Everyone else in our age group drops me so I assume that they're going higher.

SJM205

DGoodrow

or there could just be multiple concussions in your group

linberl

So my adult son (30 yr/old) regularly does 50 miles a day averaging between 20 and 24mph based on his cycling computer. But he has no car, and has been riding daily for the last 3 years, between 40 and 70 miles a day. He also lost 35 pounds and looks (to his Mom) like a beanpole, lol. But he didn't start out riding that fast or far - so you are doing just fine. Ramp up steadily to avoid injury.

mcours2006

Some guys are just born with better aerobic genes than others. Consider yourself lucky you're probably better endowed than most of us here. With some more structured training perhaps you can be competitive racing in cat 3, 2, maybe even 1.

cyclintom

I've been riding since around 1975 or so. I raced some and do know proper training techniques and certainly don't ride like that too often. I was developing a poison gas detector for the military to detect all those WMD that the Obama people proclaimed never existed. Through an accident, I didn't pump out the test chamber completely while in a hurry to get the damn thing to work after I realized that the physicists had the formula all wrong. Entering the chamber, poison gas is odorless and colorless so I damaged my lungs without realizing it until later when I tried racing again. So while that was the end of my racing, it wasn't the end of my training program. It simply changed what my heart rate was for any speed. But your lungs heal pretty much unless they are totally ruined such as from smoking. Today I have about full lung capacity again.

I'm not one of those people who believe that unless other people can see your pulse in the blood vessels in your temples you aren't riding hard enough. Nor do I think that I should be able to keep up with a 25 year old.

DGoodrow

That's the beauty of cycling. As you age you don't have to keep up with the 25 year olds speed wise, you stay in your own age group. But it has been my experience, in all things endurance related, the older guys have it all over the kids. I see it everyday here in Florida. There are many mid to late seventy guys that seem to be able to ride a hundred miles at will...almost daily.

cyclintom

Yeah, but not at a 17 mph average speed.

I will often get passed on climbs by young guys and at the top they will be leaning over the side of the road puking. I'll just ride past and continue. Once in awhile one of them will jump on their bike and try to keep up but steep drops scare most of them and I'll just ride away. 45 mph isn't something that shouldn't scare most people. One bad bump and you can break a wheel. On a really windy ride on flat ground with a compact crank and a tailwind, I was spinning at 37 and apparently that was too scary fast for everyone.

rm -rf

To get to 20 mph for the ride:
You need a combination of more power, a more aero position, and/or drafting other riders. Wind resistance goes up dramatically as your speed increases.

From this bike speed calculator, using defaults except for a 220 pound rider. These are estimates, but you get the idea.

17.2 mph on the "tops" (maybe less aero than the hoods? ) : 183 watts
20.0 mph on the tops: 275 watts. That's 50% more power!

20.0 mph in the drops: 201 watts. 10% more than 17.2. I think this is too low, it might be more like 220 watts or so.
20.0 mph with triathlon bars on a tri bike: 174 watts. Less than the 17.2 power!

Drafting in a group, depending on number of riders, cross winds, etc: anywhere from 15% to maybe 30% power saving. And there's the motivation to hang on to the group, too. I often do 3-4 mph faster on a group ride than riding solo.

Achilles0557

SJM205

jj1091

Nah, you did fine. US Army.
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sodbuster72

back when I was late 20s, I used to roll the very flat base perimeter road at Randpolph AFB twice over lunch. This was almost exactly 20 miles with almost no intersections, and I could hold 20-point average for that distance. However, I was still 3:30-3:45 on a metric century (i.e. 17s). So that's probably your difference... 20 mi vs 50...

Slightspeed

I'm a 68 year old ex racer, more ex than racer, actually. My personal best is 17.9 for a 44 mile coastal ride with medium rollers. Last Saturday, six of us did a 62 mile metric century with a 15.1 avg with pretty brutal headwinds, and 2500' climbing. I' say you are doing great. Forget the naysayers, go find a fast group and just ride. If you are scamming us, shame on you.

Just to clarify, my Garmin only times rolling miles, it pauses at stop lights, coffee stops, etc.

Teamprovicycle

You bought a climbing bike to ride flat roads ???? Off with his head !!!!!! Dilly dilly !!!

burnthesheep

That's a lot of bike for a commute, in terms of geometry and comfort. For a commute, I'd definitely make sure you've got the most tire that thing can handle on there. And something a little tougher to avoid flats to/from work. At that, maybe even a tubeless.

Road ground speed is super NOT relevant. One local race sim ride averages 22mph overall and 24+mph in the flats. The other A+ ride that's in town where the hills are cracks out at about 18 1/2.

The best thing to do at this point is to use Google and Facebook. Find the local B-group ride. Usually they are no-drop and about 25 to 50mi. Try it out.

If you get dropped, you get dropped. If you never get dropped as a cyclist, you're not challenging yourself enough. It's a rite of passage.

jbell_64

I love the appalachicola nf was the state forest tates hell?

Achilles0557