Grim Ace

I gave up looking at overall averages when a friend landed in the hospital (I never did exclusively, but I always looked at it and it was in the back of my mind when cycling). The thing I am worried about is that it gives me an incentive to make unwise decisions in traffic. For example, I noticed myself slowing down less at intersections, running red lights at empty intersections, and not slowing down at all when there was the possibility of cars coming from the left or right around a corner where I could not see them coming (even if they should let me pass first).

Instead, I look a little deeper in the data I have and look at my speeds on long flat roads etc. It is easy to see, track and feel progress without relying on averages that are largely influenced by other traffic. For my usual routes, there could be a 2 mph difference just depending on traffic. It is also more fun that way, you can have different goals and combine them with different sorts of training.

That is not to say that your performance and improvement is not awesome. You obviously know there is an alternative to looking at just averages. I am just saying they are worth looking into.

hhnngg1

Did my first Half ironman today. (1.2mile swim+56 mile bike + 13.1 mile run.)

Averaged 19.7mph on the 56 mile bike. Dang. Didn't know I was so close to 20mph. Overall pleased given the 2926feet elevation gain on the Garmin from the rollers although I honestly was expecting to go more like 20.5 even with a 75% effort (that was a strictly aerobic pace, like 75% effort with no really hard efforts. Gotta save your legs for the run for a 5 hour race.)

On the good side, saved enough energy to run 7:05/mile for the entire half marathon. Caught nearly all the folks who passed me on the bike, which was the plan.

Finished the whole thing in 5:01. Not bad for my first crack at the distance. Planning to crank up the bike and swim next time as I got crushed on the swim and couldn't make up enough lost placements on the bike.

jesspal

So many rides in the 19.3mph range. A flat 20mph, 20 mile ride is a goal I am really trying to accomplish.

No climbs or group, just hammer out a hard pace over an hour on my own

bbeasley

Did 18.7 for 20 miles today during a Sprint Triathlon, a PR for me. Got to keep pounding the wind sprints to get to my 20 for 20.

jmX

Nice job dude. I'm impressed.

wphamilton

That's a little nuts. I see guys doing that all the time, not racers not training for races as far as I know. A guy I see every morning is going 20, 21, 22 mph, never slower. Sometimes I do it, just for nine or ten miles on a commute but just for fun. I'd love to do 20 miles in one hour, then 21, whatever. It has nothing to do with racing.

DaveWC

I agree. I'm 50, don't race just doing my own trading/riding and average over 20 on most non-recovery rides.

hhnngg1

Thx, man. I was happy with the result. I suspect I under-biked the bike leg a bit, but that's a good thing for a rookie at the distance so I didn't blow up on the run (which EVERYONE and their grandma was warning me about, saying I'd likely be walking a few miles despite my run background.)

Also gotta say - 2200 feet of rolling hills over 56 miles feels pretty much like a flat course to me, so if it's any flatter than that, we're talking pancake land. I normally get 2200 feet in the first hour of my rides around here, so distributing it over 3 hours was pretty mellow - I didn't leave the big ring once the whole way.

wphamilton

Well I don't, generally. But I think it's natural for anyone to want to ride faster and to say "if you're not racing why bother" punches a button with me.

pallen

That completely depends on how you use it. That's certainly part of it, but I would still use strava if you removed the ability to see anyone else's data. Being able to break your own rides up into segments makes things more interesting for me. I can see my progress on a certain hill climb and isolate just that segment.

Spiduhman

Someone up there said it's data. Yup.

Elapsed time between waypoints, and overall time on the well known loops equate to avg speed, and avg speed on new routes are basis of comparison and baseline for future efforts.

It's part of the fun and motivation for me; the two go together.

When the possiblity of a "pr" presents itself, motivation to push beyond swells, and since my overall plan is flexible (it has to be), so be it!

Since there is no practice series here, unlike the mature RACE series from whence me came - three to five events per week - I'm looking for motivators; a cyclist in the offing? I will close that gap! Time available to post a high mileage week? I'm out there! Feeling good on a light wind day? Try for a wellknown loop pr!

As for "the plan" - for me it's year three of a five year plan, and the five year block a step toward a longer journey; this year it's continued weight loss and threshold threshold threshold.

Now y'all just have fun, and do it safely.

rpenmanparker 

I heartily congratulate you. I remember that level of accomplishment well. There is just something about 20 miles in an hour that feels right. Then there is the question of for how long? I still remember the glow from seeing the bike computer reading of 50 miles in under 2.5 hours. That was so sweet. Enjoy this while you can and do everything possible to keep it from stealing away. In '97 at age 49 I suffered a heart attack (while riding no less). Sure I was quickly back on the bike, but with a 20% speed penalty due to lost heart ejection fraction (from dead heart muscle tissue) and the effects of a beta blocker and other medication. Since then I have broken 16.5 mph for 30 miles maybe twice. I credit cycling for being alive and have no complaints. Still it is bittersweet to remember what used to be.

Robert

AdelaaR

You're lucky for counting in medieval systems there, you know.
In Europe we have the number 30 (km/h), which is about 18,7 mph and thus too easy to accomplish ... then ... after that ... our first "whole" number is 40 ... which is the equivalent of 25 mph and pretty damn hard.
I will not rest until I reach that 40.

big chainring 

For inspiration, here's a tidbit about one of my favorite all=time bike racers, Arthur Metcalf.



In 1965 he won 23 times, including the Manx International, three laps of the Snaefell mountain course on the Isle of Man. Living once more in Leeds, he cycled from there to Liverpool, slept in a telephone box and then caught the ferry to the island.[2][3] In 1966 he won the national amateur road race championship and, as an afterthought, the BBAR with a record average speed of 24.797 mph. The BBAR aggregated speeds of riders over 50 miles, 100 miles and 12 hours and specialist time-triallists usually devote their whole season to it. Metcalfe won in three straight rides, almost as an afterthought. "I remember thinking I needed a change. I'd ridden a few time trials in the past and so I thought I'd have another go," he said.[4]

charliemike

Strava's segments do help because, like others have mentioned, if I try to do a PR on a loop that involves intersections I end up taking stupid risks.

That said, there are some trails in the Washington, DC area (like the WO&D) that are long enough that even with stopping for a few seconds here or there, I spend so much time in motion as to make the stops almost immaterial.

The shorter ride (BWI loop, for example near Baltimore Washington airport) have six stops (at least) in about 10.7 miles and five of them are traffic signaled. Those lights make a huge difference because catching a green on one could mean 2 minutes less waiting. Get two or three of those and suddenly my 45 minute ride is 39 minutes (sub-40 is my goal).

Rural living has its advantages. For the first time in my life, I can see myself living in the sticks so that I can get on my bike and ride away from traffic

AK404

Speaking of raising your average speed, I kind of feel like a little punk right now...

On my nightly rides, I often run into a lot of stop lights or a lot of idiot drivers who don't know what a passing lane is for, so I usually just concentrate on spinning between the lights at low-speed, high-cadence exercises, but tonight, the stars lined up in my favor with all greens and no cars and I was able to hammer it like a madman for half the trip. So I'm watching my average speed climb up from 15 to 16 to 17 to 18 to 19...19.1, 19.2, and finally, 19.3, which is when my hammer party ended and I'd have to start riding slow and careful again in a construction zone.

So on impulse, I turned off my computer thinking, "Yeah,that's good enough." But you know, it probably wasn't, even if the last mile of that trip would have known my average back down to 13 mph.

RollCNY

Last year, doing my 25 mile loop in 75 minutes was a huge goal. It is essentially flat, something like 600 ft of gain and loss. At the end of rides, I would hit 19.6 mph or 19.8 as an overall speed, just missing the mark.

At the end of the season, I broke it once at essentially 20.8 mph for the trip, and now I can do it pushing 21 or a sniff over, almost at will. But it has nothing to do with running stop signs and lights, or being unsafe, as others have mentioned. It is all about focus, and staying essentially "at max" every moment. You never coast, you push every descent, and at very few points do you recovery pedal. If I get day dreaming, I lose it. If a sore back or funny knee pain springs up, I lose it. It is all about hammering every second, and not giving up. Oh, and I can do this on my flat bar bike with the same difficulty that I do it on my drop bar bike, provided I constantly push for the goal.

Again, hitting 20 average, at least for me, has nothing to do with breaking traffic laws and being dangerous. It is all about focus. My 25 mile loop has 8 stop lights and 13 stop signs, which I invariably obey.

bikerjp

^^I think it's also about pain. Regardless if you are trying to bust 20mph or 25mph or whatever, you don't eek out the best your body can do at a given time without nearly redlining the whole time and that requires not only focus but tolerance to some pain.

Mike F

I did it today. Wasnt planning on it. I got assimilated into a group ride on the coast the last 13 miles of my cheesy 23 miler up the coast. Ended up with a 20.4 avg. I guess everybody here is right when they say "ride with a group if you want too get faster".

AdelaaR

Dude ... if you're riding in a group ... your average doesn't count like it does when you're out on your own.

rvk5150

I have been inching closer and closer....what started as 16 MPH average this season has moved to 17, in the last month 18...18.5, 19....last three rides (23, 29, and yesterday 21 miles) all were 19.5 MPH or higher. I am getting close!

Mike F

Thats what I keep telling myself

jsutkeepspining

dude if u ride with aero bars your average doesn't count

average speed is silly!

mattm

Actually, average speed never counts for anything.

bikerjp

Of course it does. Not on any given one ride, but when you ride the same course over and over your average has meaning to you. By extension, Strava is built on the idea of comparing averages over the same course. They focus on time, but your time over a given distance is the same thing.