raria

Here I am a seasoned rider of 20+ years. I ride about 7K+ miles per year including several week long tours of 500+ miles each. I ride about half a dozen centuries a year as well. I'm in shape (6 foot and 175 pounds) and not too old (50's).

But I keep on reading about riders who can average 20+mph on the flats for hours on end or can average 15+mph including 4000+ feet of climbing. To make it worst, some of these guys say they are 70+. I also routinely get passed on bike paths by people who are just effortedlessly riding past me as though its a Sunday recovery ride.

So is there something seriously wrong (i.e. setup, conditioning) with a seasoned cyclist who rides 33 miles in 2 hours (with minimal climbing) when going full tilt on a MUP (i.e. no traffic whatsoever)? Or are these other people just special.

DrIsotope

I'm an unseasoned rider of 3+ years. I've averaged 10k miles with 400k feet of climbing per year. I don't do any rides that take more than half a day. I'm in less shape (6'2" and 200lbs) and slightly less old (45.) I average ~20mph on the flats and +15mph on climbing rides unless I'm on the CX bike and head into the dirt. Rides with "moderate" climbing will be 16-18mph average. 55miles with 6,000ft of climbing, 15mph average. 44.6 miles with a scant 1,300ft, about 1/3 on the river trail, 19.3mph average. Most recent solo century was 108.2 miles with 3,200ft @ 19.0mph. I'm certainly not special. I don't have any real suggestions on how to get faster-- I got there with no structured training of any sort. I just ride. Sometimes I try to ride fast, sometimes I just go at whatever pace feels comfortable. I did a cumulative average of 17.0mph over 2 years on an aluminum CX bike, so I don't think it's the bike.

BonkonFleet

I'm not sure how common it is for people to average 20+mph for "hours" on the flats. Unless there is a killer tailwind, or unless the people you are reading about are pros or high level amateur racers.

tagaproject6

Internet cyclists are like anglers. Nothing is wrong with you, you just happen to not have taken the internet with a load of salt.

TimothyH

Riding lots of miles is not the same as training to get fast. We don't get faster by riding lots of miles but by doing specific workouts which train the body to go fast.

I'm 54 and started training December 2017. It was a written plan with specific workouts each day. There were days where I just wanted to ride but the training plan called for cadence work on rollers or hill repeats or some other less appealing type of riding. There were days when the plan called for x miles at y intensity but my legs said no. I trusted the plan, did the workout in spite of the discomfort and am very pleased going into the summer.

My average on moderate effort 40 mile solo rides easily went from the high 14's to the low 16's. I did a century at 18.4 MPH in April and rode 80 miles solo with 4000 ft elevation at 15.5 MPH last week.

You can get faster but you have to train for it. Riding lots of miles doesn't help us go faster.


-Tim-

San Pedro

No traffic lights would help get the average mph up.

BonkonFleet

I'd say those stats are better than 90% of the typical "average" rider.

exime

I had two electric cyclists pass me on a climb yesterday on our 100 mile paved bike trail. They were about 70+ and effortlessly gliding past me. Once we got up on the flats I jockeyed back up to a 90-100 cadence 20+mph for miles and torched them. It's all about motivation.

DrIsotope

Tell that to the literally hundreds of guys that are ahead of me on most Strava segment leaderboards. I sit in the top 25% of many segments (not including big climbs) but there are guys around here that do 18-20mph on rides with 100ft/mi climbing averages. I'm sorta "river trail fast," but nothing resembling actually fast.

Elvir

for the last several months, all my rides have been over 20-26mph. I average about 200 miles a week and about 13,000 feet of climbing. I used to spend one day riding hard and everything after has been average + "recovery rides". As of lately, my fitness has skyrocketed. The way I chose to train is simple. Ride hard every time. I typically leave 2 to 3 days of rest. I don't do recovery rides. I ride a lot with very fast people. I spend as much time as humanly possible up front. When I get tired, I fall back and then I go up front again. I do Crit races which typically peg my heart out to about 170bpm for hour and a half. That is the way I am able to sustain 50-60mile rides while averaging over 20mph. with 3-4000ft of elevation per ride. Unless you push, you wont grow, its that simple. Oh and the biggest thing that has helped with all this training is to train my core 2-3 times a week. It has transformed me.

TimothyH

I've see you ride with the junior team and Duracell. These rides are impressively fast.

I did one of them. Duracell was not there but the juniors rode hard and it my average was 24+ MPH. I did exactly what you say - ride as hard as I could, taking pulls and leading into the hills, backing off when needed and then going to the front again as soon as I recovered. I responded to every attack and bridged every gap. My legs were shaking after the ride and twitching the next day.

It was great.


-Tim-

Dudelsack 

When you die, make sure they put your average moving speed on your tombstone. My average non-moving speed is as good as anyone.

bruce19

I just chalk it up to the "cycling gene." I have the football/baseball gene. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to enjoy the ride.

Elvir

I assume you are talking about Durrell? Everybody calls him Duracell! LOL. I looked up to him for the longest time and then I got the courage to ride with him alone (He broke me the first time). He was my motivation to get better and continue getting stronger. It is amassing how many people ride fast-ish by being in a group but all they do is just sit in the back and tag a long. Then I see them riding solo and they cannot maintain any kind of reasonable speed.

shoota 

Seriously wrong? No. But that isn't very fast to be honest. When I was living in Tampa (flat) is was not uncommon for group rides to average 25mph, and my solo rides were always 19-21mph. So 16-18mph would have been a fairly chill ride. This is just an additional data point for you, factors will vary of course.

indyfabz

Let's see some touring photos.

raria

Sorry for the confusion, the average mph I posted was for non-touring (I guess that makes it even sadder). So its not my touring setup that is causing the slowness, it's just me.

But you inadvertently raise an interesting point. For my Touring bike (a Fuji Touring) I'm only 1 mph slower (if that) if I ride that bike unloaded compared to my CAAD 12.

raria

Thanks. So your age, how long you've been riding, how often/much you ride? If your some superhuman 25 year old then its not a fair comparison.

indyfabz

My request had nothing to do with average mph.

caloso

If you want to ride faster, you need to ride faster. Which is to say: interval training. You get faster by riding shorter, harder intervals; riding all out for 2 hours is a recipe for plateauing at a middling speed. Instead, ride at 20mph for 20 minutes, take a 5 minute break, and then ride at 20mph for 20 minutes again. (I just picked 20mph as a starting point, maybe it's 22, maybe it's 18; the point is to overstress the system for a set period, recover, and do it again) You have plenty of base, now is your opportunity to build some snap.

HTupolev

A few things to keep in mind:

1-A lot of people's performance numbers refer to group riding, and drafting makes a big difference, sometimes a few mph in a big cooperative paceline.
2-Selection bias is a thing on forums. People don't like posting unimpressive-sounding things as much as they like posting impressive-sounding things.
3-Some people's claimed performance numbers are just plain dubious, and it's not clear what they could possibly be referring to that would be reasonable. I've had people tell me before that they ride alone at 20 or 21 mph, and then when we're out riding on a wind-free day, they'll tell me that I'm going too fast for them when they're in my draft at 19mph on level ground.

Sometimes yes. Some people are just naturally better at cycling than others.

Unless you're a top rider competing in World Tour, there will always be some people who look crazy strong to you. People who are 70+ years old, who can average 20+mph on the flats for hours on end, and 15+mph through mountains, are not the norm.

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But, the big question is how you typically ride. Doing lots of miles at low intensity won't make you fast; it'll make you good at doing lots of miles at low intensity. If you want to get good at riding at high intensity, you'll need to exercise at high intensity. If you're currently mostly taking things at a relaxed pace then treating every ride like an all-out time-trial would help a lot, but if you want to get serious you should look into interval training and do short bursts of high intensity.

shoota 

I started riding six years ago, I'm 36 now. To be honest, I rode with several guys in their 50s that could flat punish anyone at any time. I think it's probably just a case of training for you. I wouldn't worry about it too much, if you're not racing or doing competitive group rides then really your only goal is to have fun right?

shoota 

+1

rumrunn6

these might help

Spoonrobot 

It's been pretty well covered but one other thing. Don't forget that lots of recreational cyclists are doping. Most often not specifically for cycling but the side effects are beneficial for such. I stopped going to some of the rides here after listening to "low-t" and aging clinic talk in the pacelines. Seeing multiple AARP members come back after a hard winter with a six pack and vascularity like an in competition body builder tends to sour me on a group ride.

Otherwise, I'm in the same boat as you OP. I ride a lot and do some racing but I'm not really fast since I don't train. I struggle mightily to break 16 miles per hour on a ride with 60ft/mile climbing when I'm by myself. Just how it goes, you wanna get fast you gotta train or have the genetics for it.