Originally Posted by
_ForceD_
I’ll turn 60 in just a couple of weeks. I’ve been riding road bikes since I was in my early 20s. These days I’m lucky to average 14-15mph on my usual 20-50 mile rides. Other than a hand full of triathlons/duathlons every year over the decades, and a mass start road race, or a TT a few times over the years...I’ve never been much of a racer. But just the other day I came upon proof that I once could ride at a pretty good clip. I was looking at my ‘trophy case’ and picked up the 3rd place trophy for a mass start race I participated in while I was in the Navy and stationed in Spain circa 1993. On the bottom I’d written my stats. For the 40k (24.8 miles) race I averaged 24.3mph. The race was actually on the Navy base so there weren’t a ton of riders. Hence no real groups to ride in. As I recall, myself and a friend rode most of the race wheel-to-wheel with no others around us. Sure wish I could achieve speeds like that today.
Dan
Ex-'R' brancher here. When I was in, I asked for Europe, so of course I got... Anchorage. It was nice but just not the same!
Anyway, back to bikes, I had a nice bike with me then, (late 70s) but it was just for kicking around town. Years later, I was a strong 'B' rider but couldn't keep up with the guys doing 20+ mph. It wasn't until I got into recumbents in the late 90s that I found any speed. Not too many years back I did a relay-type event, with my 45-mile split clocking in at 26.1 mph. I probably won't ever beat that.