Jtmav

Thanks for all the answers about stopping. I realize we are all different both age spreads, fitness levels and a bunch of other things. I am amazed sometime when I see some of you averaging 20+ mph on fairly long rides. Personally on my 25-30 mile rides, on a MUP, I barely get to 15mph and many days less than that. So chime in if you want and let us know whether I’m looking at your back or are you looking at mine?
Thanks
JTMav

andrewclaus

Over the years I've seen my average speed drop from over 15 mph to under 15 mph. That's not much considering I'm talking about 50 years of cycling. I was never fast to start with, that was never my aim. I'm more into enjoyable, healthy, affordable transportation. My bike has a rear rack. I almost always attach a pack with my lunch, a jacket, and a lock, and usually stop to run an errand like buying some groceries on the way home. I cycle with friends and family who have the same mindset and average speed. We seldom ride in a paceline unless wind is a major factor.

Climbing is a different story. I live right against the foothills of the Rockies and I love climbing. I'm very experienced at it (effective resting is part of that, as are nutrition and hydration), and pretty strong for my age. I can keep up with and often pass those who are several decades younger. Other graybeards that can pass me in the flats can't keep up on the climbs. The youngest and strongest men and women blow right by me with my cheers and encouragement. One of them, after I told him I wished I could still do that, slowed down for a minute and said, "But you are." That made my day. I enjoy friendly competition as well as encouragement and cooperation.

Wildwood 

I’m as fast as I need to be.

….and stop when I decide to.

Carbonfiberboy 

"Fast" is less interesting than far or stops because it's so greatly influenced by ride goals, elevation gain, traffic, and associated lights and delays. The fastest ride you ever did? Your usual recovery ride pace? It's quite meaningless. There have been quite a few "speed" threads here over the years. In fact, "your usual recovery ride pace and cadence on the flat" might be an interesting topic.

BobbyG

I average 13.5, once in a while 14.5...but that's it.

Gonzo Bob

Between 13 and 18 mph. Heavily dependent on how much MUP I have in the ride (generally, the more MUP, the slower the average), the weather, and if I'm including any hard efforts in the ride.

davester

Seldom over 15 mph. I think most answers to this question are going to be fairly pointless since average speed depends almost entirely on the amount of, and steepness of, climbing and the total ride distance.

wolfchild

Speed is not a measure of fitness, don't stress yourself about speed numbers.

OldRailfan

There are a few other things in play e.g. if half the ride is with headwind the slow down will be greater than the speed up on the return.
Same goes for hilly rides the slow climbs won't be made up on the very fast descents; even if one hits 55 - 60 km/h.
The reason is clear on the elevation graph.




My yard stick is the 51K Rail Trail ride; keeping that in the 23 -24 km/h average.
With tailwind on the paved Wood Lake section max speed can hit 40 km/h on a hard tail MTB

GhostRider62

Not sure the average but this about half a years worth of what I have saved in terms of speed.

leob1

A friend of mine asked me how fast I go, I was uncomfortable answering. How fast, or slow, I go has no bearing on how fast he goes. I'm just glad he's out there doing something.
And the same goes for the OP and everybody else. Go as fast as you want or as slow as you need, but just go.

Enjoy The Ride.

OldRailfan

Here's my question on the term MUP, what is the usual surface on those? Paved, gravel, crusher fines or all of those in different sections??
And the next question would be what type of bike? I know that I roll faster on my Nishiki "Comp" road bike than on my mountain bike(s) on the same stretch of road i.e.18.2 mph vs 15 mph

BUT what I pay attention to are the intensity zones on my Garmin Vivoactive HR.



Z3 - Z5 tell the story,
Being in the red means good effort.

downtube42

Saturday I rode 146 miles. It took almost 14 hours, so that's technically slow AF. At the other end of the distance spectrum, when I race CX, my goal is to be not last in the 60-64 age group. Also technically slow AF.

A couple decades ago, an older friend of mine literally hung up his cleats when he couldn't hang with the A group any more. I guess his ego couldn't take it. Not me; I just love riding my bike.

Gonzo Bob

Those are my road bike speeds. MTB is about 1mph slower and even more if I include singletrack. The vast majority of the MUP I ride is paved. There are some crushed limestone trails near me but most of those are inside parks and aren't all that long. The two main reasons my MUP riding is generally slower are safety and comfort. The "scenic" MUPs (through the woods and away from streets/cars) have a lot of curves and limited visibility, and some days have a lot of other users (like today when it was in the upper 70s). On today's ride, I slowed to ~5mph at more than one point to safely pass other users. The "boring" MUPs are along streets and raillines and although visibility is good, the surface is usually not - lots of bumps, ridges, cracks, and of course sidewalk ramps at street crossings. If those were my only choice for riding, I would put front shocks on my road bike. And some days (like today), there are a lot of other users on those. Today's 19-mile ride was about a 50/50 a mix of MUP and streets and I don't think any section was longer than 2 miles. I treated is as an interval workout . I averaged 16.4.

canklecat

My peak since resuming cycling in 2015 was 2019-early 2020. I was averaging 20 mph over the real workout part of my rides, although I take slow warmups and cooldowns that drag down my overall average to 17. Helps minimize soreness and injury, though.

But I've gotten a bit slower the past year or so, around 18 mph tops for the fastest hour or so, and overall about 15 mph. Not sure why, just don't have the same energy now. I've been walking and jogging more this year.

I suspect part of the speed difference is due to getting aero... or not. Neck pain from old injuries has bothered me more the past year, so I sit up straighter. That really cuts back the speed. I'm not in the drops, or on the hoods with forearms level with the ground, like I was a couple of years ago.

BlazingPedals

I normally let the group set the pace. That seems to average in the high 18 mph range. But then I have fast bents. On my hybrid I'm more like 13-14 mph.

jwalther

You can't compare average speed without taking elevation (and wind if you're talking about a single ride) into account.

CAT7RDR

My average speed is trending down out of extreme caution from a recent crash.
I love climbing, once avoided it. I cannot afford another crash on a descent and have kept my speed under 30 mph.

ofajen

Yeah, speeds vary due to so many factors.

The effective front surface area of the bike and rider (how “aero” you are) and the rider’s applied power will be major factors.

Rolling efficiency of the tires and roughness of the surface may also be significant.

But on a MUP, there could also be a lot of instances that require slowing down and then accelerating when going past cyclists and pedestrians. These will affect average speed, too.

And of course, if one rides solo, that’s different from riding in a group where there is aerodynamic help from drafting other riders.

Otto

Biker395 

Yep. Too many variables to really care about speed. Grades, wind, road surface, and just how you are feeling that day. The only time it is relevant to me is if I am in some kind of race, and even then, the issue is how fast you are relative to your competition.

Artmo 

The older I get, the faster I was, to quote someone else.

BJack312

This is so true!

I don't show the current or average speed on my Wahoo while riding. If I'm trying to maintain some arbitrary speed, I'm not doing what I set out to do and that is enjoy the ride.

Cougrrcj

It is flat here where I live. The biggest hills on my 12.5-mile each way commute are highway/railroad overpasses. I ride that 12.5 miles in 42-45 minutes, door-to-door. That makes for an average speed of ~16-18mph, including the time spent at traffic lights where my speed is zero. My normal riding speed is closer to 19-20mph. If on a longer ride of 30 miles or more, I gear it down a bit and still maintain the same cadence for a 16-17 mph riding speed. My solo-ride 100-mile average riding speed is 15-16mph.

I don't use any GPS app or cycle-mounted speed sensor - I use rural roadside mileposts and my watch. 3:00 for one mile is 20mph, 3:10 is ~19mph, 3:20 is 18mph 3:30 is 17.1mph, 3:40 is 16.3mph. My 'goal' is to do my commute at faster than 18mph for the first nine miles (3:20/mi pace), then slow down to (3:40/mi pace) to cool-down for the rest of the ride...

Flip Flop Rider

ride pretty slow and stop as needed

big john

I have no idea of my averages. I never thought to check when I used speedometers. I have not used one since 2001, except on short tours. Sometimes on a group ride someone will remark about the average speed. I have no frame of reference so I'm never surprised.

I know I've done well over 200K miles on road bikes and over 2000 club rides this millennium.