What speed "should" i be riding at?

[Columbia]

Yes, 55 kgs and hes absolutely TINY!

Limerickman, have you heard about Kieron McMahon? He was a teammate of mine and Pauls, he was killed in a car crash this morning. I cant believe it, just yesterday I was in a team car watching him and Paul getting 1st (Paul) and 5th (McMahon) in the Johnny Drumm memorial, I was even talking to him afterwards, and now he gone, just like that .

I think cyclingireland.ie has more on it.

 

[limerickman]

Originally posted by Columbia
Yes, 55 kgs and hes absolutely TINY!

Limerickman, have you heard about Kieron McMahon? He was a teammate of mine and Pauls, he was killed in a car crash this morning. I cant believe it, just yesterday I was in a team car watching him and Paul getting 1st (Paul) and 5th (McMahon) in the Johnny Drumm memorial, I was even talking to him afterwards, and now he gone, just like that .

I think cyclingireland.ie has more on it.

I'm shocked - in fact, stunned at this news.
Yes, I know Kierons name from the results pages.
And I was aware of the J.Drumm race down in Currow.

This is tragic news indeed.
Sorry for your loss.

(I'm not in touch with the Munster cycling scene - I am originally from Dublin - served my time with the Orwell Wheelers for my sins)

 

[starship]

Originally posted by Ratty
Dude,

Get a HR monitor, set it up correctly and ride according to your heart rate. 70% of your max is a good base building intensity. If you have a few guys to ride with, you will be able to ride faster while at the same average heart rate. Don't worry about your average speed. Look at it as a matter of interest rather than a benchmark.

70%? Wow, 70% of Max is like 119BPM. That's a Sunday cruse. My normal weekday rides are 80-90% (but not two in a row at that level)

AM I overdoing it? I just started, and average 50 miles a week, 10-15 per ride.

 

[Ratty]

Originally posted by starship
70%? Wow, 70% of Max is like 119BPM. That's a Sunday cruse. My normal weekday rides are 80-90% (but not two in a row at that level)

AM I overdoing it? I just started, and average 50 miles a week, 10-15 per ride.

There are times when you want to take it higher. To build a good base you should stay at around 70% (i.e. should be able to hold a conversation easily). I usually try and work on a minimum of a 6 week base period and then start the aerobic (upto 80%) and anaerobic (over 90%) intervals. (Obviously these are shorter, more intense workouts.)

Think of it as a pyramid. Without a good base, the thing will fall over. (i.e. width at any given point is representative of time spent in zone, while height denotes intensity of training.) Does this make sense?

The theory is therefore that the wider the base, the higher the pyramid can be built.

 

[frenk]

Originally posted by starship
70%? Wow, 70% of Max is like 119BPM. That's a Sunday cruse. My normal weekday rides are 80-90% (but not two in a row at that level)

AM I overdoing it? I just started, and average 50 miles a week, 10-15 per ride.

What I learned is that when you say 70% you don't mean 70% of your max heartrate, but 70% of the power at your aerobic thresold.
I give an example to make it clearer:
the result of this Conconi test says:

Power HR
[W] [bpm]
100 136
120 145
140 149
160 154
180 160
200 171
220 175
240 179 <-- aerobic thresold
260 183
... ...

So, the power at thresold hr is 240 Watt.
Now 70% of 240 is 168 watt, and looking at the table it's somewhere between 154 and 160 bpm.
I can be wrong, but when I'm building a base (usually winter) I stay near my 70%, and it feels like a good, quiet pace that I can hold for several hours.
When I'm fitter, and doing more serious training I sometimes do 30 minutes at 90% (in the example 216W -> between 171 and 175 bpm) and It's really hard!

The opinion of any expert on this subject would be really interesting!

 

[starship]

Originally posted by Ratty
There are times when you want to take it higher. To build a good base you should stay at around 70% (i.e. should be able to hold a conversation easily). I usually try and work on a minimum of a 6 week base period and then start the aerobic (upto 80%) and anaerobic (over 90%) intervals. (Obviously these are shorter, more intense workouts.)

Think of it as a pyramid. Without a good base, the thing will fall over. (i.e. width at any given point is representative of time spent in zone, while height denotes intensity of training.) Does this make sense?

The theory is therefore that the wider the base, the higher the pyramid can be built.

THANKS!
I am in week four, with a goal of 50 miles a week.

 

[RC2]

A confusing topic since hills, stops, etc. make this so subjective. There is one solo 90-120 minute flat ride that I do (little wind, a bike trail along the Rio Grande so no hills, no stopping) I average in the low 20's (if I remember right, starting out way back when that was mid- or high- teens). I use a HRM for gauging intensity, not the speedo, but maybe I'll get that up a MPH or two over time.

I can say this -- if you've never done a group ride, you'd be amazed at the difference riding behind/in a group can make on your speed.

 

[pcs_ronbo]

16-19 for me, depending on the day and the course. There are SO many variables on a ride, coming up with a variable is a tough call. I can hit 35mph easy.. down a hill, wind to my back, etc. But up a hill I'll be busting hump for 9mph.

So if the fat guy rides 9mph up a hill for 10minutes and 35mph down the hill for 32 seconds, what's the average?

Personally, I'm a data geek and LOVE the numbers, but I'm finding more and more it's about getting into a GROOVE that makes it FUN. You'll know it when you get it, and the numbers get in the way getting there.

So do what I do, get a HRM + Bike computer (polar 720i) and have it record the whole trip and play with the numbers when you get home and download it. During the ride, go for the groove!

 

[crees22]

I do a 10 mile ride in the evenings after work, I allways do the same circuit to see how im progressing in terms of time taken to complete. I average between 15-18 mph depending on the strengh and dirrection of the wind, and how healthy im feeling at the time. Even if I was a lot fitter and had stronger legs the avg speed wouldnt be much greater in my opinion, maybe 20mph avg max but that would be really really going for it. Anywhere between 14-16 mph avg is reasonable on longer journeys around my area ( Fairly flat with ocasional hills )

 

[alanmalan]

limerickman]I'm with you on this.[/color]

99.9% of the statistics that various posters put on these threads
are fabricated. They are liars !
Inflated numbers posted by people who imagine that they cycle
at certain velocities.

A good average cycling speed is anywhere between 14mph-
18mph over a consistent course.
Anyone claiming to be consistently cycling at higher than 18mph
throughout this entire site needs to be taken with a very large pinch of salt.
If you can cosnsitently hold this velocity over a distance of more than miles, you're starting to do good work.

I will qualify that by saying time trial speeds will hit between
20-30mph.
But for leisure/road cycling 14-18mph is a good speed.

The usual suspects also inflate their milage/distance claims.
A good cycling distance - where your body is actually getting real benefit is usually from 10miles, plus.
From 10 miles onwards, your body is really starting to work.

well i used to ride for 3 years i had a2 year pause. i lost my fitness im back now i ve been riding again for 7 months, and riding alone i can sustain base ride from 70 to 80 % of max bmp, around 30 klms per hour on a 3 klm circuit where u have strong winds , with heand winds i manage around 28 to 30 klm per hour tail winds up to 34. i havnt reached yet the level i had before. and i check my distance after riding 3 hours is usually 90 klm bit more bit less. so i think higher speed are normal.

 

[alanmalan]

I'm with you on this.

99.9% of the statistics that various posters put on these threads
are fabricated. They are liars !
Inflated numbers posted by people who imagine that they cycle
at certain velocities.

A good average cycling speed is anywhere between 14mph-
18mph over a consistent course.
Anyone claiming to be consistently cycling at higher than 18mph
throughout this entire site needs to be taken with a very large pinch of salt.
If you can cosnsitently hold this velocity over a distance of more than miles, you're starting to do good work.

I will qualify that by saying time trial speeds will hit between
20-30mph.
But for leisure/road cycling 14-18mph is a good speed.

The usual suspects also inflate their milage/distance claims.
A good cycling distance - where your body is actually getting real benefit is usually from 10miles, plus.
From 10 miles onwards, your body is really starting to work.

i had a 2 1/2 year pause after 3 years of continous riding. iv been riding for 7 months now. in aerobic base 70 to 80 % of max bmp , on a 3 klms circuit with strong winds i can ride at 28 to 30 klms per hour on the headwind side and 30 to 34 on tail wind side, on 3 hours ride on my own. after i ride i check my distance and its a bit less or a bit more than 90 klms so thats an average of 30 klms per hour. i think going faster than that is not that hard to achieve just need bit more trainin in 4 months from now i will go faster , i m not yet in the level of fitness i had before.

 

[PartisanRanger]

Average speed is a pretty stupid thing to be comparing anyway. Flat avgs are a bit more useful but hard to keep track of and still don't account for many variables. I think a lot of people lie about their cycling stats, though perhaps unintentionally. Whenever I guess-timate things like my flat avg speed on a ride I tend to exaggerate, though not consciously.

 

[Rockslayer]

In a race, faster than the riders in front of you!!

and what everyone else said,
averages don't mean much on their own.

 

[teamobile]

i would agree, 18 mph would be a average speed to be quite proud of, however my rule in town would be to ide at least as fast as traffic, use the white line as your lane , it gives you more room and time to react to the two great unknowns cars and people! keep riding fror pleasure and your legs and speed will grow without you even noticing it , all the best, teamobile, a returning keen cyclist

I'm a 23 year old guy whose just starting road biking and was just wondering what sort of speeds should i be achieving. I have been doing a ~11miles a day commuting (with a reasonable climb on the way back) for the last 6 months, and I normally manage a 20-30 mile ride on my road bike each week. Usually on my road bike I manage ~18mph average with some climbs and normally cruise around 20mph. Is this in the right range for a newbie? Whenever i ask other relatively non-serious road bikers they say they manage 23-25mph average!

Also what is the best way to improve my legs for cycling. Wailing on them at the gym, or just by riding my bike lots?

 

[dannyyy]

21-05.-2004, 09:52 AM

this is a reaaly old thread, buddy

 

[Jaguar27]

I average 14.4 to 16.5 on the same 20 mile ride, depending on whether I push hard or just ride it for excercise.

If I look at my speed I would swear I average more since I ride a lot of the flats at 18 to 19 mph.

I'm 51 and only have been seriously riding for about one year now.

I'm 51 next month and have been riding for around 3 1/2 years....

Last Thursday I did my usual 20 mile morning route, it is very flat and for some reason there was very little wind...I averaged 18.4 and for me that was really pushing it, in fact, that was a record for me!! I often saw 20mph+ on my speedo....up to 26mph on some descents...

I don't think I will ever break a 20mph average, well, it might be possible over maybe 5 miles with a tail wind...

 

[dougadam]

Do you have a heart rate monitor?