Average speed on a road bike

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Sh4rkyBloke

Jaffa Cake monster
Location
Manchester, UK
Depends how far I'm going, wind speed/direction, gradients etc.

My Manc - Blackpool run last weekend was a shade shy of 17mph for the 60 miles of undulating roads.
 

Paulus

Started young, and still going.
Location
Barnet,
On a normal day I can average 15-18 mph. This is quite easy to achieve. If I am in a hurry on a open road it goes up to about 20mph.
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
I've done 19.6 mph on my commute, but a more common speed is around 17 or 18 mph, slower on the way home because of the route and the traffic. My Sunday ride (sans rucksack etc) tends to come in at between 17 and 19 mph for 30 miles, depending on how energetic I'm feeling.
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
Between 14 - 19 mph depending on mood, weather, traffic, wind, hills, rain, lightning or volcanic eruptions.
 
Paulus said:
On a normal day I can average 15-18 mph. This is quite easy to achieve. If I am in a hurry on a open road it goes up to about 20mph.
That's almost exactly what I averaged last night, for the first 19 miles into a strong wind, I averaged 15mph and on the way back with the wind behind me I averaged 18mph. It's wuite a hilly route but along one flat section I was averaging around 21 (19.5 at min, 23 at max).
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
comp says average moving of 15.7 but that's London commute with a million red lights

I get up to 20 pdq and stay there left to my own devices, maybe 25 if I try
 

asterix

Comrade Member
Location
Limoges or York
When I got my audax bike I averaged 27kph over 3000km. Max speed was 83kph down Holme Moss. (I was getting fit for the Raid Pyrenean)

Since I completed the RP and the battery on my computer went flat last year, I don't bother about speed or distance figures any more!
 

domtyler

Über Member
When I go out on a training ride that involves going about five miles to the edge of London, five miles out into Essex, turn round and come back, almost exactly twenty miles in total my average is always between 19 and 19.9 mph, very annoying that no matter how hard I try I have never been able to break through the 20mph average! :biggrin:

Fortunately I can do much better than that on a TT course where there are no traffic lights or junctions other than RABs, can get around 25mph average then.
 

Albert

Über Member
Location
Wales
My rides are all around my home in a hilly area of Wales. An typical ride takes in around 1000ft of climbing every 7 or 8 miles, with lots of 10% sections. My average speed over the last 1000 miles has been 11.7 mph.

I am 60 years old and had a heart attack (after a lifetime of smoking) 18 months ago and took up cycling in order to get fit after I left hospital. It has become a passion.
 

snapper_37

Barbara Woodhouse's Love Child
Location
Wolves
Albert said:
I am 60 years old and had a heart attack (after a lifetime of smoking) 18 months ago and took up cycling in order to get fit after I left hospital. It has become a passion.

Well done to you Albert. :biggrin::tongue:

My average is around 13 - 16 on a commute. That's if you class a technically hybrid bianchi as a road bike :smile: Around 18 - 20 on a spin out.
 

gavintc

Guru
Location
Southsea
My commute is now a pretty steady 20-22 mph on a 17 mile ride. I was pushing 18 mph when I started, but the legs have enjoyed the exercise.
 

Joe24

More serious cyclist than Bonj
Location
Nottingham
My average is normally about 18mph, can go up to mid/low 19's depending on the weather. On windy days wit strong head winds, high 17mph averages is what i normally get, sometimes low 18mph ones if i am feeling good.
Still trying to get it higher though.:smile:
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
Absolutely nothing, nothing like the averages of other people here. I don't have a roadbike I have a hybrid. I've been cycling more seriously for 3 years (with a season out in there) and have yet to achieve these average speeds that other people claim is normal within a few weeks or months. Hills have improved, speeds on the flats (where available) haven't improved one iota over distances.

On the other hand I don't use a computer, I measure pure crude average speed which is different to some of the computers, but that'd only make a diff of perhaps 1mph.
 
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