Hi newbi needs help needed with avg speed

[Elmer Fudd]

And another welcome bud !

 

[BentMikey]

You could try riding significantly slower for most of the week, and then for one day a week do fartlek riding. First warm up, then pick something in the distance, and ride as hard as you can towards it (within the bounds of traffic law and safety), when you get there go back to riding slowly for 3-4 times the distance, and then pick another thing to sprint towards. When you've done that for a month you can try upping it to two days a week, separated by at least two days of slower riding.

Just doing distance will make you fit, but won't make you fast. You need intervals for that, and the above is essentially intervals.

 

[Dayvo]

Or lose some weight!
I did and I'm so much a bit quicker now (although it's the quality of the ride that counts .
And welcome here, and have fun - both here and on the road.

 

[urbanrider]

You could try riding significantly slower for most of the week, and then for one day a week do fartlek riding. First warm up, then pick something in the distance, and ride as hard as you can towards it (within the bounds of traffic law and safety), when you get there go back to riding slowly for 3-4 times the distance, and then pick another thing to sprint towards. When you've done that for a month you can try upping it to two days a week, separated by at least two days of slower riding.

Just doing distance will make you fit, but won't make you fast. You need intervals for that, and the above is essentially intervals.

Hi BentMikey
First off, what is fartlek riding ?
second, i like the interval training idea but what kind of times/distance should i be sprinting for, on the garmin 205 i have the ability to create a workout plan with alarms for time/distance and pac, my ride takes about 45/50 Min's depending on my pace

 

[urbanrider]

Or lose some weight!
I did and I'm so much a bit quicker now (although it's the quality of the ride that counts ).
And welcome here, and have fun - both here and on the road.

No problem with my weight mate, i'm about 5'9 and 12 stone not to bad me thinks

 

[BentMikey]

See the description mate, or google it.

 

[urbanrider]

See the description mate, or google it.

And now i know and for any newbi like me that didn't


What is fartlek?

Fartlek is the swedish term for speedplay. It is essentially when athletes train with intervals of vaying intensity, pace and recovery.

Most athletes train using fartlek techniques by working increasing the tempo of a workout for a short period then resting then repeating the exercise. For variation, athletes can utilise this technique on varying terrains by sprinting up short hills, resting by jogging the flats and using long strides for downhill sections.

 

[8-wheeler]

My current commute is 9 miles, and I'm doing it thru London traffic at in about 50 minutes. Not fast by any means, but I'm quite happy with that, and it takes almost exactly the same time by tube.

What I have found is a bit of careful route planning always helps. I've played around with Google Maps to plot 3 or 4 different routes, all of a similar length, but the cycle-friendliness of each route differs quite a bit which influences overall journey time. You just have to play around and find the route that give you the best "flow". Good luck!

 

[peejay78]

when i first started riding (more 'properly') my average was very similar, 13-14mph. i could go fast on the flat and the ride never felt really slow, but the average was quite low. every year i seem to add a bit on, to the extent that recently i rode to brighton from bow, 72 miles in total with some climbing, and averaged 17mph for the whole distance, it felt comfortable and quick. i can also now to ten flattish miles in about 27 minutes, but this makes me feel a little bit ill afterwards.

i think that the increase comes gradually as you get fitter and fitter, but it is hard to discern at the time. so patience, really, and mileage are the answer.

 

[elleigh]

My average speed over long trips is about 12mph and on shorter trips I rarely get above an average of 13mph. I am trying to increase my speed thought. I was advised to do 'ramps' or 'intervals' - cylce really hard for 10 mins and then normally for 5 then really hard for 10 mins and so on. Apparently this should challenge your normal fitness level, push your caridovascular fitness and make it easier to ride harder for longer.

To quote someone from somewhere else 'I hope this helps'

Good luck and carry on enjoying your ride!