how to improve my average speed

[mikey199090]

hi all,

I'm new on here and after a little bit of advice from the experts lol

I have been cycling for over a year now, I had a Carrera TDF road pro as my first bike and I have recently upgraded to a Ribble Gran Fondo, brilliant bike and never let me down (just yet) lol

my question is, I've been out on a couple of big rides (30 miles+) including tonight, and I cant seem to get my average speed up over long distance, in my morning commute, which is 2.5 miles I am averaging 16.9mph, on my long rides I'm averaging 15mph, Is there any way of improving on this? or is it just a case of just keep going and the results will come over time.

any tips will be great I'm all ears!

 

[Citius]

Speed improves with fitness. Just keep riding.

 

[ianrauk]

wot he said above...^^^

 

[uclown2002]

Increase your mileage and your fitness will reflect that.
If you are overweight then lose some pounds.

 

[mikey199090]

I did an extra 4 miles than I would do on my long ride tonight, trying to get my fitness up

 

[uclown2002]

What do you consider a long ride?

 

[Crandoggler]

That's not a bad speed mate. It also depends on what kind of hills you have to tackle.

Just keep riding! And when you feel like you should be pushing harder. Then push harder!

 

[mikey199090]

my longest ride I have done is 34 mile which was tonight, I want to push more once my fitness gets better

thanks Crandoggler, I climb 1700ft in total tonight.

 

[Crandoggler]

Well that's roughly what I did today, with an average speed of 15.9mph. Now, I know exactly what it was like getting up those bastard hills, so I'm fairly happy with that speed... And you should be too!

Obviously if you're riding in a group, it's a different story.

 

[vickster]

Go out in the middle of the night when there's little traffic and you can jump red lights only way I'd get those sort of averages around here!

 

[blazed]

You can 'just keep riding' and make slow gains, or you can follow a proper routine, and make faster gains.

If you want to go faster you have to push yourself harder. Miles are irrelevant focus on INTENSITY.

 

[50000tears]

Just get out as often as you can. Just stick with it and try to build up to do more and more miles each week. 1700ft over 30 miles is pretty flat so you will definitely see your speed go up as fitness improves.

You can be cycling regularly for at least 5 years before you reach a peak of fitness so don't worry as there is plenty of improvement to come yet.

 

[totallyfixed]

hi all,

I'm new on here and after a little bit of advice from the experts lol

I have been cycling for over a year now, I had a Carrera TDF road pro as my first bike and I have recently upgraded to a Ribble Gran Fondo, brilliant bike and never let me down (just yet) lol

my question is, I've been out on a couple of big rides (30 miles+) including tonight, and I cant seem to get my average speed up over long distance, in my morning commute, which is 2.5 miles I am averaging 16.9mph, on my long rides I'm averaging 15mph, Is there any way of improving on this? or is it just a case of just keep going and the results will come over time.

any tips will be great I'm all ears!

You are creating your own problems right there, pushing hard on a short commute, presumably having not warmed up first. Your longer rides really ought to have a higher ave speed up to the point where fatigue kicks in, which of course is dictated by your fitness. In a nutshell do not push hard over short distances unless you do a warm up and a warm down, if not you are actually damaging your muscle fibres.

 

[Crandoggler]

I'd say an average speed of 16.9 over 2.5 miles is most definitely not pushing hard. I respect what you're saying and take heed with correct warm up procedures etc. But if he's only losing 1.9mph over a further 31.5 miles, with differing terrain, I'd say his effort was almost mimicked on both rides. If he had said he has an average of 24mph over the commute, I'd agree. But as it stands, his commute looks more of a warm up than a proper warm up does.

 

[Onyer]

Don't be obsessed by a high average speed. Enjoy the ride, listen to the birds, watch things happening around you, stop and look at the view. Seems to me that the whole world is in too much of a rush. BTW my average over 39 miles and 2,100 ft of climbing was 15.2. Am I bovvered?