Real world average

[PpPete]

Can I be Mr Sensible for a moment please?

I've been commuting 4 months, average (as shown on computer, so not including stops at traffic lights etc) started at 12mph and I worked up to 15mph after 2 months.

Then I got knocked off. It wasn't my fault, the car ran into me from the side, but having sat and analysed the incident I have to be honest with myself and admit that had I been concentrating more on looking around me and less on getting my average speed up I may have been able to avoid it.

My average is now at about 13mph - I'm still working on increasing that, but only by increasing my speed on the bits of my route where there's very few potential conflict points. I'm riding slower on the sections that I consider to be riskier.

Depends on your route of course, but I've come to the conclusion that my 13 mile commute from one side of Nottingham to the other isn't the place to try and set personal bests - I'll leave that for the weekend leisure rides on relatively safe roads.

Sorry if that's a bit boring, but my next bike ride, later this morning, will be to see an orthopaedic surgeon to see what (if any) the long-term effects of being knocked off will be

Good point !
I always recall the first speedo I got, back in the 70s, big mechanical dial on handlebars..... 21 ..... 22.... 23.... 24.... wahey 25 mph !
Then CRASH - straight into back of parked car !

These days I don't worry about mph at all ...... kph now is a different matter !

 

[cloggsy]

Interesting interesting interesting - it varies so much. But I'm still toward the slower end - must try harder!

To the last poster, how do you know your average speed per mile? I enjoy over analysing things, so that appeals massively!

Cyclemeter app for a smartphone records your split/mile/lap times.

What he said

 

[ColinJ]

Good point !
I always recall the first speedo I got, back in the 70s, big mechanical dial on handlebars..... 21 ..... 22.... 23.... 24.... wahey 25 mph !
Then CRASH - straight into back of parked car !

Or in my case, down the Rossendale Road hill on the outskirts of Burnley in the late 80s, small bike computer on handlebars. I pedalled up to spinning out in 52/13 and then dropped into a good aero tuck ... 40 ... 45 ... 50 ... 51 ... 52 ... 53 ... 54 ... wahey 55 mph - could I reach 60? ... 56 ...

I looked up and saw a raised manhole cover about 6 inches in front of me, no chance to avoid it, slammed into it and the bike launched into the air, landed, bounced back into the air, and slewed across the road towards oncoming traffic, but I was still on it and upright.

I swerved back across the road, regained control and slowed down to about 10 mph at the bottom of the hill but I was shaking so much that I could hardly ride the bike!

How I didn't crash, I'll never know. Somehow, I hadn't punctured or buckled a wheel either!

 

[HLaB]

Or in my case, down the Rossendale Road hill on the outskirts of Burnley in the late 80s, small bike computer on handlebars. I pedalled up to spinning out in 52/13 and then dropped into a good aero tuck ... 40 ... 45 ... 50 ... 51 ... 52 ... 53 ... 54 ... wahey 55 mph - could I reach 60? ... 56 ...

I looked up and saw a raised manhole cover about 6 inches in front of me, no chance to avoid it, slammed into it and the bike launched into the air, landed, bounced back into the air, and slewed across the road towards oncoming traffic, but I was still on it and upright.

I swerved back across the road, regained control and slowed down to about 10 mph at the bottom of the hill but I was shaking so much that I could hardly ride the bike!

How I didn't crash, I'll never know. Somehow, I hadn't punctured or buckled a wheel either!

Yikes, I chicken out before I get there, buck, buck, buck

 

[ColinJ]

Yikes, I chicken out before I get there, buck, buck, buck

It was quite some time before I dared to do 50 mph again! I'm not sure that I've ever beaten that 56 mph and don't really have any ambition to either, but there are hills round here where I hit 50 mph quite easily, and would otherwise be braking all the way down.

I normally sit up a bit now if I feel that I'm going too fast, especially if there are crosswinds, sheep wandering about, or the road surface is poor. I also don't look at my GPS for any longer than necessary and make sure that I keep my wits about me at all times.

 

[Norm]

I had a 9.6 mile commute, no traffic lights, a couple of roundabouts and about 2 miles of cycle path / bridal path and I'd generally do it in about 42 minutes with a best of just under 35 (which left me unable to walk for about 10 minutes but at least I was home and nominally in charge of the kids).

The job before was about 9 miles, and I once managed that in under 30 minutes but that was generally 35-36.

I usually have a real average of about 15mph but, when commuting in to work, I've found that taking an extra 5 minutes on the ride leaves my unsweaty enough to save about 15 minutes of washing and changing.

 

[scouserinlondon]

This thread got me wondering about average speed. I'm a very cautious cyclist in London and quite often hang back in traffic and will hold off giving it beans in busy situations. With cyclemeter set up without stop detection in place I average about 12 mph and my commute lasts about 30 mins. Today I gave the stop detection a try and amazingly my average speed was nearer 16mph, and I spent 8 chuffing minutes stopped at lights, junctions and traffic.

 

[totallyfixed]

I'm struggling to see the point of averages in a heavy traffic plus lights environment, if it's a way of monitoring traffic levels I can understand that but from a fitness or outright speed view there has to be a fair bit of risk taking involved. Even on a long rural ride with nothing to slow me I only draw comparisons in similar weather conditions. BTW I had never heard of a rolling average until relatively recently. When exactly does the computer start measuring again? As soon as you start moving? I was under the impression that all bike computers stop calculating average speed when you stop moving, certainly all my Sigmas have done so.

 

[scouserinlondon]

I'm struggling to see the point of averages in a heavy traffic plus lights environment, if it's a way of monitoring traffic levels I can understand that but from a fitness or outright speed view there has to be a fair bit of risk taking involved. Even on a long rural ride with nothing to slow me I only draw comparisons in similar weather conditions. BTW I had never heard of a rolling average until relatively recently. When exactly does the computer start measuring again? As soon as you start moving? I was under the impression that all bike computers stop calculating average speed when you stop moving, certainly all my Sigmas have done so.

I have only used the cyclemeter app for Iphone. The default setting is for the timer to simply keep running until you stop it and averages to be calculated based on that. The stop detection setting is based on GPS tracking (I think) so probably pretty inaccurate given the speed of the iphone GPS tracker.

Completely agree with you in relation to not timing oneself too religously on the commute; however I do quite like to know how many miles I've covered each year and the rough average. Also I do look at splits when I'm testing different routes to avoid roadblocks or just mix things up a bit. On my normal commute which is the most direct, I'm not quite as fast as when I stick to the bus lane/super highway for longer, but it isn't anywhere near as direct.

 

[Norm]

I'm struggling to see the point of averages in a heavy traffic plus lights environment...

I think it depends what you are doing with the info. There's only a couple of times in over a year of commuting that I tried to beat a time. As I posted, the time is what I watch, not the speed, so i have an idea whether I am going to be early or late when I set off.

The other thing is that taking an extra 5 minutes riding saved me three times that much in changing. Kicking back and riding in normal clothes is a much better approach to the morning commute, IMO.

 

[HLaB]

Just thinking about this thread I went for a bimble into town in plain trousers, etc and on the heavy town bike with wide tyres, there's a bit of climbing involved but without building up a sweat, staying in a low gear for me the moving average was 11.6mph and the real world average (including stops for lights, giveways etc.) subtracting the 30min stop was around 10.4mph. So I wasn't far off with my guess of 10-11mph which I would use to estimate a journey.
My old commute on an almost identical setup would be around 12.6mph (moving average) in north to central Edinburgh and took around 42-46min (9.5-10.5mph), (I love commuting by bike its so reliable time wise). If all went t1ts up I'd increase the average to over 15mph or take a more direct route and to the same OD journey 3 times, in the less time (12&1/2 mins up, 10mins down and 12&1/2 mins back to the pub ).

 

[addictfreak]

I ain't been out too much lately and have been over endulging over crimbo. To top it off im quite busy at the moment so getting out is a little hard, but I made up my mind to squeeze in a 20 miler each day this week. Was nearly sick on monday! Better tuesday and today averaged 19mph over the 20 mile. Does'nt take long to get back up there.