Speed & distance

[macp]

Thanks all for the comments. There are two or three short upward inclines and two or three longer gradual inclines.Rest of it flat

 

[vickster]

Sounds fine then. Why not fit a rack to the bike, lose the rucksack, sweaty back and potential associated risk in a fall

 

[steveindenmark]

It also depends if you are fit to fight at the end or fall on the floor like a sack of spuds.

 

[EnPassant]

I wondered about this a lot when I got back on a bike. Then read here, where a lot say "Who cares anyway?" Which is entirely valid in my view.
The only reason I paid it any attention was I had a desire to try a club ride and a lot of clubs differentiate their different groups on speed, so despite the fact it's probably ultimately pretty unimportant, if you want to know whether you are fit enough to ride with a group it still seems to be the standard measure. To be fair, it's hard to think of a simple alternative.

Part of the trouble is there are so many variables. Wind, traffic and traffic lights are those that I found make the most difference. Road surface makes a surprising difference for me as well, maybe less to those who don't mind powering over manhole covers and generally uneven surfaces. So even on a given route I can vary by probably 5mph on any given day due to these factors before you even consider how energetic you were feeling.

Unless it's a hilly route, weight isn't as big a factor as you might imagine for us mortals. The basic premise is on the flat it's power and on a hill power to weight, thus on a hill you want the lightest combination of rider and bike and on the flat the most aerodynamic.

8 months ago my average was about 12mph on local roads, now it's more like 14, but even that isn't inordinately useful because it can vary wildly on a daily basis. On some smooth flat I can do (as @Globalti suggests above) 20mph for quite a while, on some shoddily surfaced road into the wind and stopping at some lights along the way it might be 9mph.... And up hills? Depends on my best walking speed :P

17.5 over 7 miles without any other information, is as stated above, pretty quick I'd have thought.

 

[S-Express]

17.5 over 7 miles without any other information, is as stated above, pretty quick I'd have thought.

Depends what standard you are measuring it by. Which is why I said it is faster than some, but slower than others. You can't just say 'it's pretty quick', as it clarifies nothing and simply blows smoke up the OP's backside, who then gets disheartened next time he goes out on that route and when he's passed by someone who is riding it 5mph quicker.

 

[EnPassant]

I get disheartened by people quoting something I (or indeed others) have said in isolation (that comment is qualified twice and follows other paragraphs) and defending their stated position as if I had attacked it. YMMV.

 

[Globalti]

My son, my cycling buddy and I go out every Wednesday night and ride 17 to 21 miles around the town of Clitheroe, the 17 mile route includes 810 feet of climbing. We can do that at around 17.2 mph. Two of us are over 60 and one under 18 so I'd say 17mph for an amateur riding solo is a respectable speed without getting into specific race training.

 

[S-Express]

I get disheartened by people quoting something I (or indeed others) have said in isolation (that comment is qualified twice and follows other paragraphs) and defending their stated position as if I had attacked it. YMMV.

I quoted your final sentence (which I quoted in isolation, because it was a stand-alone sentence), which I assumed was a summary of your post. So it is 'pretty quick' or not?

 

[EnPassant]

I quoted your final sentence (which I quoted in isolation, because it was a stand-alone sentence), which I assumed was a summary of your post. So it is 'pretty quick' or not?

Nah, I'd have put TLDR then.
And it does say 'I'd have thought' thus it's an opinion not a proclamation.

 

[ayceejay]

My impression of your speed has improved since I first read it as 7 miles in 24 hours.

 

[classic33]

Comes down to the only person you're competing against is yourself.

 

[macp]

Again thanks all to be honest most of the time I ride for the enjoyment and I like that it keeps me in good shape. Sometimes though I like to go for it and get an idea of what sort of level Im at. But as has been pointed out my question was submitted without much thought to external factors such as hills, wind etc.

Enpassant touched on something which thinking about it partly drove the question with regard to club rides. I would like to get involved but im always concerned I wont be able to keep up the pace. I guess the answer is if I dont do it I will never know.

 

[HLaB]

Its probably been said but the terrain and position have massive influences. On hilly tt course I averaged 22.5 mph and on a flat course a few weeks later 23.7mph on a flatter course. Which is relatively slow folks were a averaging near 30mph. On a road bike in a less aggressive/aero position I'll average around 18-21mph but there's no sustained climbing here.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

@classic33 sums it up for me. Every single average speed that you ever note is very, very good if it's better than an earlier one. That's all there is to this. The former you is always your best yardstick.

Your average is much quicker than many of my rides by the way. Although the variables are many!

 

[cyberknight]

Pretty good , dont get hung up to much on speed at least for commuting , inward bound last night i avg18 .8 and coming home for the same route after a night shift it was 15 .3 ,