Tips for increasing my speed

[cambsno]

What is 'fast'?

I only started road biking last year. 5ft8 and 15 stone so not exactly slim! I tend to average 15-16mph if 'going quick' on the local busway over 6-12 miles. If out for a longer one (20-50 miles) it tends to be more like 13 or 13.5, occasionally 14.

Yes, I would love to go faster but it hurts! Does it mayor about being a mile or two per hour quicker?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Fast is averaging over 20 mph over many hours.

 

[CXRAndy]

Fast is averaging over 20 mph over many hours.

Our senior club run used to do 18-19mph over 60miles. It was a task for me to stay with them.

Now a few youngsters have matured and the average is nearly 21mph for 60 miles.

I'm relegated to tier 2 or 3 for rides now

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Our senior club run used to do 18-19mph over 60miles. It was a task for me to stay with them.

Now a few youngsters have matured and the average is nearly 21mph for 60 miles.

I'm relegated to tier 2 or 3 for rides now

Yep there’s some fast youngsters out there. Okay keeping up on flat but as soon as it climbs…

 

[HLaB]

Hello.

Just a year or so ago I was markedly and reliably faster on road cycling routes where I live.
My average speed was usually 16.5, 17, and 18 mph over 20, 30, 40+ mile rides.
I have had two operations in the past 18 months with a month or two out of action.

I need to lose a little weight, but not alot, and i'm over 50 but I really wan't to try and get my speed up.
I do about 100 miles a week, all year round, commuting and a longer ride at weekends, with a few lumps.
My bike is light enough, 8.5-9KG.
I have been using a turbo trainer in winter with Zwift and so of the workouts are pretty good.
I have a speedo/gps on the bars.

I get quite a bit of pain in my legs if I push too hard, so I tend to stay under the pain threshold as much as possible.

I need to figure out a plan of action to try and get some more pace.

Ideas and advice welcome.

PS, I currently just about manage 15 mph average most of the time

Without getting personal about your operations they will likely be what has affected you and it will take time to come back. Following a structured interval training program may help. A good structured program will stress that you need a period of rest to adapt/recover from the interval sessions. Similarly, if you are too worn out from your existing activities you'll find it hard to actually get faster. I follow TrainerRoad's structured plans, I believe Zwift has got something too or if you are really series about getting faster perhaps you need to hire a coach. Also if you haven't done so you may get faster to a degree by just take a break from your existing activities for a couple of days.

 

[Sharky]

Fast is averaging over 20 mph over many hours.

My first 100 mile TT (and also my last), I finished with a time of 5 hours and 10 seconds. I was so disappointed not to dip inside 5hrs.

So I can't call myself "fast" then.

 

[gmw492]

I used to get a bit obsessed with trying to go faster and increase my average speed, it started to make my rides depressing as I kept watching data, I took off average speed field data on my computer and just found when I felt good my cadence and tempo was enjoyable to the point that I never wanted to exert myself, yes when I came home and seen my speed it was still ok but much more I felt better rather than slightly feeling down, I just realised that others are all at different levels and I stopped beating myself up over it

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

The OP needs to stop obsessing about speed and just enjoy the ride instead. It's not a statistics competition. They are bound to be a bit slower, given they are a year and a half older, and have lost some fitness from being out of action. They will probably recover some of it over time, but I doubt they will get all the speed back.
Why worry about it anyway? For me to average 15 mph I would have to be riding one of my drop bar bikes,on a nice flat route on a nice moderately cool and calm day, and I would not keep that average up for more than 10 miles. If I ride 30 or 40 miles in a day my average won't be more than about 12 mph even on drop bars. On a flat bar bike, it won't be over 11 mph. I'm the wrong side of 50 and I don't care about not being fast. I'm still fitter and less overweight than the vast majority of other people I know around my age. It's all relative. I'm fitter than some people, other people are fitter than me. So what? I'm at a certain level and I live with it. The important thing is I enjoy my rides.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

My first 100 mile TT (and also my last), I finished with a time of 5 hours and 10 seconds. I was so disappointed not to dip inside 5hrs.

So I can't call myself "fast" then.

Thats a respectable time for a hundred miles, I've never time trialed, I did do the spring reliability trials when I was younger, 7 - 7.5 hours for the 100 in 8hours.

 

[nickyboy]

The OP needs to stop obsessing about speed and just enjoy the ride instead. It's not a statistics competition. They are bound to be a bit slower, given they are a year and a half older, and have lost some fitness from being out of action. They will probably recover some of it over time, but I doubt they will get all the speed back.
Why worry about it anyway? For me to average 15 mph I would have to be riding one of my drop bar bikes,on a nice flat route on a nice moderately cool and calm day, and I would not keep that average up for more than 10 miles. If I ride 30 or 40 miles in a day my average won't be more than about 12 mph even on drop bars. On a flat bar bike, it won't be over 11 mph. I'm the wrong side of 50 and I don't care about not being fast. I'm still fitter and less overweight than the vast majority of other people I know around my age. It's all relative. I'm fitter than some people, other people are fitter than me. So what? I'm at a certain level and I live with it. The important thing is I enjoy my rides.

I guessed there would be a post.like this.

Different people ride bikes for different reasons. What one person enjoys about riding a bike may be inconsequential to another and vice versa. The OP gets enjoyment from going faster. Some get enjoyment from sitting up and watching the countryside slide by. Whose to say which is more valid?

So perhaps instead of telling the OP to stop focusing on speed maybe we should be trying to help him enjoy his rides more by suggesting intervals, structured training etc?

 

[Sharky]

Thats a respectable time for a hundred miles, I've never time trialed, I did do the spring reliability trials when I was younger, 7 - 7.5 hours for the 100 in 8hours.

It was a long time ago, but if I could have ridden each mile 1/10th of a second quicker, I would have achieved the 20mph target.
Still riding TT's, but now struggling to achieve 20mph for a mere 10 miles.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

It was a long time ago, but if I could have ridden each mile 1/10th of a second quicker, I would have achieved the 20mph target.
Still riding TT's, but now struggling to achieve 20mph for a mere 10 miles.

Yes, but how old are you?

 

[bikingdad90]

It is that time of the year, it’s cold, wet and windy so your average speed will be down. Your average will increase over the summer as the days improve and then dip again as you move into autumn and winter. Also if your commuting then the traffic flow plays a big part. Start/stop and cycling with the traffic speed on the day plays a part in your averages. There is one road I travel down and it can take me 53 seconds to 5mins depending on traffic flow!

I improved by speed by downgrading to 8 speed and moving to a rim braked road bike so can’t comment on ways to increase average speed too much but it’s how I did it. Ha ha.

 

[Sharky]

Yes, but how old are you?

Still a youngster at 71

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Still a youngster at 71

A smidge older than me, I'll be 70 in 6 months, it sounds like you're going well.

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