Well on my last ride in this year, I did it!

[therams]

I am not much of a poster on here, but I thought I would share this with you all.

On my last commute in this morning I finally managed to average over 15 mph, 15.4 in fact! I know that's not too quick, but its a goal I have had for a while. I have done lots of 14.8 and 14.9s but this morning I did it. My next goal is to get weight (or is it mass) down to 14.5 st, that might take a bit longer

Its only a 4 mile commute and I have been doing it since mid October, I think the few degrees rise in temp has help get that last bit of speed.

Anyway, lets see if I can break 15 on the 6 mile ride home! Will try to leave before it gets dark to give myself a chance.

Out of interest, what sorts of speeds do other people manage?

 

[trio25]

For me 15mph is a fast ride, I usually manage somewhere in the 13-14mph range unless I stick to flat road. When I visit the inlaws I normally manage 16mph as its flatter there. But I get the feeling I'm slow.

 

[summerdays]

Well below yours... my average is in single figures... I blame it entirely on the cycling with the children but that might not be entirely to blame. And that I can't do hills either.

 

[therams]

The commute is into Manchester and pretty flat, so that helps. Also if I do it before 8am their are very few people on the roads, especially before Christmas, which also helped.

I am going to try and get out for a longer ride over the hols, see how I get on over 20 miles...

 

[BentMikey]

Well done, that's a good pace for commuting!

 

[magnatom]

Well done. I don't think I could reach an average of 15mph on my commute. Too many traffic lights and junctions, honest!

 

[HLaB]

That's a good pace for commuting, well done. Ive only broken the 15mph average a couple of times on my commute. If you can manage a 15mph commute you'll easily manage a 20 mile + ride.

PS, my last commute was yesterday and I certainly didn't average 15mph.

 

[Young Un]

On usual road rides with quite a few hills I usually average 17 for 35 mile rides or 16.2 for 50+ rides.

I am now going to show off and say that if I were to commute to school I could do the route to school at 20 mph average and the return at 16.5. But then there is a massive hill which you can hit 35mph so that helps bring up the average alot as it is only a 6 mile commute. Unfotrunately on the way back you have to go back up the hill which is why the return leg takes longer.

Steve

 

[gbb]

I am not much of a poster on here, but I thought I would share this with you all.

On my last commute in this morning I finally managed to average over 15 mph, 15.4 in fact! I know that's not too quick, but its a goal I have had for a while. I have done lots of 14.8 and 14.9s but this morning I did it. My next goal is to get weight (or is it mass) down to 14.5 st, that might take a bit longer

Its only a 4 mile commute and I have been doing it since mid October, I think the few degrees rise in temp has help get that last bit of speed.

Anyway, lets see if I can break 15 on the 6 mile ride home! Will try to leave before it gets dark to give myself a chance.

Out of interest, what sorts of speeds do other people manage?

Commuting, i wouldnt manage much more than 15 mph average. You're doing ok therams. Its winter, and you're right about the temps, i always struggle in the cold. Another factor is you hav'nt really had time to loosen up. I dont really get going until i've done 5 to 10 miles.
Not wishing to discourage you, it takes an awful lot of effort and mileage to up the average by one mph or two. Through the summer, i start out at say 15.5mph. At the end of the summer, and a lot of miles and effort, it 'only' gets up to about 18mph.
Age is the biggest factor for me. I find i can push and push, then the knees start to play up, and i've got to ease off

 

[therams]

I also caught all the lights on green this morning, so that helped. I can see what you mean about increasing the average getting harder though. This morning my max speed was only 19mph, so it does not take much to pull you down.

As you might have guessed I am a bit of a stats man, I have recently bought a Garmin Edge 205, so you can download your ride to the PC and analyse away. Its sad but I can tell you where I lose time on a 4 mile commute!

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

I typically average 12-13mph on my commute. But that can go as low as 11mph. In August-September, I was up around 14mph for a time but that's tailed back off as the Autum went on.

I suppose the average depends on a lot of factors: what you're riding, the ups and downs, how far you're going, traffic conditions and the weather.

For me, it's around 6-7miles each way depending on the route I use; little traffic and few lights to deal with, but I do have quite a stiff climb to start the morning followed by downhill all the way; on the way home of course it's uphill all the way with a nice whizzy drop back down the hill. So my ride to work is typically a bit faster than the journey home.

I also use a basic MTB for the commute so I guess there's a limiting factor there, although there's a fair bit of off-road on my route so maybe it's not such a problem using an MTB. I've just put the knobblies back on 'cos the slicks I've been using were starting to struggle in the woods which are rather muddy at the moment. I was expecting that to slow me down overall but it didn't make a huge difference, but then there wasn't much wind today which is the thing that REALLY affects me.

My averages were also noticeably slower when it was icy the other week .. for some reason.

PS. Congratulations on your achievement, by the way. I'm dead jealous.

 

[HLaB]

I know exactly where I lose time on my 3.2 miles commute its at the top of Dundas St after about 3 miles (5km) when I have to stop for red, lights that is

 

[therams]

Thanks for all the replies, while we are on stats, the average for the 220 miles I have ridden since I got the GPS is 13.8. So quite a bit slower than this morning.

I think it might be the pub for lunch, so the pint of Guinness and the curry may slow be down tonight.

 

[Crackle]

As you might have guessed I am a bit of a stats man, I have recently bought a Garmin Edge 205, so you can download your ride to the PC and analyse away. Its sad but I can tell you where I lose time on a 4 mile commute!

I know where you're coming from.

Well done, it's a good pace. When summer comes you'll be flying.

 

[jimboalee]

Therams, you have made my year.

Several weeks ago I demonstrated a 'beginner' cyclist should be able to average 15 mph on a flat course with bugger all traffic to stop him.

Well done, your'e on target. Hmmm.. Maybe quite a bit above if you've only got 220 miles on the clock.