Why is my average speed so low?

[phil-b]

Relative average speed on a circuit is what I use to judge how I'm doing (relative to me) but even then, wind direction can be a pretty large modifier on that for a flat ride.

Apart from that, just adding miles will help improve fitness which should (at least initially) translate to speed.

the "(relative to me)" part is the key phase here.

 

[cyberknight]

Does the weight of you might bike a big difference to up your average speed?

Not as much as you think , my rigid MTB with slicks can trundle along on the flat at around 18 -19 mph ,over my 10 mile commute im maybe 2 minutes slower than my road bike but its certainly harder work but most of that could be down to a less aero position (?)

 

[moo]

Aero is king upto around 6% gradient.

The difference between a large rider upright on the hoods and a small slippery rider with a slammed stem in the drops is huge. The large rider may be putting out significantly more power, but the smaller aero rider is going to be faster.

 

[Sharky]

Aero is king upto around 6% gradient.

The difference between a large rider upright on the hoods and a small slippery rider with a slammed stem in the drops is huge. The large rider may be putting out significantly more power, but the smaller aero rider is going to be faster.

+1

I find my SS with a 68" freewheel, but with clip on aero bars, is about 1 mph faster than my gears bike without clip on's, over the same hilly loop.

 

[Doyleyburger]

Do hills affect your average speed

Er yeah

I also live in your area and am well aware how hilly it is.
Don't get hung about about average speed, it doesn't mean sod all at the moment as there are way too many variables this time of year what with the wind and rain and dodgy road surfaces etc. These days I never look at the speed on my garmin, I just focus on my efforts and keep those pedal revolutions turning as high as I can.
My advice to you is just to keep hitting the hills and the speed will eventually look after itself come spring/summer. We live in a hilly area so get as good as you can on the hills.....simples
Keep going and enjoy

 

[Justinslow]

Not blowing my own trumpet but, I managed 100 miles on Tuesday @17mph, solo, not ridiculously hilly though (3314 ft according to strava). Another guy on the clubs strava page did 100 @20 in a group of 4.
I think it depends how you ride, where you ride and your ability, I'm just not happy bumbling along!

 

[RichardB]

Have you got any weight you could lose?

Oh yes! Three stone down, two to go.

Keep an eye on your speedo as you crawl up a hill at 8-9 mph and think how much time you have to spend above 22-23 mph in order to balance this out- it's a lot, especially if you climb a hill in 6 minutes and descend it in 1 minute.

Absolutely. And if the downhills are narrow, wet and strewn with leaves you can't even do that

Also don't underestimate the Pembrokeshire terrain, there are more steep bits than you can shake a stick at if you want them and you don't have to look very hard, but even if you think you've planned a flat one it's very rolling round here, stuff you would never even notice in a car becomes a drag on the bike, and it's pretty relentlessly rolling too, you're either going up or you're going down, I can't think of too many sections where you could ride for even two miles without going up something and that relentlessness very quickly screws your average up.
If you're out and riding in what we've had recently give yourself a pat on the back, don't beat yourself up over your average,

I try to take opportunities and dodge the showers. Get wet whatever! If you know the area, my rides are generally round the Hayscastle/Roch/Mathry areas and while it's not the Alps, you are right in saying you are either going up or down, and rarely level.

And try not to compare yourself to others, that way madness lies.

Agreed. I wasn't really comparing myself (although it's useful to know a benchmark), just curious as to how other people found hills affected averages.

Have you got your bike computer set to auto pause? I feel it is fair to eliminate any stops from punctures, traffic lights etc. from the calculation.

Yes I have, but I don't really stop anyway, unless it's a short breather at the top of a hill. There is little traffic here, and no lights or busy crossings that I can blame!

Pembrokeshire is tougher terràin than your'e given it credit for. Plus you always seem to be against the prevailing winds. Your Dawes isn't particularly a machine to rush, so ignore your average speed and enjoy being out there. That's all its about.

I thought that posting the average from a circular ride would more or less eliminate the effect of a head or tail wind, but maybe not. The Dawes is no racer, that's for sure, but it's a nice comfy ride. I always enjoy the ride and while I am not aiming to break any records I like to push myself and do the best I can. Hence the question.

 

[Julia9054]

Aero is king upto around 6% gradient.

The difference between a large rider upright on the hoods and a small slippery rider with a slammed stem in the drops is huge. The large rider may be putting out significantly more power, but the smaller aero rider is going to be faster.

I assume this explains why I catch my fella up on downhills. I thought that his greater mass (2 stone heavier than me) should make him faster downhill but being a lot smaller, I must be more aerodynamic!

 

[RichardB]

I also live in Pembrokeshire are you riding just on the road or do you use any of the shared cycle paths. The cycle paths will also slow down your average speed because of the many gates.
but worrying about average speed is a little futile anyway as you are not comparing like for like. To check if you are getting faster you need to measure your time over a set route and repeat the same route and then compare your times. Also if you are riding alone you average will always be lower than riding with a group.

How are you measuring your average speed are stops included in your time or is the timer paused if you take a break, What average speed are you trying to achieve and how did you arrive at this number. Is it an arbitrary number pulled from space (or cyber space). it is easy to get hooked on the numbers and in essence they are meaningless unless you are working from a datum that is relevant to you. In the first line of your post you said you are fitter. So think what are you trying to achieve if it is fitness then it is already working. If you want to get faster so you can ride with a group don't worry that you are not good enough just find a beginners group ( they will teach a lot and they will be very patent with you as you get up to speed) and then you can work your way up.

Road only. I have used some of the cycle paths for leisure rides with family, but my (semi-) serious riding is on the road, always. And I am a bit of a loner, with no particular interest in riding in a group or racing anyone but myself

My post wasn't really about how to improve my average speed. I'd like to get faster and go further (wouldn't we all?) but that is in hand, mentally. My post was really to enquire how much hills affected averages, as I was surprised to find my average just over 10 mph when on a given day (and bike) I was bowling along the flat at 16-17 mph without too much effort.

If you are enjoying your cycling, why worry about speed?

I am, and I don't worry about it. Just curious, as above.

The reason is that the wind resistance is proportionate to the square of the velocity. If you do the maths, maintaining a constant speed results in less wind resistance than some fast riding (downhills) and some slow riding (uphills). That is the reason that hilly riding is slower than flat riding

The effect is marked. In the Peak District even the local professionals struggle to do more than 18mph on a hilly ride. The other speed killer is when the downhills are small, narrow roads where you have to scrub off speed to remain safe. I hate that

Sound reasoning. And your last point is spot-on. The rides I am talking about are on narrow lanes, with twisty downhills, blind junctions, leaves, gravel and the like. Barrelling down them at 35 is not an option - apart from a section of the coast road I use, where 35 is easily achieved, although not for long!

Considering he has made a thread about average speed one can assume that he is not just content with cycling about, and wants to make performance increases.

Why do the 'just ride your bike brigade' have such a hard time understanding why people would actually want to go faster/increase fitness?

You just answered your own question. Average speed will improve with fitness.

The post wasn't concerned with fitness, but with asking for other people's experience regarding the effect of hills on average speed. Perhaps I could have worded the title better. I ride for the sake of riding, and I would also like to be fitter (of course), so that places me half-way between the 'just ride your bike' and performance camps, and no arguments will be entered into

Thanks for all the responses. Very interesting and informative.

 

[screenman]

My local rides in Lincolnshire will return around 17mph average, when I ride over in Shropshire and put the hills in it will drop to 14 for the same distance.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I try to take opportunities and dodge the showers. Get wet whatever! If you know the area, my rides are generally round the Hayscastle/Roch/Mathry areas and while it's not the Alps, you are right in saying you are either going up or down, and rarely level.

I sometimes ride round that area and as Pembrokeshire goes it isn't too hilly but there are some hefty lumps along the way especially if you take the coast roads. That climb from the A487 up to Mathry is a real leg killer, though thankfully fairly short. I nearly rode into the back of a parked car while grinding up there once and looking about a yard in front of my wheel. I only avoided it because I was going so slow the bike stopped as soon as I stopped pedalling.

 

[Citius]

The post wasn't concerned with fitness, but with asking for other people's experience regarding the effect of hills on average speed

It is concerned with fitness, because that is precisely why you are disappointed with your average speeds. Average speed is exactly what it says - an average of all the speeds you ride at while you are on the road. That is what an average is. Riding below your average speed will reduce your average. Riding above your average speed will increase your average. But either way, what you end up with is the average of all the speeds you have ridden at. Want a higher average? Improve your fitness and ride faster.

 

[raleighnut]

I assume this explains why I catch my fella up on downhills. I thought that his greater mass (2 stone heavier than me) should make him faster downhill but being a lot smaller, I must be more aerodynamic!

It might also be down to the bike/wheels, my Carlton always 'rolled' faster than just about any of my friends bikes. It isn't anything special* (other than being a Carlton) it has Maillard wideflange hubs though, again nothing out of the ordinary, but every time we all went out and were just rolling down a slight slope (having a break and a natter, all freewheeling) it used to gradually pull out/catch up on the others so I'd either have to brake a bit or they'd have to pedal a bit to maintain speed. I let a couple of them have a brief ride on it (at the time it wasn't mine as it belonged to my cousin, still does really) and it still did that 'rolling faster' thing, dunno why.

* The bike is a 68 or so Carlton Clubman which as @Spokesmann will confirm isn't really anything special. probably the 'bottom' of their range at the time.

 

[jonny jeez]

Considering he has made a thread about average speed one can assume that he is not just content with cycling about, and wants to make performance increases.

Why do the 'just ride your bike brigade' have such a hard time understanding why people would actually want to go faster/increase fitness?

It's actually pretty simple.

Cycling is a broad activity covering so many disciplines. A chap riding a shopping basket to tesco'stesco to pick up a bottle of merlot, is a cyclist.

The first British winner of the world famous Tour de France, is also a cyclist.

The two, however share nothin in common than the fact that they ride a bike for some reason.

If you treat cycling as a leisure activity, you may find that speed has no interest and that the enjoyment is about travelling.

If you treat it as a sport, you shall most likely wish to show gains, improvements and personal bests.

Nothing wrong with either and neither are a "brigade". You both need to just come to terms with the concept that differnet riders get something different out of the activity and approach it for different reasons.

 

[Ihatehills]

I thought that posting the average from a circular ride would more or less eliminate the effect of a head or tail wind, but maybe not.

Definitely not as far as I'm concerned, I haven't been out without at least a 16 mph wind blowing for weeks, and my average has gone from around 14.5mph to around 13 when the wind is blowing from the south West, a couple of rides have been with a northerly wind and I'm back around 14 mph, it is a circular route but the south west wind really hits me on a three mile stretch of flatish road ( the strava segment is called " it all depends on the wind") on a good day I cruise at between 18 to 22 mph on this section, into a headwind I'm down to at most 12 sometimes below 10 depending on the wind strength and I just never make it back up.

Im fairly sure I'll speed up again in the summer, I don't think That winter is the time to be comparing speeds, I'm fairly pleased That I'm still making the effort to get out as motivation is hard to find in sh1tty weather