Average MPH

"nash" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:YMmgh.481377$5R2.19648@pd7urf3no...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Do you really think 20mph is normal. My rides average 15mph amd I have
been biking since I was 8. Just starting an exercise program I would not
advise anyone to try to do this. They might feel so negative that they
failed and stop biking for life. We are suppose to be encouraging
commuters to get on bikes not off. maybe the poster is a little anxious.
he says skip the warm-up also.
If you average 20mph you might break something. I do not warm up myself
but then I am not trying to do a whole workout in 45 mintutes.
Just a precautionary message is all I am saying. Ride slow enough in the
begining to get the blood flowing and you will be alright.

I can imagine someone's avg speed being 20mph if he lives on flatlands, has
a lot of downhills, or is very fit. I average 15mph on my commute. Hills,
headwinds, other factors all slow my average.

nash said:

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

For training rides, it depends on the terrain, wind and whether it's with a
group. Fastest would be about 40km/h (flat, no wind, group), slowest would
be about 28km/h (hilly, windy, alone).

For commuting, who cares? I don't even have a computer on that bike.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

"nash" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:YMmgh.481377$5R2.19648@pd7urf3no...

Quoted message said:

Hi,
after seeing this, I have a query.
<<<<Longer rides sound great, 3 hours at an average of 20mph is going to
burn around 2800 calories (depending on 'a whole bunch of factors'😉.
<<<<
It was posted on riding and weightloss thread and this is a kind of
subtopic.

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

Do you really think 20mph is normal. My rides average 15mph amd I have
been biking since I was 8. Just starting an exercise program I would not
advise anyone to try to do this. They might feel so negative that they
failed and stop biking for life. We are suppose to be encouraging
commuters to get on bikes not off. maybe the poster is a little anxious.
he says skip the warm-up also.
If you average 20mph you might break something. I do not warm up myself
but then I am not trying to do a whole workout in 45 mintutes.
Just a precautionary message is all I am saying. Ride slow enough in the
begining to get the blood flowing and you will be alright.

Anyway if you care to post your average MPH or KPH to let the OP know that
might give the right message.
Hope you needed this.

A 23 mile one way commute, 46 miles round trip.
It takes me an hour and a half, maybe a little longer depending on how I
feel that day, and the weather wind conditions.
In the summer 2 hours in the afternoon as it is really hot. Hills,
overpasses, up and down.
If there aren't any traffic accidents it takes me an hour to drive it in my
truck.

On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 01:22:00 GMT, "nash" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Anyway if you care to post your average MPH or KPH to let the OP know that
might give the right message.
Hope you needed this.

I'm slow, probably average 10.9 or so. I'd be quicker, but the wind is
always against me.

nash said:

Hi,
after seeing this, I have a query.
<<<<Longer rides sound great, 3 hours at an average of 20mph is going to
burn around 2800 calories (depending on 'a whole bunch of factors'😉.
<<<<
It was posted on riding and weightloss thread and this is a kind of
subtopic.

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

Do you really think 20mph is normal. My rides average 15mph amd I have been
biking since I was 8. Just starting an exercise program I would not advise
anyone to try to do this. They might feel so negative that they failed and
stop biking for life. We are suppose to be encouraging commuters to get on
bikes not off. maybe the poster is a little anxious. he says skip the
warm-up also.
If you average 20mph you might break something. I do not warm up myself but
then I am not trying to do a whole workout in 45 mintutes.
Just a precautionary message is all I am saying. Ride slow enough in the
begining to get the blood flowing and you will be alright.

Anyway if you care to post your average MPH or KPH to let the OP know that
might give the right message.
Hope you needed this.

20mph (32kmh) is pretty darn fast for even a short commute. I consider
myself to be on the fast side (I have never been passed by another bike
on my commute!) and on my slightly rolling 20 mile each way commute I
can get as high as 29kmh (18mph) if everything works out properly. That
is seldom, and anyway I usually try to just take it easy on the commute
and save the workouts for training rides.

Even on totally flat ground, someone needs to be in very good shape to
average 20mph at all. The idea of suggesting someone just starting an
exercise program so they can lose weight should ride at 20mph is
preposterous.

In general my thoughts on weight loss are that too much emphasis is
spent trying to quantify effort. Cutting back on unnecessary calories
like butter, cookies, etc and adding any exercise at all will result in
weight loss. How much depends upon so many difficult to measure
variable that it isn't really worth trying to figure it out.

Joseph

"Earl Bollinger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"nash" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:YMmgh.481377$5R2.19648@pd7urf3no...

Quoted message said:

Hi,
after seeing this, I have a query.
<<<<Longer rides sound great, 3 hours at an average of 20mph is going to
burn around 2800 calories (depending on 'a whole bunch of factors'😉.
<<<<
It was posted on riding and weightloss thread and this is a kind of
subtopic.

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

Do you really think 20mph is normal. My rides average 15mph amd I have
been biking since I was 8. Just starting an exercise program I would not
advise anyone to try to do this. They might feel so negative that they
failed and stop biking for life. We are suppose to be encouraging
commuters to get on bikes not off. maybe the poster is a little anxious.
he says skip the warm-up also.
If you average 20mph you might break something. I do not warm up myself
but then I am not trying to do a whole workout in 45 mintutes.
Just a precautionary message is all I am saying. Ride slow enough in the
begining to get the blood flowing and you will be alright.

Anyway if you care to post your average MPH or KPH to let the OP know
that might give the right message.
Hope you needed this.

A 23 mile one way commute, 46 miles round trip.
It takes me an hour and a half, maybe a little longer depending on how I
feel that day, and the weather wind conditions.
In the summer 2 hours in the afternoon as it is really hot. Hills,
overpasses, up and down.
If there aren't any traffic accidents it takes me an hour to drive it in
my truck.

I have had people claim that they did 20 mph or more but I pass them all the
time. I have a Low Speed Electric Vehicle that can average 20 mph without
pedaling. If I choose to pedal without the electrics then 15 mph comes to
mind quickly. I had a person that made claims of averaging 23 mph. I was
pedaling that day making about 15. I came up from him from the rear as I
had a few miles to go and was in the long haul mode. He saw me and started
to come up off his seat and pedal, barely pulling ahead. He only had about
a half mile to go to his destination. But he was one tired puppy when he
got there. I pulled in about 15 seconds behind him and wasn't even breathing
hard.

Yes, you can make better than apprx 15 mph but when going 5 miles or more,
don't even think about it if you care to be able to do anything for a time
after you arrive.

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nash said:

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

As everyone says, it depends on where you ride, what you are riding,
when you are riding, and your incentive to go fast. I keep the pace up,
but I have a lot of rolling hills to cross on my daily commute.

On the road bike: usually in the 17 mph range. It's rare that I ride
that one anymore.

On the MTB (with slicks): low to mid 16mph.

On the single-speed: no clue (no speedo). However, the total ride time
is about the same as the mtb.

On the MTB pulling the trailer (with at least one child inside for part
of the trip): around 13mph. This rig is heavy and not very aerodynamic.

I guess I just don't have enough incentive to push it any harder than
that....

-Buck

Buck said:

nash said:

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

As everyone says, it depends on where you ride, what you are riding,
when you are riding, and your incentive to go fast. I keep the pace up,
but I have a lot of rolling hills to cross on my daily commute.

On the road bike: usually in the 17 mph range. It's rare that I ride
that one anymore.

On the MTB (with slicks): low to mid 16mph.

On the single-speed: no clue (no speedo). However, the total ride time
is about the same as the mtb.

On the MTB pulling the trailer (with at least one child inside for part
of the trip): around 13mph. This rig is heavy and not very aerodynamic.

I guess I just don't have enough incentive to push it any harder than
that....

-Buck

I personally think 20mph is at the upper end of the average. After being
back on the bike for a couple of years now, on ride of more than 2 hours
my average is between 15mph and 16mph. Of course there are way too many
factors that hold down a riders average speed. If you are talking about
a commute, you need to factor in traffic and traffic signals and signs.
Road conditions will also hold down average speeds. I ride mostly on old
asphalt chip/seal roads that are not very smooth. And then you have the
wind, here along the gulf coast there aren't too many days were the wind
isn't under 15mph.

Ken
--
The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets
old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without
shocking the entire community. ~Ann Strong

In article <YMmgh.481377$5R2.19648@pd7urf3no>,

nash said:

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

I don't bother to monitor it. When I want to get somewhere on a
schedule, I just figure I can easily average 15mph and plan for the
distance I need to go. When training, I just push myself harder than I
normally would. Most of the people who get into pissing matches about
speed are the kind of people that don't count the time they spend at
stop lights.

--
My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, 4ax.com, buzzardnews.com, googlegroups.com,
heapnode.com, localhost, x-privat.org

Doc O'Leary said:

In article <YMmgh.481377$5R2.19648@pd7urf3no>,

nash said:

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

I don't bother to monitor it. When I want to get somewhere on a
schedule, I just figure I can easily average 15mph and plan for the
distance I need to go. When training, I just push myself harder than I
normally would. Most of the people who get into pissing matches about
speed are the kind of people that don't count the time they spend at
stop lights.

That always irritates me when people claim some particular average or
riding time for a century or something, and then I find out it is only
"riding" time, not actual time.

Joseph

Quoted message said:

In general my thoughts on weight loss are that too much emphasis is
spent trying to quantify effort. Cutting back on unnecessary calories
like butter, cookies, etc and adding any exercise at all will result in
weight loss. How much depends upon so many difficult to measure
variable that it isn't really worth trying to figure it out.

The easiest way to tell how much weight you will loose is to go out and
do it, and after a month, see how much weight you have lost. Plenty of
people put in so much effort trying to get the most "bang for the buck"
that they never actually do *anything*.

Austin

Quoted message said:

That always irritates me when people claim some particular average or
riding time for a century or something, and then I find out it is only
"riding" time, not actual time.

Joseph

Why does it irritate you? It is just another measure and for some
purposes it is appropriate and for other purposes less so.

A personal example. Last year I did a century with a friend and we both
trained hard and planned on using the ride as a good measure of our
current fitness. However, during the ride my friend had a mechanical
issue that took us ~30 minutes to resolve. At the end we both were very
happy with our "riding" average as we felt that it was a better
indicator of our fitness level than the "total" average.
Of course if the idea of the ride was to "win" as in a race then
clearly the total time/average would be the better measure.

Quoted message said:

nash said:

Hi,
after seeing this, I have a query.
<<<<Longer rides sound great, 3 hours at an average of 20mph is going to
burn around 2800 calories (depending on 'a whole bunch of factors'😉.
<<<<
It was posted on riding and weightloss thread and this is a kind of
subtopic.

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

Do you really think 20mph is normal. My rides average 15mph amd I have been
biking since I was 8. Just starting an exercise program I would not advise
anyone to try to do this. They might feel so negative that they failed and
stop biking for life. We are suppose to be encouraging commuters to get on
bikes not off. maybe the poster is a little anxious. he says skip the
warm-up also.
If you average 20mph you might break something. I do not warm up myself but
then I am not trying to do a whole workout in 45 mintutes.
Just a precautionary message is all I am saying. Ride slow enough in the
begining to get the blood flowing and you will be alright.

Anyway if you care to post your average MPH or KPH to let the OP know that
might give the right message.
Hope you needed this.

20mph (32kmh) is pretty darn fast for even a short commute. I consider
myself to be on the fast side (I have never been passed by another bike
on my commute!) and on my slightly rolling 20 mile each way commute I
can get as high as 29kmh (18mph) if everything works out properly. That
is seldom, and anyway I usually try to just take it easy on the commute
and save the workouts for training rides.

I'm a fairly slow rider and seldom average more than 20 km/h on a
commute or even when on a solo ride. Thirty-two km/h is for the lyca
louts with 10 year of steady training.

John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

Quoted message said:

Doc O'Leary said:

In article <YMmgh.481377$5R2.19648@pd7urf3no>,

nash said:

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

I don't bother to monitor it. When I want to get somewhere on a
schedule, I just figure I can easily average 15mph and plan for the
distance I need to go. When training, I just push myself harder than I
normally would. Most of the people who get into pissing matches about
speed are the kind of people that don't count the time they spend at
stop lights.

That always irritates me when people claim some particular average or
riding time for a century or something, and then I find out it is only
"riding" time, not actual time.

Good point, I did a ride in about 9 hours (180km) and at work the next
day I asked a college how the ride went and he said it was great and
his group had done it in 5 hours. EH! Turns out it was riding time.
He forgot the hour spent swimming etc.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]
:: Doc O'Leary wrote:
::: In article <YMmgh.481377$5R2.19648@pd7urf3no>,
::: "nash" <[email hidden]> wrote:
:::
:::: What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute
:::: or training ride?
:::
::: I don't bother to monitor it. When I want to get
::: somewhere on a schedule, I just figure I can easily
::: average 15mph and plan for the distance I need to go.
::: When training, I just push myself harder than I
::: normally would. Most of the people who get into
::: pissing matches about speed are the kind of people that
::: don't count the time they spend at stop lights.
:::
::
:: That always irritates me when people claim some
:: particular average or riding time for a century or
:: something, and then I find out it is only "riding" time,
:: not actual time.

I don't get it. Why not count riding time in an average? Who'd want to count
anything else?

"John Kane" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]
:: [email hidden] wrote:
::: Doc O'Leary wrote:
:::: In article <YMmgh.481377$5R2.19648@pd7urf3no>,
:::: "nash" <[email hidden]> wrote:
::::
::::: What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute
::::: or training ride?
::::
:::: I don't bother to monitor it. When I want to get
:::: somewhere on a schedule, I just figure I can easily
:::: average 15mph and plan for the distance I need to go.
:::: When training, I just push myself harder than I
:::: normally would. Most of the people who get into
:::: pissing matches about speed are the kind of people
:::: that don't count the time they spend at stop lights.
::::
:::
::: That always irritates me when people claim some
::: particular average or riding time for a century or
::: something, and then I find out it is only "riding"
::: time, not actual time.
::
:: Good point, I did a ride in about 9 hours (180km) and at
:: work the next day I asked a college how the ride went
:: and he said it was great and his group had done it in 5
:: hours. EH! Turns out it was riding time. He forgot the
:: hour spent swimming etc.

So, he did the riding, swimming, etc in 6 hours. Pretty good, considering.

:: John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

gds said:

Quoted message said:

That always irritates me when people claim some particular average or
riding time for a century or something, and then I find out it is only
"riding" time, not actual time.

Joseph

Why does it irritate you? It is just another measure and for some
purposes it is appropriate and for other purposes less so.

A personal example. Last year I did a century with a friend and we both
trained hard and planned on using the ride as a good measure of our
current fitness. However, during the ride my friend had a mechanical
issue that took us ~30 minutes to resolve. At the end we both were very
happy with our "riding" average as we felt that it was a better
indicator of our fitness level than the "total" average.
Of course if the idea of the ride was to "win" as in a race then
clearly the total time/average would be the better measure.

I guess it doesn't ALWAYS irritate me. I was thinking in particular of
the times when the context made riding time not really the relavent
info.

The riding average can be a useful and informative piece of info, but
on it's own it can be quite misleading, and when it is used in a
misleading (intentional or not) way, that is irritating.

Joseph

Roger Zoul said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]
:: Doc O'Leary wrote:
::: In article <YMmgh.481377$5R2.19648@pd7urf3no>,
::: "nash" <[email hidden]> wrote:
:::
:::: What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute
:::: or training ride?
:::
::: I don't bother to monitor it. When I want to get
::: somewhere on a schedule, I just figure I can easily
::: average 15mph and plan for the distance I need to go.
::: When training, I just push myself harder than I
::: normally would. Most of the people who get into
::: pissing matches about speed are the kind of people that
::: don't count the time they spend at stop lights.
:::
::
:: That always irritates me when people claim some
:: particular average or riding time for a century or
:: something, and then I find out it is only "riding" time,
:: not actual time.

I don't get it. Why not count riding time in an average? Who'd want to count
anything else?

Because it's apples and oranges. If someone does a 180km ride in 6
hours including 1 hour of pit-stops, that is a big difference from
taking 5 hours including 1 hour of pit-stops. If the first riders says
they did it in 5 hours, the second is given a bum steer.

Joseph

nash said:

Hi,
after seeing this, I have a query.
<<<<Longer rides sound great, 3 hours at an average of 20mph is going to
burn around 2800 calories (depending on 'a whole bunch of factors'😉.
<<<<
It was posted on riding and weightloss thread and this is a kind of
subtopic.

What are your average MPH when doing a normal commute or training ride?

I'm 38 and chubby, and normally I average about 15 mph. That is the
number shown on the cyclocomputer, for riding alone, over flat terrain,
when the temperature and humidity aren't severe, and on a LWB recumbent
bike--which I would guess is as about as aerodynamic as a regular
upright bike.

My riding averages 30-50 miles each and I do it a pace that I know won't
kill me. If I knew I only had to go ten miles I could push myself bit
faster, but I doubt I could average 20 mph [riding alone] even over just
that far.
-------
~10 years ago, when I was 25 years old, riding a "normal" road bike and
in considerably better shape, I seem to remember I could average around
18 mph normally, riding alone.

Quoted message said:

Do you really think 20mph is normal.

No, not for ordinary people riding alone.
It is believable if they are in good physical shape, and pacelining.

Alternately it might be possible if they are riding alone on an aero
recumbent bike like a highracer or lowracer.
~