How do I compare?

Brian G <[email hidden]> wrote:

: Is that a world slow record, or pretty average, or even a bit decent?

Well, it's not the former or the latter, but yes, pretty average I'd say.

Though of course it's very hard to compare - how big are the hills, what
is your bike like, how strong was the wind? It's still winter etc, etc.

As a comparision, at your age I'd say if you have a road bike (normal,
no tri-bars etc) then doing 10 miles in 30 mins would be decent going
(20mph). Though as ever, there's always people faster.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
Don't get me wrong, perl is an OK operating system, but it lacks a
lightweight scripting language -- Walter Dnes

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

Quoted message said:

Remember the average 58 year old male probably couldn't cycle 10 miles
at any speed especially if he is a [censored] and booze man.

The best answer by far!

But if you're looking for benchmarks then you're fine for a keen leisure
rider but off the pace for a competitive life-long cyclist of similar age.
Using the general population of your age, perhaps any age in fact, as a
benchmark puts you way near the top of the heap.

Enjoy!

Pete (pushing 52).

Brian G said:

As I cycle alone, I haven't an opportunity to compare my speed,

times,

Quoted message said:

etc with others. I'm wondering how I compare with my general age

group

Quoted message said:

(I'm 58 this month). So today I rode my road bike for one hour on

good

Quoted message said:

roads on an undulating course with a few longish inclines but nothing

Quoted message said:

hugely steep. There was a stiff breeze against on the inward side

but

Quoted message said:

it was presumably helping a bit on the way out.

I covered 22.9 kilometres in the hour.

Is that a world slow record, or pretty average, or even a bit decent?

Sounds very respectable to me. It's roughly the same as I average on a
solo ride - I'm a good few years younger than you, but perhaps not as
fit as I ought to be (I can manage 30 mins for a 10, as Arthur
suggests, but only if I really push hard). The fastest member of the
club I ride with is in his 60s and somewhat faster than either you or
me, but then he has been riding seriously for most of his life and was
quite a decent racer in his time.

Of course, it all depends what you mean by "average" - 23kmh would be a
pretty slow average speed for a serious club rider (a group training
ride for a serious racing club would be closer to 30kmh - but bear in
mind that you can maintain a higher average speed as a group than as a
solo rider), but it would be a frighteningly fast average speed for
your typical CTC Sunday afternoon pootler... it's all relative.

d.

in message <[email hidden]>, Brian G

(') said:

As I cycle alone, I haven't an opportunity to compare my speed, times,
etc with others. I'm wondering how I compare with my general age
group (I'm 58 this month). So today I rode my road bike for one hour
on good roads on an undulating course with a few longish inclines but
nothing hugely steep. There was a stiff breeze against on the inward
side but it was presumably helping a bit on the way out.

I covered 22.9 kilometres in the hour.

Is that a world slow record, or pretty average, or even a bit decent?

You would not be embarrassed on most cycling club runs. While the
average speed of some club runs may be faster, a good part of that is
peloton effect - if you were with a group you'd be faster too.

I'm 49, if that's any help to you.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; If you're doing this for fun, do what seems fun. If you're
;; doing it for money, stop now.
;; Rainer Deyke

You don't have to compare yourself with anyone. The object is to enjoy
the ride if it is at 9 mph or 20mph.

Remember the average 58 year old male probably couldn't cycle 10 miles
at any speed especially if he is a [censored] and booze man.

Just enjoy the ride Brian.

archierob said:

You don't have to compare yourself with anyone. The object is to enjoy
the ride if it is at 9 mph or 20mph.

Remember the average 58 year old male probably couldn't cycle 10 miles
at any speed especially if he is a [censored] and booze man.

Just enjoy the ride Brian.

Well yes, I know that of course. Most of my cycling is "touring", i.e.,
day rides either one off or as part of a longer trip, so I'm only
interested in what distance I travel between tea rooms and night stops.
I do ride a road bike though for fitness training in order to enjoy
the touring and I was curious to know whether my performance on such
rides was way off the chart. The replies so far seem to suggest I'm
pretty average, as I seem to be in most things in life. Mind you,
there's nothing wrong with being in the middle of the crowd. Think of
the penguin at the front which gets kicked into the ocean to test the
water for seals...

--
Brian G

Quoted message said:

I covered 22.9 kilometres in the hour.

Is that a world slow record, or pretty average, or even a bit decent?

That seems good to me - I'm 37 and managed 200km in 10hr50 last week. On
my commute I can manage 9 miles in 35 mins but that's v hilly.

I would consider myself on the slow side of respectable, for a leisure
rider anyway - without pushing too hard :-)

So you're doing great! Well done.

Tony B

Quoted message said:

I covered 22.9 kilometres in the hour.

Is that a world slow record, or pretty average, or even a bit decent?

How knackered were you at the end? Were you out of breath, nearly
fainting, or did you feel fine to do the distance (or half/whatever) again?

I need to know this before I can cast judgement upon you.

Brian G said:

As I cycle alone, I haven't an opportunity to compare my speed, times, etc
with others. I'm wondering how I compare with my general age group (I'm
58 this month). So today I rode my road bike for one hour on good roads
on an undulating course with a few longish inclines but nothing hugely
steep. There was a stiff breeze against on the inward side but it was
presumably helping a bit on the way out.

I covered 22.9 kilometres in the hour.

Hmmm, I'm 56, not particularly strong, nor especialy fit. In winter
I average about 18kph on an upright and 20kph on the 'bent. In summer
about 3kph higher on each. That's on the supermarket run with 2 short but
moderately steep hills on the way home with the load. As someone else
said: being able to cycle for an hour in your 50's is probably
exceptional against the population as a whole. For the 50+ population
who are still cycling it's probably average.

Mike

Mark Thompson said:

Quoted message said:

I covered 22.9 kilometres in the hour.

Is that a world slow record, or pretty average, or even a bit decent?

How knackered were you at the end? Were you out of breath, nearly
fainting, or did you feel fine to do the distance (or half/whatever) again?

I need to know this before I can cast judgement upon you.

I certainly wasn't knackered, but I wouldn't have wanted to do another
hour at the same pace. My average speed when touring (on a rather
heavier bike with panniers) is more like 17 or 18 kph, with lots of
stops to drink tea, look at the scenery,etc ... I tend to find, as I
suspect most will, that the average speed falls a bit with each hour
that passes (although this is not scientific since I'm not generally
interested enough in stats to keep records).

--
Brian G

Mike Causer said:

Hmmm, I'm 56, not particularly strong, nor especialy fit. In winter
I average about 18kph on an upright and 20kph on the 'bent. In summer
about 3kph higher on each.

Yes, you see those are the kind of figures that prompted me to ask the
question in the first place. I see numbers like these appearing on this
newsgroup from time to time and wonder about them. Certainly I'm still
a little overweight despite my best efforts and certainly I've never
been a fitness slave. Yet after 50 years of cycling, on and off, and
with the benefit of fairly decent bikes, I have to push pretty hard to
achieve the sort of figures which are bandied about here as everyday stuff.

I suppose I have to be pretty impressed by the level of fitness and
ability shown by posters here.

--
Brian G

davek ([email hidden]) wrote:
: Sounds very respectable to me. It's roughly the same as I average on a
: solo ride - I'm a good few years younger than you, but perhaps not as
: fit as I ought to be (I can manage 30 mins for a 10, as Arthur
: suggests, but only if I really push hard).

I think I'd struggle to do 10 in 30 mins. I've been road cycling recently
with a friend - he's 54 and rides a light road bike, I'm 39 and ride a
rigid mtb with 1.5" road tyres. We're hoping to do our first century this
year and our best so far is 72 miles at 12.5mph. I was happy with the
distance but thought our average was a bit lame.

Blair.

Brian G <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Mike Causer wrote:

:> Hmmm, I'm 56, not particularly strong, nor especialy fit. In winter
:> I average about 18kph on an upright and 20kph on the 'bent. In summer
:> about 3kph higher on each.

So that's what 21kph/13mph. That sounds about right for a short trip
round town. That's an average excluding stops (lights etc) mind for me. If
I included stopped time it would be a bit slower still.

: with the benefit of fairly decent bikes, I have to push pretty hard to
: achieve the sort of figures which are bandied about here as everyday stuff.

Some people here are very fit. Some are comparing chalk with cheese (e.g.
10 miles in summer on a road bike v a trip to the supermarket in winter with
panniers on).

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
Don't get me wrong, perl is an OK operating system, but it lacks a
lightweight scripting language -- Walter Dnes

On 8/3/05 10:10 am, in article [email hidden], "B.G. Finlay

IT Services said:

davek ([email hidden]) wrote:
: Sounds very respectable to me. It's roughly the same as I average on a
: solo ride - I'm a good few years younger than you, but perhaps not as
: fit as I ought to be (I can manage 30 mins for a 10, as Arthur
: suggests, but only if I really push hard).

I think I'd struggle to do 10 in 30 mins. I've been road cycling recently
with a friend - he's 54 and rides a light road bike, I'm 39 and ride a
rigid mtb with 1.5" road tyres. We're hoping to do our first century this
year and our best so far is 72 miles at 12.5mph. I was happy with the
distance but thought our average was a bit lame.

Riding the same sort of bike (rigid MTB with slicks) over that distance, I'd
average about the same, and I can do a ten in under 30 mins (just). And as
we ride on the same roads, you would probably be able to as well. Oh, the
ten is not done on the MTB. It is a struggle to do ten at evens.. that
doesn't make it impossible.

It takes a few runs to get used to the pacing etc of a ten. And I'm only a
few years younger than you (35).

...d

in message <[email hidden]>, B.G. Finlay IT Services

(') said:

davek ([email hidden]) wrote:
: Sounds very respectable to me. It's roughly the same as I average on
: a solo ride - I'm a good few years younger than you, but perhaps not
: as fit as I ought to be (I can manage 30 mins for a 10, as Arthur
: suggests, but only if I really push hard).

I think I'd struggle to do 10 in 30 mins. I've been road cycling
recently
with a friend - he's 54 and rides a light road bike, I'm 39 and ride a
rigid mtb with 1.5" road tyres. We're hoping to do our first century
this year and our best so far is 72 miles at 12.5mph. I was happy with
the distance but thought our average was a bit lame.

It's a very reasonable average for that distance. Doing 20mph for ten
miles is a completely different thing, making different demands on your
muscles. If you're prepared to burn everything you've got in ten miles
instead of spreading it out over seventy, I think you'd find with a
little bit of appropriate training you'd be in the right ballpark.

Also, a light road bike is worth several miles per hour on good
surfaces.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Wise man with foot in mouth use opportunity to clean toes.
;; the Worlock

Brian G said:

I covered 22.9 kilometres in the hour.

Is that a world slow record, or pretty average, or even a bit decent?

Well - it depends who you want to compare yourself against.
Compared to most people that's VERY fast indeed. You're
probably in the 90 percentile for cycling in the population.

The average "guy (or woman) in the pub" would be left trailing
in your wake, for both distance and speed.

But the average "club man" (as they were known in a more sexist age)
would rip you apart.

The guys in the Tour de France perform at a level which isn't
really understandable to anyone but a "club man".

BugBear

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 08:57:36 +0000, bugbear wrote in
<[email hidden]>, seen in
uk.rec.cycling:

Quoted message said:

Brian G said:

I covered 22.9 kilometres in the hour.
Is that a world slow record, or pretty average, or even a bit decent?

Well - it depends who you want to compare yourself against.
Compared to most people that's VERY fast indeed. You're
probably in the 90 percentile for cycling in the population.

The average "guy (or woman) in the pub" would be left trailing
in your wake, for both distance and speed.

Having finally forced myself to get off my [censored] and start using my
bike again, I find my average is about 11mph, which to me seems slow -
but it's amazing just how many other cyclists I leave trailing in the
distance...

I look forward to the fitness benefits which will no doubt accrue
slowly. 🙂

--
Ross, in Lincoln
Reply-to address will bounce; replace "junk-trap" with "me" for e-mail

Ross Hamilton said:

Having finally forced myself to get off my [censored] and start using my
bike again, I find my average is about 11mph, which to me seems slow -
but it's amazing just how many other cyclists I leave trailing in the
distance...

I look forward to the fitness benefits which will no doubt accrue
slowly. 🙂

Actually you should start feeling, and seeing, the first benefits fairly
quickly. Concentrate on extending your distance little by little and
you'll find the speed increases seemingly by itself.

--
Dave...

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the
future of the human race. - H. G. Wells

Brian G said:

As I cycle alone, I haven't an opportunity to compare my speed, times,
etc with others. I'm wondering how I compare with my general age group
(I'm 58 this month). So today I rode my road bike for one hour on good
roads on an undulating course with a few longish inclines but nothing
hugely steep. There was a stiff breeze against on the inward side but
it was presumably helping a bit on the way out.

I covered 22.9 kilometres in the hour.

Is that a world slow record, or pretty average, or even a bit decent?

Now I've found this: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0065.htm which
suggests my 22.9kph may be a little short of top class!

--
Brian G