What's considered fast when cycling?

The drops wrote:

What a totally ridiculous estimate.

You might know nothing.

Ygritte!

The wind and hills and your aerodynamic position affect cycling so much more than running.

Here are my observations

Running against even a 5mph wind. You don't even feel it. In cycling you feel it big time. Same thing with tailwinds.

Hills of any type slow you down way more on an incline cycling than in running. Of course the descents in cycling are way faster than running.

There really isn't such a thing as aerodynamic positioning in running. In cycling, you have to get down to reduce wind drag. This despite the fact that it is more comfortable to sit up.

IMO, on a flat course, smooth course, and no wind, 20 miles an hour on a bike is about like 6:00 to 6:15 miles.

Someone who said they were a Cat 1 rider said he thought 25 mph for a 40 K was like a 60 minute 10 miler running. I think a 60 minute 10 miler is easier than a 40K at 25 mph, but I came from a running back ground.

Curious if people count breaks. I rode 65 miles and averaged 20 mph in a charity ride but stopped my watch at 3 break stations so technically it took longer than my gun time. I was 58 and riding a 3,000 dollar hybrid ( adventure bike). Changed out tires to road tires. Flat ride. Probably can run 23 minutes for 5k. I can’t believe how bad I cramped up. At one aid station it took me 15 minutes to get back on the bike.

Over a ride ramging between 15 to 60 minutes I would say:

35-40 mph = sub 4 minute pace

30 mph = 4.5 minute pace

27.5 mph = 5 minute pace

25 mph = 5.5 minute pace

22.5 mph = 6 minute pace

20 mph = 6.5 minute pace

17.5 mph = 7 minute pace

15 mph = 8.5 minute pace

12.5 mph = 10 minute pace

10 mph or slower = 12 minute pace or slower

Posters are mostly discussing speeds with no mention of group riding and drafting. Speeds when riding solo are much, much slower and at much higher energy cost that drafting and sharing the pulls in a group. FWIW, one's ability to draft and group ride and maintain 20+ means very little. Solo capacity is the reasonable measure.

Downhill, I'll easily hit 30+ MPH.

I am 15 years old. Ride a full carbon fiber bike. I'll tell you that in city and trails, I can average around 15-18. But in a loop on a track or neighborhood without stops, I can average about 22. Going to to 25 where the wind pushes me a e slowing down to 19 where the wind is against me. Everyday is different tho. But I definitely believe it. Believe me, I train about 20 miles a day at least and up to 40 on good days.

Cheers

The whole premise of trying to equate your 6-7 pace jogs to a biking speed shows how juvenile and naive your are.

Just started getting into cycling due to an injury preventing me from running. I'm what I'd classify as a good level club runner, running sub 15 for 5k, but far from elite.

For a 'decent effort' 20-25 mile undulating ride I'm knocking out 18mph on a cyclocross bike.

If only runners understood power meters.

my good friend who is a cat 3 did 103.81 in 5:02:44 w/ 4777 ft of vertical gain. he recorded it to strava w/ a Garmin edge 520 plus. I'm a cat 4 and I consistently do 20mph average for around 40 to 50 miles on training rides. we are both own top of the range bikes, but we usually both ride lower end bikes in the $3k price range. I managed a 40 mile ride at 21mph. a good friend of mine who no longer races did the Seatle to Portland in 10 hours, that is about 20.7 mph over 207 miles. 20mph for 80 miles is by no means an easy ride, but for those who have some experience, it is just expected. the best train around 20hours a week, I do about 12, I am by no means a pro, I am far from that. in comparison, I am considered an amateur. most people would consider me experienced.

makparshall580827 wrote:a good friend of mine who no longer races did the Seatle to Portland in 10 hours, that is about 20.7 mph over 207 miles.

If you could bike a marathon in under 60 minutes you are fast?

Mr. Freeze wrote:

For me (30 to 31 minute 10k guy) I felt like 20 MPH average solo on rolling terrain was pretty good/hard.

If I averaged 17 mph during long rides like 3 - 4 hours I had a good day.

I never rode with a group before.

I'm a 17 minute 5k guy and those numbers were pretty much the same for me when I was doing a lot of cycling last summer. Running fitness and cycling fitness are probably not correlated that closely.

My cycling experience lines up with these guys, and my running lines up with the second guy. However, I have to guess that all three of us were/are fairly inexperience riders. I went out for some looong rides, but I certainly never followed a structured training plan to try to improve my cycling like with running.

Many of the numbers being posted sound reasonable to me, maybe a bit slow. I can, and do, do 25mph all day on aero bars on 90’s Italian steel, with HP tubulars on a smooth surface, on an out-and-back course with no interruptions and very sheltered from winds.

The difference between us mortals and the greats is astounding. Granted I am not a cyclist...but still. I do rides with a guy who used to regularly come second to Lemond, and who came from swimming. Beast. Significantly older than me, and just kills it. A big windbag.

He doesn’t race because he has been there and done that, he is pure rec. But wow. My wife is the same, comes from swimming. She’s 50, and can almost keep up with me on the flat. Beast. Destroys me in the pool, and absolutely sucks at running.

IMO running and biking on a flat are totally different unless you ride a dedicated TT bike with a vertical seat tube. And even then it’s different.

M. B wrote:

Over a ride ramging between 15 to 60 minutes I would say:

35-40 mph = sub 4 minute pace

30 mph = 4.5 minute pace

27.5 mph = 5 minute pace

25 mph = 5.5 minute pace

22.5 mph = 6 minute pace

20 mph = 6.5 minute pace

17.5 mph = 7 minute pace

15 mph = 8.5 minute pace

12.5 mph = 10 minute pace

10 mph or slower = 12 minute pace or slower

The running paces here sound a little optimistic. As on old guy I've had to quit running about a year ago, but in my early 50s I ran 21:20 for 5K and 1:39 for a half. On a solo bike ride during that time I could do 18 mph for 20 miles on a rolling course but couldn't get near the sub-7 pace on this chart. Right now I can do a little over 16 mph for a 2.5 hour ride fairly easily but couldn't have done the pace suggested here for that length of time.

Davis45 wrote:

Mr. Freeze wrote:

I'm a 17 minute 5k guy and those numbers were pretty much the same for me when I was doing a lot of cycling last summer. Running fitness and cycling fitness are probably not correlated that closely.

My cycling experience lines up with these guys, and my running lines up with the second guy. However, I have to guess that all three of us were/are fairly inexperience riders. I went out for some looong rides, but I certainly never followed a structured training plan to try to improve my cycling like with running.

Bike fitness is really specific I guess. I started running again when I was 49 and was cycling for a couple years before that. I weighed 225 and could do long rides solo at 17 mph at that time but I couldn't have run a mile in 10 minutes back then.

This whole thread is lame. Doing flat rides fast shows a road running bias for flat/fast courses that doesn't really exist for cycling. It's too dependent on conditions and wind is a big factor. Pros aren't going to want to ride flat roads all the time.

Look at pros on Strava, and look at their actual overall average speed for the last month. Divide their last 4 weeks mileage by time:

Egan Bernal, the defending Tour de France champion has averaged 19 mph in that time.

Lachlan Morton a pro-tour guy who also rides gravel/mountain bike 13.9 mph

Mike Woods 17.25 mph

Phil Gaimon 14.6 mph

Richie Porte 16.9 mph

Tejay van Garderen 16.7 mph

You can't compare how hard or well they are training by their average speed at all. That's why power meters are a thing.

Yep, true. I think that runners are more interested in flat TT stuff though. As far as aero bars go, I just find them super comfortable.