What's considered fast when cycling?

Aero should add a few more mph. I believe the pros can go that fast, but they are young, train all the time, and have $10,000 bikes. Think about it: Aero helmets, aero bikes,ceramic bearings, large chain rings, skin suits, and youth.

The pros sprint at speeds near or above 40mph on the flats. That makes 20mph look slow.

I'm in my mid 50s, no natural talent as an athlete. Got off the couch 6 years ago. I now consider myself a strong recreational cyclist but week club cyclist. Own a $3000 bike.

I just did a group ride with what I would consider a fast group of 10 riders, but certainly not elite. They almost all race in Cat 4/5 with finishes mid pack. Course was flat loop with some rollers, 60 miles +/-1700 feet, 5-10mph wind.

I rode mostly mid-pack to back because I didn't know the route. We averaged 20.5mph with some trafficked roads, stops, etc. Would most likely have averaged 22-23mph if in a closed course. I could barely hang on, and finally got dropped after 40 miles when they did a surge sprint uphill (1.5 miles 3% grade 23mph).

The difference between club riders and racers is the ability to surge IMHO. I can't hang when they crank up the output to 500+ watts.

These numbers are from a Garmin Edge 820 and I'm confident of their accuracy.

As far as my running... if I trained a few months for a 5k, my pace would be 8 minute miles.

I average 16mph on my easy rides. It's kind of like 830-9 min pace running. I would say 18mph is somewhat like 730-8 min pace and 20mph is like 630-7 min pace. The big difference as noted is the benefit of a group. When riding with a group I can seamlessly increase 2mph on a ride.

what kind of improvement can one expect when moving from flat pedals (e.g. tennis shoes) to bike shoes + clipless pedals?

I ride ~150-175 miles per week and am in my 50s. On the road I make typically 15-17mph riding alone, much faster going downhill and much slower climbing! Cycling is such a different thing than running. The effort varies wildly based on wind and slope, as does the speed, the experience of 'traveling' is part of it, unlike running, and the time engaged is typically much longer. It's more of an averaged-out slow burn of effort with bursts of high output followed by bouts of significant recovery, while taking in calories as well, in order to remain capable of producing power three-to-five hours later still.

The posters boasting of averaging 20+mph on their rides are full of shiiit, especially when riding alone. Any rider can grind at speed for short burts or make power for a single short ride. That's not what cyclists are doing out there unless they are high-level competitors. Typical LRC garbage is what makes up at least 50% of the posts in this thread.

Last, aerodynamic drag becomes a killer with speed. Going from 18mph to 25mph brings a massive increase in drag such that increasing power to go from, say, 20mph to 23mph requires a painfully large increase in power to the pedals. Again, the tossing around of numbers in the 23-35mph range, especially for non-group riding, is absurd. Anyone who has pedaled on the flats without a significant tail wind knows the effort required to kiss 25mph.

2 minute mile pace for cycling. Your welcome

toddsdonald wrote:

In time trials, without the draft, on road bike, its considered respectable for any of these riders to finish a 25 mile TT in under a half hour.

There is not a single person, WT pro or otherwise, that can do this- not Wiggins, not Dennis, not Campenaerts. NOT A SINGLE PERSON.

Not even all three of them in a TTT, with a moderate tailwind, could ride 25 miles in under 30 min- you do realize that is 50 mph correct? About the same speed as the last 200m-400m of a GT sprint.

An old thread but still relevant.

I'm a former 14:10 5000 and barely under 30 minute 10,000 guy. Today, at one month short of 60 years young, I generally ride between 18-20mph on my 30-70 mile rides. 18-20mph is assuming flat, level ground riding solo and with no wind.

Le go 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.

That's a good ride for a weekend warrior type.

I've found a lot of guys who ride and hit those times for stretches, yet can't hang with a group for 50 at that pace.

My club has the usual group rating. A riders tend to be over 20 mph at 3500 feet of climb for 60 - 100.

B + tend to be 17 ish for 50s, depending on the climb.

B riders tend to be tourists, hoping to get fast enough to go up a group and hang on.

I'm 65. Own a nice bike.

I ride A- to B + dependent on the course. I rode the Tour de Tuscon without a draft at 2.4 mph, for 52 miles It was only 2000 feet of climb, which is considered flat in my area out east. I struggled in the air.

I follow some pros on strava. The ride 100 + miles with 15,000 feet of climb and average 28 mph. Its other worldy

Follow the ex miler, 3 k guy who rides for drapac cannondale, came third in the worlds last year. Michael Woods from Canada.

Got hurt too much running and turned to cycling. Nice talent.

Take this to the bank.

LottaCYcleLove wrote:

The posters boasting of averaging 20+mph on their rides are full of shiiit, especially when riding alone. Any rider can grind at speed for short burts or make power for a single short ride. That's not what cyclists are doing out there unless they are high-level competitors. Typical LRC garbage is what makes up at least 50% of the posts in this thread.

Just beause you lack power doesn't mean everyone does. I typically ride pretty hilly routes with several cat 4 climbs and usually average between 17-19 mph riding solo for 20-30 miles. When I ride flat roads, I see 20 mph regularly for 20-30 mile rides. That is a running clock without stopping it at intersections or crossings.

I am 44 and just had knee surgery, too. For reference, last winter before I hurt my knee I raced a 5 flat indoor mile and a 10:24 indoor 3k.

20 mph on flat ground is not out of the question by any means. Last week I was on vacation at the beach. I rode a 24mile flat route with no wind and averaged 21.3 mph.

On my TT bike I can average just north of 20mph in the bike split of a 70.3, regular 3 be rides I might avg 15-17 depending on bills on my road bike. In an Oly tris 40k I'll hold about 21-22mph on the TT bike with up to 1500' of climbing or so

Shorter stuff I might average 17-18 with grafficy signalstop signs standard stuff.

Sprinting segments on my bike commute road bike/no aero gear I can hold about 25. A drop-dead sprint on the flats I can get up to 34 mph or so

My 1 hr ftp is about 330w, and I weigh 190#, I'm also a 20 flat 5ker

In a pack, add 2mph to anything I listed

When cycling only I'm cat 4/5 and usually get obliterated I can sprint a bit so we have in a while finish high. I'm a bit heavy so hills do me no favors when racing but I seem to keep up on the flats

Flaqpole wrote:

that seems a little faster than what i was gonna say, but possible. guys in the tour average 25 mph (including massive climbs and etc)

Equating the speed of the best cyclists in the world drafting in a race does not really compute to a reasonable training pace does not make much sense.

Strava or it didn't happen.

I did Strava it, but I'm certainly not going to share it here. Just look through Strava, people. 20mph on a flat course is fast, but certainly not out of the question for a fit guy. It's not even a tempo workout to tell you the truth. Probably near 80% mhr effort. The fact is, most people go too easy on tbe bike. Wear a hrm and look at the data. 20mph for 20-30 miles on a flat couse with no wind is a moderate aerobic ride. On a tempo day I may push 22-24 mph on the flats for 15mins to get my tempo in.

I take 20mph as a benchmark, but a lot of the intuitive pull there might just be the round number. I suppose one way to compare would be to look at Strava percentiles for select segments (e.g. what's the average speed for someone in the 90th percentile on a long flat segment?). That might still be difficult, though, since I'd guess most segments aren't nearly long enough to be useful for this purpose.

Yeah OK Lance. As a pretty high mileage cyclist myself I can spot the bulllshhiiitters a mile away. You can likely lay down power for short stretches but if you're as powerful as you say you are I surely hope you're in touch with top Euro teams.

Let me get this right... wrote:

I did Strava it, but I'm certainly not going to share it here. Just look through Strava, people. 20mph on a flat course is fast, but certainly not out of the question for a fit guy. It's not even a tempo workout to tell you the truth. Probably near 80% mhr effort. The fact is, most people go too easy on tbe bike. Wear a hrm and look at the data. 20mph for 20-30 miles on a flat couse with no wind is a moderate aerobic ride. On a tempo day I may push 22-24 mph on the flats for 15mins to get my tempo in.

Riiiight. Like 22 mph for 15 min is pro level. Have you even seen the output of a pro rider? Probably not. Stop acting like you are all that simply because you are a "pretty high mileage cyclist". Nothing of what I have claimed is that big of a deal: average between 17-19 mph for 20-30 miles on hilly courses, can ride 20mph for 20-30 miles on flat terrain, can ride 22-24 mph for a 15 min when doing a tempo ride. You seriously going to say that those claims are pro tour level? You're neither nuts or completly clueless, bro.

By the way, the type and set up of your bike can play a big role in your average speed. A flat bar 32 mm cyclocross tired comfort bike can't compare to a road bike with 23 mm slicks and a good aero position on the bike. I ride a 2003 aluminum frame Trek 1000. I upgraded to Easton wheels and have put a completly new groupo on it, but it still can out ride any gravel or hybrid bike.