General Discussion Triathlon Talk » First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe? Rss Feed  
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2011-05-19 11:52 AM
in reply to: #3507247

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
At my first race this year I was aiming for 18mph and hit 17.99.  In my second race I just wanted to be over 18 mph and I averaged 18.4.  In my last race I was aiming for 19 mph and with a big push at the end I had 19.0 mph average on my bike computer but after the race it only showed me at 18.79 mph.  I think I need to do two things, reset my bike computer's wheel size and ride a lot more.  In fact I think I'll go and do both of those right now!  


2011-05-19 2:39 PM
in reply to: #3507700

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?

I think that's a little low fore pretty fast and Elite. In my experience there is a big jump to those levels. Distance makes a difference too. I'm going to go with, for Oly distance and in a race: beginner- 12-18 Intermediate- 18-22 Pretty fast 22-23 Elite- 24+

I would agree with this more.  I do almost all my long and interval rides at 20MPH pace.  And this is only my second year of cycling.  I did a 20 Mile tempo ride last weekend and averaged 22.7, and I am nowhere near "Elite".  I would put that ride in the "Pretty Fast" category.

2011-05-19 3:03 PM
in reply to: #3507247

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?

Judging by my last time trial (11.22 mph), I guess I'm a beginner.

2011-05-19 3:41 PM
in reply to: #3507247

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Champion
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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
I did a 18.45mph bike leg in my race last week, which was in the lower half of my AG. (M55-59).  I haven't ridden a lot this year, so I was happy with that.  

I can sustain 18-20 mph on my training rides, but with stoplights, traffic, etc, seldom average more than 15-16 mph for the ride.

Around here most of the regular group rides are advertised as +20 mph which I think tends to scare away a lot of the newbies.

Mark

2011-05-19 3:58 PM
in reply to: #3508625

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Elite
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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
tri808 - 2011-05-19 3:03 PM

Judging by my last time trial (11.22 mph), I guess I'm a beginner.

 

What were you climbing?

2011-05-19 4:15 PM
in reply to: #3508742

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
It's all so subjective! I just pulled up the results from a recent du, with a short bike leg and fast local elite riders.  They were in the 23-24 range with some outliers.  Or maybe elite you mean professionals?    Anyway,  lots of factors.

I ride 17ish on a good training ride but upwards of 18-19 in races (or 16, once 20).  It helps to have the intersections patrolled so I can sail through, for instance.

Group rides can wick up the pace several mphs, but it's easier to ride fast in a group. Duh.

In my last race (the du) I was 5 whole minutes slower than last year, but ranked as well or better.  It was windy and rainy.  My mph 18.4 compared to last year's 20.  But I will still in the good part of the back.

My point:  it depends.

Anyway, to the OP, good job!  Challenging yourself in training is a great way to get better.  That and more T I T S.

Edited by BikerGrrrl 2011-05-19 4:16 PM


2011-05-19 4:15 PM
in reply to: #3508742

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
AndrewMT - 2011-05-19 10:58 AM
tri808 - 2011-05-19 3:03 PM

Judging by my last time trial (11.22 mph), I guess I'm a beginner.

 

What were you climbing?

Just under 4.5 miles, avg grade of 6.1%

2011-05-19 9:36 PM
in reply to: #3507247

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?

Whats fast for one person is going to be slow for another person, it's all relative. Around here at some local small time tri's above 20 will get you a top 10%, but for other races it's just average.

 

One step at a time. I'm hoping to get 21+ for a race I'm doing in July, but of course anything could happen that day, high winds, bad weather etc that can change that goal.

Another thing I must note, over the winter I was doing my trainer rides on a nashbar trainer. The one that come with the watt meter, while the watt meter seems accurate as far as watts, the speed my wheel is actually turning was around 12mph on the trainer meter and my bike comp. So I guess you could say it isn't calibrated right, even though I set it up like it said to, lol. Heck once I peaked out at 400 watts and barley broke 20 mph lol. What I'm getting at here is I went of power so I could do Jorges winter plan, most of my riding was done around 80 rpms in the 39/20 gear range lol. I dunno why the resistance is so high on the nasnbar trainer, but it worked out ok, I just put a peice of tape over my mph's on my bike comp and the nashbar comp so I wouldnt have to see how slow I was going lol, just the power and time read out. Well I have since left the tape on my comp and only display cadence on the comp. I go by RPE, if it seems like I'm not giving enough I speed up etc. Basically going blind to speed and time etc, just doing what I can do. I think so far it is working well, I just glance down every now and then to check cadence.

 

 

2011-05-19 9:45 PM
in reply to: #3507247

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?

Ohh yeah, I must add, last year my first tri, well as a team member, we decided to do it about 10 days before the race. We just threw a team together, I did the swim, brothe in-law the bike and aunt the run. My brother in law had ridden bmx before and a cheap mountain bike. He's always be the fitness type, played football, power lifter etc, all around pretty good shape, he is actually playing semi-pro football now in a lower leage as a line backer, and went to the collegiate weighlifting national championship in what ever weight class he was in, he weighs about 210.

 

 Anyway, he was to do the bike leg, so he went out and bought a Fuji Roubaix entry level road bike about a week before the try. It's a decent entry level bike, aluminum, etc. He didnt' have clipless pedals but we did put some of the toe strap things on with his running shoes. He averaged 21 mph for the 13 mile ride. Not too bad for a guy that had 30 miles eperience on a road bike prior to this race.

 

I actually talked him into doing a tri and he will be doing the next race with me, hopefully I can beat him. He's not a swimmer and I should have a 5 min lead on him after the swim, so hopefully I can keep him behind me, he does run about 3 min faster than me, and the bike, well we will see.

2011-05-19 10:02 PM
in reply to: #3508761

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
tri808 - 2011-05-19 4:15 PM
AndrewMT - 2011-05-19 10:58 AM
tri808 - 2011-05-19 3:03 PM

Judging by my last time trial (11.22 mph), I guess I'm a beginner.

 

What were you climbing?

Just under 4.5 miles, avg grade of 6.1%

That doesn't sound fun at all!  But it does a great job of illustrating the point that speed isn't a very good metric to measure ability...

2011-05-19 11:25 PM
in reply to: #3507247


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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?

I Think you will break 20mph in a race. I only managed 22.7 for my best TT and averaged 23.1 in my first race. I think most elites average around 24-25mph range in the race I was at. I think what really seperates the elite from the rest is the run pace. I got up to 23 in my first 3 months of cycling, but I'm no where near 5:20 mile pace on the run.

Great job...now it is time to do some hill repeats and interval training to get some more speed.



2011-05-20 6:39 AM
in reply to: #3507247

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?

Fitness on the bike is just one among a number of important predictors of speed. Hills, wind, and road surface can make a big difference, as do equipment and aero positioning, and on a course with many tight turns bike handling skills become important too. Work on increasing the wattage that you can sustain at FTP (approx. 1 hour endurance), and on decreasing body weight and aero drag, and you will get faster.

Depending on your current strengths, you'll gain more from working on different ones of these. In my case I've done a lot of trainer work to improve FTP and have lost a bunch of weight, but I have horrible aerodynamics, so I'd probably get the greatest gains right now from working on bike position and handling skills. For the folks who blow past me in races on the flats and downhills on their sleek tri bikes, but who are quickly reeled in on the uphills, their largest gains might come elsewhere.

2011-05-20 6:54 AM
in reply to: #3507247

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
I think a lot of people get caught up in a speed game on the bike leg of a tri, wanting to hit 20, or 21, or 22+, etc. because it sounds fast...and it does. But then you look at their run and they've totally blown up, ruining their chances of a great overall time in a race. Read enough race reports around here and that old adage, "the run course is littered with great bike splits," often rings true, especially at the HIM and IM distance.
2011-05-20 7:15 AM
in reply to: #3507653

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
AndrewMT - 2011-05-19 9:11 AM
bruce_v - 2011-05-19 7:54 AM

wushunut - 2011-05-19 7:31 AM So what's considered a respectable rate of speed on the bike?  I've never really ridden with people before so I have no idea what's considered fast, moderate or slow?

I've been cycling less than a year, so I'll toss in my impression as a beginner then wait curiously to see what other folks say.  Here's my read on road bikes in normal weekend rides, NOT pros, and NOT a race:

Slow / Decent Beginner:  16mph

Decent / Intermediate:  18mph

Pretty Fast:  20mph

Elite:  22mph+

I think you'll find that your scale slides as you get faster.  I used to feel the same way, but now I'd add ~2-3mph for each of those categories.

And it also depends if you are alone or in a group ride.  Furthermore it depends on the area you are riding in.  Our local B group would be an A+ group in a lot of other cities city (we have a good number of pros and elite racers in our group rides)

2011-05-20 8:21 AM
in reply to: #3507247

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?

Couple thoughts about my earlier 'perspectives from a beginner.'  Some folks immediately started comparing it to their race paces - apparently putting "NOT a race" wasn't enough of an indicator .  But I think there's also an element of people looking to the right on the bell curve.  I.e., the faster you get, the more you ride with faster folks, and the more you realize how many people out there are really fast.  So there's this tendency to subconsciously downplay our own improvement because we stop comparing ourselves to the folks we're now much better than. 

Anyway, about the word 'elite.'  Totally understand that this is a loaded word and very few folks feel comfortable calling themselves 'elite.'  So let's replace it with "next category title" for the moment.

I just pulled up results from the B2B HI distance race from last year.  Here are the quartiles among finishers:

Fastest:  24.5 mph

1Q: 20.3mph

2Q: 19.1 mph

3Q: 17.8 mph

---

So I fully accept that my understanding of 'what's fast' will change over time.  But from my point of view, the top 25% in the bike split of a half-iron distance race is pretty darned impressive - and that speed was 20.3 mph in this race. 

Alternatively, only 6.5% of the finishers in B2B HI race exceeded 22mph.  From my point of view, top 6.5% of bike split in HI race is a suitably high bar for 'next category title,'  irrespective of whether we like that title to be 'elite' or 'mashed potatoes.' 

So I know folks can look at me with a straight face and say truthfully they don't feel top 5% in a HI distance race qualifies you as 'elite,' but it still sounds pretty fast to me.

2011-05-20 8:33 AM
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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?

I live and train in the Appalachian Mtns.  I only see 20 on the flats.  Sometimes working hard and climbing it goes down to 7.  But then the downhill comes and it goes up to 40.  So  my average is usually about 14-15 on a good day.  But I'm new and have 2 incredibly busy kids, so maybe if I found more time to get out and ride it would help.  Good job on the 20 mph and you'll go even faster on race day!

jami 



2011-05-20 8:36 AM
in reply to: #3509426

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
yeats - 2011-05-20 7:54 AM I think a lot of people get caught up in a speed game on the bike leg of a tri, wanting to hit 20, or 21, or 22+, etc. because it sounds fast...and it does. But then you look at their run and they've totally blown up, ruining their chances of a great overall time in a race. Read enough race reports around here and that old adage, "the run course is littered with great bike splits," often rings true, especially at the HIM and IM distance.


So, you've seen me race?  Wink

Mark
2011-05-20 8:45 AM
in reply to: #3509426


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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?

yeats - 2011-05-20 6:54 AM I think a lot of people get caught up in a speed game on the bike leg of a tri, wanting to hit 20, or 21, or 22+, etc. because it sounds fast...and it does. But then you look at their run and they've totally blown up, ruining their chances of a great overall time in a race. Read enough race reports around here and that old adage, "the run course is littered with great bike splits," often rings true, especially at the HIM and IM distance.

 

I aspire to one day be able to blame my lousy run on a killer bike split.......

2011-05-20 8:59 AM
in reply to: #3509658

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Subject: RE: First 20 mph ride, errrrrrr maybe?
jmot - 2011-05-20 8:45 AM

yeats - 2011-05-20 6:54 AM I think a lot of people get caught up in a speed game on the bike leg of a tri, wanting to hit 20, or 21, or 22+, etc. because it sounds fast...and it does. But then you look at their run and they've totally blown up, ruining their chances of a great overall time in a race. Read enough race reports around here and that old adage, "the run course is littered with great bike splits," often rings true, especially at the HIM and IM distance.

 

I aspire to one day be able to blame my lousy run on a killer bike split.......

 

LOL.  That's so true for me it hurts.

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