I Just Don't Believe It!

Sillyoldtwit

Has anyone else noticed, or is it just me being the original sceptic?

Every so often someone posts saying they just inherited their grandfather's old Raleigh 3 speed bike or a friend sold them his old iron frame etc.
Anyway, on their first 15 mile hilly course they averaged 20.6mph, and they usually finish by saying something like, "am I doing OK?"

Am I doing OK!? They know that figure is damn good for a first ride (or even a hundredth ride), because they have read around the forum.

It seems to me they only post to get praise heaped upon them - god knows for what reason.

Why don't I believe them? Well, unless you're exceptionally gifted, I think to say you averaged 20mph plus on a hilly course on your first ride is bulls--t!!

And has anyone noticed they invariably never post again! TYSON

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formernoreasta

THANK YOU!

wiredued

LOL.... BTW I did a hilly 16.5 mile loop at 17.6mph avg how am I doing?

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Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. http://www.earnharts.com/html/reala...ecific.asp?id=3

ilmooz

On my 20 mile ride on pockmarked swoopy asphalt I average 15.5 MPH, one abdominal cramp and one calf cramp. Not bad for mid-season.

bikeguy

Doesn't seem unreasonable, of course some people think a 40 meter hill makes a course "hilly".

Fitz_NH

My first ride on a road bike was last week having never been on a road bike before save for when I was test fitting. Ten miles total. Mostly flat. 45 minutes. I'm slow though. Hope that makes you feel better.

Fitz

kopride

Welcome to the internet. You only need to glance at the table where people list their alleged FTP in the Power Training forum. The Cycle Ops website has a pretty good chart of FTP averages for world class cyclists. Here it is:

Road Race Averages for Six Professional Cyclists
Age 27.3 years
Maximum power output (peak watts) 390 watts
Maximum power output per kilogram body weight
(peak watts per kg body weight)
5.5 watts
Watts at threshold2 248 watts
Heart rate at threshold 137 bpm
"Now you can compare your riding data with some of the best in the world. Unless, you, too, are one of the best in the world, just don’t take the comparison too seriously."

By these standards, our little FTP chart on this forum is wildly optimistic. It is probably just a little more accurate than a penis size chart on a singles website. Or, a fishing website where posters list fish that are larger than the world records posted by the various fish and game agencies. But, on the other hand, this is one of the few fora around where there are some coaches and knowledgeable people who actually do have valuable info. Are you going to take the laboring oar and start the penis size thread? Then we can really see that the internet posters not only have better thresholds on average than world class cyclists, but they also have larger penises than most established porn stars!

Kinema

My first ride was on a trashy mountain bike along around 15km of flat, averaging probz around 18km an hour at best. I couldnt walk afterwards, downed about 2 litres of water in 2 minutes straight after, and was in agony for days.


Now i have a piece of trash road bike built in soviet russia and made mostly of rust, doing 25km in less than an hour, can average just under 30km/h and, while ive only had time to ride 30km at the most, I know i can easily go alot further.

The reason people post stuff like that is because affirmation is always nice, and if there getting involved in cycling by themselves i guess they cant get it from anywhere else.

I have a friend whose incredibly fit, i refuse to ride with him because he'd find it so easy it would trivilise my pain. I deserve to be able to complain about my pain!

kopride

I have a power meter so I don't track the GPS data, but my riding buddy does. Here is a moderately hilly ride (2400 total feet of elevation gained) completed by 4 guys who are "relatively" fit. This guy was the last guy up the final hill so you can assume that some of us completed this ride as much as 5 minutes ahead. The Heart rates were my buddies. My power meter showed average watts for me of 178 watts for this ride. I can't imagine a newbie just hitting the road and averaging the 220 watts or so for an hour solo to do it. As you stated, it is BS

Summary Data Total Time (h:m:s) 1:46:19 3:32 pace Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:46:19 3:32 pace Distance (mi ) 30.08 Moving Speed (mph) 17.0 avg. 48.5 max. Elevation Gain (ft) +2,476 / -2,454 Avg. Heart Rate 153 bpm Zone 4.3 Temperature (°F) 78.4°F avg. 82.4°F high Wind Speed ( mph) SSW 5.2 avg. SSW 6.9 max.

wiredued

Maybe I should define my "hilly" ride it starts at 500ft above sea level goes up to about 750ft then down to 300ft then back to 500ft with a hill at the end that always takes .4 mph off my average speed. Is that "hilly" enough?

__________________
Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. http://www.earnharts.com/html/reala...ecific.asp?id=3

kopride

Hard to say based upon just that data. I was surprised the first time I rode with someone who had a GPS unit. Our "rolling" ride in SE PA USA has a total elevation change of 2400 feet of elevation over 90 minutes; and our "hilly ride" runs about 3500 for the whole 2 hour ride. Check Google for the course you ride and you will be pretty surprised at the change in elevation. But the answer to your question is that I would not consider 450 feet in elevation change over an hour to be, by any stretch of the imagination, a "hilly" ride unless the grade is pretty steep and you live in South Jersey where they define "hill" as a highway overpass. I define "hilly" as being about 1200 feet in elevation per hour, and the Rocky Mountian guys would probably think that this type of elevation gain is pretty pedestrian. They might see 5000 feet of elevation gain in their version of a "hilly" ride. Here is a "moderately" hilly ride in SE PA USA where we averaged close to 17 mph over 3 hours.

Total Time (h:m:s) 2:55:25 3:36 pace Moving Time (h:m:s) 2:53:10 3:34 pace Distance (mi ) 48.55 Moving Speed (mph) 16.8 avg. 39.5 max. Elevation Gain (ft) +3,284 / -3,267

Elevation Change Total (ft) Total Elevation 6,551 Elevation Gain 3,284 Elevation Loss 3,267 Net Elevation Change 17
Vertical Speed Average ( ft/min) Maximum (ft/min) Ascent 18.9 282.2 Descent -18.9 -570.9
Grade Average (%) Maximum (%) Overall Grade 0.0 -- Ascent Grade 3.1 11.9 Descent Grade -2.2 -16.0 Relevant Data Start Elevation (ft): 180 Finish Elevation (ft): 198 Min. Elevation (ft): 59 Max. Elevation (ft): 680

PartisanRanger

Yep, it happens all the time, guys will greatly exaggerate or just plain lie about their abilities. A few months ago a new cyclist came in asking if he should trying racing because he could hold a 25mph average easily for hours at a time.

millzebub

Hey there,
who are you referring to in this?? I'm curious...

Piotr

Your Cycle-Ops chart is probably accurate for professional telemarketers , not cyclists. Now, if their power at threshold (not "peak power") is 390W, at 5.5 W/kg that would make their average weight 156 lbs (71kg). I can buy that.

Apparently, their concept of threshold is a little skewed since I just averaged 248 W up a 6 mile climb and I'm a lowly cat. 3, 120 pound rider .

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