What is a good speed for a novice?

martinlross

As a fresher to road cycling I go for an hour plus cycle every week or so on my new road bike and average 16-17mph (or 26 kmh for my non Scottish friends). I am interested to know what other people's average speed is for the following reason:

At the end of said typical ride I am pleasantly knackered but feel that I'm not really exerting myself. This is reinforced by the fact that I am 28 lbs overweight and enjoy a happy but basically unhealthy lifestyle....

Heart rate analysis seems a way forward but I would dearly like to know what speed/heart rate targets others set themselves.

Mart

RalleighOke

Hi Martinlross,

It really depends on what your level of fitness is, what type of terrain you are riding i.e. hills, flats etc.

I for example have a lot of hills and when I started my average was 22 km/h. Yet when I went to a famous weekend ride (mostly flat) I was able to avg. 30km/h. I don't have a HRM yet, so can't tell you what my HR was like.

But it sounds as if you had a good start to avg. 26km/h.

The nice thing about it is with practise it only gets better.

Good luck on increasing that avg.

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Shibumi

Mart
I don't think anyone else's average speed or Heart rate is useful to you. The important thing is what is right for you. I recommend you get yourself a HR monitor, work out you HR 'zones' (there are a few different methods, all producing roughly the same answers, and can be found on the web), and try and ride within your fat buring zone. This is a zone which is not too tough (you should still be able to hold a conversation) where you should spend your long rides in, and get those excess lbs knocked off. As you get fitter, your average speed will increase for the same HR.

2LAP

In the UK, the first goal for a Time Trial rider is to go under the hour for a 25 mile TT. It does take some time to get there.

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Lazy legs

Mart, it also depends on what your goals are. If you just want to loose those extra pounds do the following:
1) Body pounds = go with what Shibumi said!
2) Monetary pounds = my account nr is ....

If you wantto go for tt'ing or road racing it's a total different ball game, then you can look at some of the other training threads on the forum there are heaps of usefull tips and onfo.

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Not in the situation.

Shibumi

I'd say that the first goal for a TTer is to perform a 10 mile TT in less than 30 mins, breaking 'evens', ie exceeding an average of 20mph. I was at a TT last night with 30 other relatively fit triathletes, and 6 of them have still not gone under the 30mins (although they are still in their first season or so).

25 miles for a TTer is an attainable goal, but definitely not the first one! As you say 2LAP, it takes some time to get there.

maarten

Differs from person to person and your fitness as most of my mates and I ride 2 to 5 hours at that speed(30min for 10miles), for trained races this is more or less endurance ride speed on easy roads with decent weather.

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2LAP

I completed my first 25 minute 10 when I was 15 and went under the hour for a 25 at 16. I think these are good goals for the club cyclist that is starting out at and wants to be good at TT's.

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2LAP

I watched the hour record attempt on Wednesday night in Manchester, Hutchinson climbed off after 40 minutes a long way off Boardman's record pace!

I was just thinking how far off Boardman's record is for the amature cyclist let alone the beginner cyclist. It is a frightening gap!!

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ric_stern/RST

The difference is *huge*. At the power output that Boardman put out for the 'Superman' Hour, i could maintain for ~ 120-secs, when i was a 2nd cat rider. I'm the same height and mass as CB. Sometimes, i'm going down hill thinking this is fast (50 - 55 km/hr) and then realise i'm going slower than Hour Record pace

Ric

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kylewhite

That's pretty impressive, but I must say I agree with Shibumi.
I didn't started cycling till I was 40, and although I was fairly fit, it still took quite a while before I did 10 in under 30.

SteveJC

Well thats all been good for me to read, for sure I can do a 10 in 30, it just gets tough after the initial gains right?

Guess I need some fixed goals to measure progress, which I need to see to keep the motivation up.

Shibumi

I need goals to motivate me too. I started trying to get fit a few years ago. I had been playing rugby for many years, but that was more strength and skill based rather than aerobic. Anyhow, as a suggestion, here are some of my goals, in order of attainment!:
1/ Complete a half marathon
2/ Complete a triathlon
3/ Don't come last in a '10'
4/ Don't come last in a '25'
5/ Break 30 for a '10'
4/ Complete a 50 mile training ride
5/ Win the club's "most improved time trialler of the year" (not hard to do when you start at 33 mins!)
6/ Break evens (75 mins) for a '25'
7/ Exceed 24 mph for a '10'
8/ Exceed 24 mph for a '25'
9/ Exceed 25mph for a '10'
10/ Break the hour for a '25'

I've not achieved all of these, but it's easy to see that once you've reached one goal, it's easy to set another one. Note that not all of these goals are SMART, particularly 3/ and 4/, but achieving them was still fun!

I've also had other goals, which have really just been by-products of the above, eg weight loss of Xlbs, and a reduction in my resting heart rate .

Geonz

If you're only riding once a week then being pleasantly knackered is a good thing, doesn't matter what the numbers are. Guarantee you won't be doing the stuff of the bragging on the thread on a once a week ride. Ride more and you can balance more of that fun but unhealthy lifestyle :-)

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