Just curious... av speed on flats?

[markojp]

Bearing in mind that, back in the day, your smallest rear cog was probably a 13t or maybe a 12t. Even a 53/12 is a lower gear than 50/11. I'm the wrong(right?) side of 60 and the last time I was bike-fit was probably 2001. On a flat road with a good surface I'm probably comfortable up to 28-30 kph and I ride a compact 50-34 and 11-32 cassette. No long rides for me though----rarely do I get up to 2 hours.

For racing in the terrain we had, the 53 was needed for downhills. Lord knows how we did 39 × 23 for some of the ups. My knees hurt and I'm sweating just thinking about it. When I got the latest ride 4 years ago, i didn't know any better. In retrospect a 52 × 36 with an 11-28 would have been the call, and a compact on the very off chance of doing an alps bike tour. It was sort of like coming back to skiing looking for some 205's to get going again.

 

[tch]

Am I the only one still riding a triple? 52/39/30, nine-speed close-ratio in back. It's deceptively hilly around NW Ct; a typical 30 miler will involve 2,000' of elevation gain. The hills are short, but sometimes surprisingly steep, considering it's not really "mountain" country. At 65, I need my 30x25 to get up some of the 9% climbs here.

Flat...it depends on wind. Maybe 17-19 depending on the day.

 

[François Pugh]

If you're riding in a 52 × 12 ( smallest cog as you said), you must be a grinder then. 80-90 rpm''s and you'd be going faster. No worries. It's a style, not a judgement. I'm certainly not a Froome crazy spinner myself. Getting out for a bit of rolling zen and some fitness is all that really matters.

Yeah, I know. I need to transition to more spinning and less grinding. Maybe my feet will get faster with practice.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Am I the only one still riding a triple? 52/39/30, nine-speed close-ratio in back. It's deceptively hilly around NW Ct; a typical 30 miler will involve 2,000' of elevation gain. The hills are short, but sometimes surprisingly steep, considering it's not really "mountain" country. At 65, I need my 30x25 to get up some of the 9% climbs here.

Flat...it depends on wind. Maybe 17-19 depending on the day.

A lot of doubles these days have a lower gear than your triple. 34-34 is pretty common.

 

[tch]

Oh, I get that ^^^. I just don't want to invest in a new drive-train -- or bike. I've got 18 years and more than 40,000 miles on mine (frame is ti, so lifetime) with occasional chain and chain-ring replacements. Cheaper than a new bike. The real dilemma will be when I can't find 9-speed hardware anymore.

 

[Ski&ride]

I honestly don’t know. I don’t ride long enough on flat road to get a meaningful average.

Around this part of the region, we joke about the premium a level lot carries! There are only a few roads that are close to flat for more than a 1/4 mile. It’s usually one of the main thoroughfare, full of speeding cars! I try not to be on those roads for any extended distance.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I had a guy in the shop looking for 7-spd 105 last week. Got some bad news for ya buddy. He's like "maybe upgrade to 7-spd Ultegra?"

 

[Ken_R]

... on a flat road, or flat section of road, what is a typical speed and gear that you find yourself using? This 'speed' is something you could hold a conversation or sing/humm/whistle a tune while riding. No chest beating, no intervals, no tongue on the bars, and riding alone. If it's changed over time, was it weight loss? Increase in flexibility and change in your riding position? More time/interest? Other factors? If you're slower, why? Age, accident? Illness? Less time or interest? Just curious.

On my road bike 52-16 or so. That is without a headwind.

 

[wooglin]

Once upon a time I was riding sub-5 hour solo centuries on the flats. I don’t have time to log the hours for that anymore. And I still could barely hang on the the fast guys.

 

[markojp]

Once upon a time I was riding sub-5 hour solo centuries on the flats. I don’t have time to log the hours for that anymore. And I still could barely hang on the the fast guys.

The best was after race season was over and everyone was super fit. We'd go out for 100-115 miles and just roll along, stop for a coffee and snack, and continue on. Man, that was fun, fast, and seemed easy. I have just about zero desire to ride centuries any more with one exception... maybe next year if there's a vaccine. This one I'll have to travel for.

 

[Ski&ride]

The best was after race season was over and everyone was super fit. We'd go out for 100-115 miles and just roll along, stop for a coffee and snack, and continue on. Man, that was fun, fast, and seemed easy.

Yeah, remember those good days.

Doesn’t even need to be racing. Just riding hard, climbing hard, or riding lots... it’s pure joy to roll up monster hills as though it’s just a shallow incline. Some season, I still achieve that state of bliss by September or October.

But the revere is true too. Much more brutal. It’s no fun to crawl up some baby hills huffing and puffing...

 

[Fuller]

I'm all about my Trek Speed Concept TT bike these days. I'm not doing group rides due to Covid and it's very flat here in Pinellas County. My 56 mile race pace is around 21 mph but it has to be a good day for me to get that. I'm at about 88% of FTP for 2 hrs 40min in that situation. Backing off from that I'd say 18-19 mph is "tempo" My cadence is going to range from low 80's to mid 90's. There are a number of guys in my age group (65-69) who can do better but I was 5th out of 29 riders in the bike leg last year (Miami Man national race).

 

[KevinF]

There aren't a whole lot of truly "flat" roads around here, at least not for very long... I'd say I could hold 17, 18mph for a "while".

I run 46x36 chainrings with an 11x28... I guess I push like a 46x17,18 on the flats?

Over the years, I've managed a few sub six-hour centuries (16.5mph or so) on ridiculously flat courses (Maryland's Seagull Century or the Tri-State seacoast century out of Hampton, NH). Those efforts were with the benefit of at least some drafting though.

 

[Ski&ride]

Over the years, I've managed a few sub six-hour centuries (16.5mph or so) on ridiculously flat courses (Maryland's Seagull Century or the Tri-State seacoast century out of Hampton, NH). Those efforts were with the benefit of at least some drafting though

That last sentence is important.

If I’m on an extended flat stretch, and there’re others around, I definitely want to work together with them. It’s just so much more FUN! The speed boost is more of a side-effect! The feeling of “cheating physics” in drafting, is just GREAT!

Which led to another thought, the joy of the activity.

Is out riding enjoyable? I’m sure it is for most people. Or they wouldn’t be out riding.

Is going faster more fun? I KNOW it is. What’s “faster” for me, is always MORE FUN, for me! Even though in terms of “numbers”, says average speed, is pathetic by someone else’s standard!

So, what’s the point of measuring speed when one isn’t racing? Are we subconsciously competing with others? Or just with ourselves? If it’s the latter, I don’t actually need a cyclecomputer. I know by watching the trees go by. Or by how much sooner I finish the ride, or crest that monster hill with so much less effort!

It’s almost like asking how do you measure the fun of a powder day? It doesn’t always scale with the depth of the snow.

 

[Tom K.]

The best was after race season was over and everyone was super fit. We'd go out for 100-115 miles and just roll along, stop for a coffee and snack, and continue on. Man, that was fun, fast, and seemed easy.

Same, and I also remember how we would chat about how much harder this ride was last spring, and that somebody had shortened the climbs!

 

[KevinF]

Oh yeah, drafting makes a huge difference. I've been in a couple pacelines on big group rides where I've been wondering "who is pulling this???". I was doing the MS150 ride from Boston to P-town (end of Cape Cod) one year and got into a paceline a few miles from the end... Whoever was at the front was pushing 25, 30mph which is my all-out sprint... Sitting back a few slots was pretty comfy. People were rotating off the front and I was in about second or third place and was wondering what I was going to do when my turn at the front came; thankfully we encountered traffic and the pack had to slow down so I never got to demonstrate my total inability to ride at the front at that speed.

The closest I ever came to "caring" about on-bike performance were the two years I did the Mt. Washington Hill Climb. It's 7.5 miles, average grade of 12% or something. It's absolutely ridiculous.

I spent the spring and summer doing hill repeats., sprinting hills, plotting out stupidly hilly routes, etc. There's a half-mile of 10, 11% pretty near me, so I'd do that over and over and over again.

All that training and crap... it wasn't fun. The hill climb itself in August is most definitely not fun. September -- i.e., the event was over -- I'd do rides with friends and have to dial it back ridiculously far on hills or I'd just leave them behind or leave them absolutely gassed from trying to keep up.

Everybody's definition of "fun" is different. It's fun being able to ride like that, but the work required to get to and maintain that... No thanks.

 

[markojp]

Yeah, I was careful to qualify my question by excluding sitting in a group or even another rider.

 

[martyg]

I've been having these rides that I cannot understand.... I've been doing a landscaping project - and moving tons of rocks, so it is a serious strength training block. Every few days I go out for a ride at recovery pace: 125 - 140 bpm. My average speed in a 32 mile loop with about 1500' of climbing is 19.5mph.

My time on this loop is about 10% faster than normal. One factor might be that I had stem cell injections in January and am doing mobility drills 2X per day. Eager to see what my skiing looks like from increased mobility / stability.

 

[martyg]

Oh yeah, drafting makes a huge difference.

If you want to do well in the Iron Horse (provided that you are a climber to begin with) you get into a fast well organized group through the flats and rolling terrain in the valley. It makes a 5 - 7 minute difference in overall time.

 

[Tom K.]

I've been having these rides that I cannot understand.... I've been doing a landscaping project - and moving tons of rocks, so it is a serious strength training block. Every few days I go out for a ride at recovery pace: 125 - 140 bpm. My average speed in a 32 mile loop with about 1500' of climbing is 19.5mph.

My time on this loop is about 10% faster than normal. One factor might be that I had stem cell injections in January and am doing mobility drills 2X per day. Eager to see what my skiing looks like from increased mobility / stability.

Do you think you might have been overtraining on the bike, before the landscaping project diverted your time and attention?

I remember reading an article years ago that seemed to include some actual data showing well over half of any Cat1 field was overtrained when they showed up to a race.