Fast, Average or slow?

When I go out for my long rides (40-60 miles) I'm averaging 17.50 to 18 mph. The routes that I take are considered flat. I consider my pace to be neither fast, average nor slow, but to be the appropriate training pace/effort (z2) for long distance base building. Why are you concerned how your training paces measure up?

As far as top cyclists' speeds, there's a little even over the pond going on right now, Tour d'somethingoranother. Why don't you check that out.

Fast compared to what?  I'm a little bit faster than you, but I'm one of the slowest riders in my tri club.  But then again, Heather Gollnick is a member of my tri club...

All you really need to worry about is working to improve your own cycling ability.  Just keep building your base and the speed will come.  Bear is a great example - he does little or no speed training and pushes close to a 30 mph average after just a few years of serious riding.

Mark

For a HIM for distance the top places will avg around 23-25 mph. You can do a search for big HIM results and that avg 17-18 mph will place you somewhere MOP to BOP

Wrong, training is NOT competition, and the OPs post questions how his training paces stack up. If he had asked about race paces, I would have an entirely different answer.

18 mph for a "long" ride would put you in the slow group where I live.   We had a group of a dozen or so riders from our club who did 22 mph for seventy miles last Saturday.

Race pace 2-3 mph faster than your training pace?  I'm having a tough time with that.  Guess I'm more of the school that if you haven't done it in training, then you ain't going to do it in a race, particularly for anything longer than a sprint tri (unless maybe you've been dogging it in training).   My race distance TT's in training are always faster than my races, if for no other reason that I'm not doing it after swimming.  

Mark

amiine - 2006-07-20 8:45 AM

RedCorvette - 2006-07-20 8:12 AM

Fast compared to what?  I'm a little bit faster than you, but I'm one of the slowest riders in my tri club.  But then again, Heather Gollnick is a member of my tri club...All you really need to worry about is working to improve your own cycling ability.  Just keep building your base and the speed will come.  Bear is a great example - he does little or no speed training and pushes close to a 30 mph average after just a few years of serious riding.Mark

bear - are you that fast? are you using a spanish MD by any chance? If you are, can I have his phone number, HA!

I think he mis-spelled KPH; 30 kph might be about right.

No, like Lance, the only thing I'm on is my bike (a LOTS). And I am now doing speedwork, tempowork on the bike for the first time.

Again, you used me as an example, so check my logs. Every ride I do that isn't a tempo or speed session is in the 17.5-18mph range, which is 7mph less than my recent TT pace.

If you're looking for a site to show you where your heart rate should be, check out this thread. It's long but has a ton of good info in it.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=25733&posts=210&highlight=220-age&highlightmode=1#M460825

Gosh, Bear can't even give a guy compliment anymore    Okay, I appologize, you're not nearly as fast as I suggested.  Maybe you should consider riding more  

Apples and oranges.   I was talking about bike legs in Tri's, not stand-alone competitive bike TT's.  Different animals.  Of course, there's going to be a gap between ave. speed during long training rides and races, duh.  What I said was that I am faster doing race distance TT's in training than I am in an actual tri.  Has to do both with having done the swim beforehand and leaving something in the tank for the run afterward.  I try to do race distance TT's in all three disciplines about once of month or so.  Two primary reasons: 1.) it's fits in with the Friel periodization philosophy that I'm trying to follow with my coach and 2.) it provides a periodic yard stick to evaluate the effectiveness of training relative to racing.  

Mark

I love tri's because it is a solitary sport.  I recently started hitting the 18mph training pace which marks a breakthrough for me.  IMHO, speed is relative to who you are and where you have been, and why you tri.  I tri more for the love of the sport and to try and get better with each race.  I usually place and take home a little hardware, but I do it to cross the line, not to beat the next guy.  Nothing wrong with those who do it for the competition piece, it's just not where I'm at....yet.

amiine - 2006-07-20 7:48 PM

The Mac - 2006-07-20 10:09 AM

I love tri's because it is a solitary sport.  I recently started hitting the 18mph training pace which marks a breakthrough for me.  IMHO, speed is relative to who you are and where you have been, and why you tri.  I tri more for the love of the sport and to try and get better with each race.  I usually place and take home a little hardware, but I do it to cross the line, not to beat the next guy.  Nothing wrong with those who do it for the competition piece, it's just not where I'm at....yet.

 

You TRI to get better with each race, you place on local races and still you don't do it for competition... Then why don't just do the training and skip the races?

Cuz I want to whoop the a$$es of people in my division....whoops, I mean because I love the comraderie of the people there.