Make sure the road is safe and that no matter how hard you are trying keep your head up to spot any hazards - or try completing session cycling indoors where you can concentrate on the efforts alone. If you want a more structured session try this one. If we assume you usually average 14mph on the flat, ride for minutes to warm up before finding a reasonably flat stretch of road.
When you get there cycle for two minutes at 16mph. Choose a harder gear, and maintain the same cadence rather than trying to pedal faster. After pedalling hard for two minutes change back into your easier gear, slow down and take it easy for five minutes — but keep your legs pedalling, this helps the recovery process.
If it feels too easy next time aim to go 3, 4 or 5mph quicker during your interval than you would normally ride. After a few trips out you will know what works for you. No problem at all, since that is not the challenge.
The challenge is to slowly get you and your legs used to cycling at 16mph instead of 14mph. You can gain strength with specific gym training - but building up your cycling muscles and developing your efficiency as a bike rider takes place over a long period of time, there is no substitute for time on the bike when it comes to improving cycling fitness.
If you ride regularly your average speed will gradually increase as will the distance that you feel comfortable riding. However, to speed up your development and to establish good techniques and help build some cycling muscle there are exercises you can practice while on the bike. Fast pedalling has greater dependency on your cardiovascular system than slow pedalling in a heavy gear. Fast pedalling helps you to be more efficient as well.
Therefore you need to do both types of training in your cycling — fast legs and big gears — so that when you put them both together you get the speed you need. Pushing very big gears at very low speeds works in much the same way as the weight lifter who lifts heavy weights very slowly. Instead of building up one fibre of a muscle and making it stronger, it adds more fibres to the muscle making it far stronger.
After a good warm up, find a steady drag with a shallow gradient and pick a gear that requires you to pedal slowly to keep it turning.
You should be doing around 50rpm, less and you may strain your knees so be careful. As you pedal you will feel all your leg muscles working. After a minute of this switch to an easier gear and pedal fast, once you feel recovered repeat. Do this up to 10 times in your ride once or twice a week. Pedalling fast is important to get your muscles firing rapidly and establish the right connections between your brain, nervous system and the muscle fibres.
On a flat bit of road find a gear you are comfortable in and make a note of your speed. Change down to an easier gear and see if you can still keep the same speed by pedalling faster. Try turning your legs as fast as you can but stop when you start bouncing on the saddle. If you really want to go all out you can buy speed. Aerodynamic tubing on bikes, aero-profile spokes and deep-section rims help reduce your drag, enabling you to go faster. However, the human body causes about 70 per cent of the total drag the bicycle and wheels about 30 per cent , so improvements to your riding position will be the most important factor.
Before you start shelling out money remember that these improvements will be very small compared with those that could be gained by losing weight, riding more and getting fitter. There are two reasons to wear tight-fitting cycling clothes. One, the material is designed to wick away heat and sweat, keeping you cool and dry, which makes it far less tiring to ride. Two, loose baggy clothing adds a lot of drag, which will definitely slow you down.
Look for slim-fitting garments and do away with any flapping tops. Do zips up if you want to go faster. The really serious even cover their shoes with Lycra booties. Scanning the forums there are plenty of people wondering if their average speed is enough to allow them to ride with a club or enter a race. Many things influence your average speed on a ride; wind direction and strength, terrain, road surface, humidity and heat and traffic volume.
If you become too obsessed with minor changes you can feel demoralised on the slow days, even though a slower speed might not represent your effort or fitness levels but be due to changes in conditions.
Chasing ever faster averages on a daily basis will leave you strung out and tired. Plus it might encourage you to take more risks as the speed becomes more important than the ride. All of the very best deals out there on the tech brand's products.
Maybe this helps some of you who are interested to put a few mph on top, if you are interested. If not, just be a happy rider and keep on going anyway! Have fun! John from Manchester. What a old fart community? I am 69 years old. I started riding about 12 years ago when I was still working.
It was more for fun. I would average around 10 miles over several sessions per week. The bike was to replace jogging. In December I suffered a heart attack while riding my bike.
I crashed and burned on the road. Two stints and I made a full recovery. Currently, I am riding 80 — miles a week in 3 or 4 sessions. I start out with a mile goal. I ride mostly in town so my miles per hour.
I take each ride as an adventure. I started at an average speed of I try to ride everyday. Since the beginning of the pandemic I was furloughed and rather than sit at home wallowing in self pity I decided to take up cycling again. I have loved every minute of it. I started off slowly averaging mph doing short 20 miles plus rides in the winter months. I have since added a smart trainer to my training regimen which is so beneficial.
It has improved my cadence, speed and endurance on the road. I look forward to the long Sunday rides which are usually about miles long depends on time constraints. My average speed on these rides is I have started doing weights as well in the gym as I want to shift some of the weight to help me climb better. Cycling is as every knows, a low impact exercise so I need to mix it up.
So anyone reading this and feels disillusioned, remember how I felt. Cycling saved me. I always feel ten times better and a good long ride. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
Our cycling expert editors and writers choose every product we review. We may earn an affiliate commission if you buy from one of our product links, at no extra cost to you. This income supports our site. Stan Purdum replies: Many beginning road cyclists ride at average speeds between 10 and 14 mph on the road.
Want to learn more about improving your average speed on a road bike? Comments I have been riding for years no training at mph. Wonderful and inspirational, I just started biking so have new goals! Add in some wind and some hills and you can throw out your times and MPH.
Personally, looking back on Strava, I improved at a rate of about 1. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Footer Affiliate Disclosure Our cycling expert editors and writers choose every product we review. Follow Us Pinterest Facebook. Privacy Policy. Search the site Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website. The size and quality of your bike , your biking skill, and the environment around you can greatly affect your cycling speed.
On average, your maximum speed will be at about 30 MPH. For professionals, the maximum speed raises to about 45 MPH. You also need to understand that there are a lot of subcategories within the biking industry. Unpaced biking is for raw, natural biking powder. On the other hand, motor biking assists the user in their speed making them go at a higher speed than normal. This means that the cyclist is facing the wind without any added motor paced support.
The first person to break the record is Sam Wittingham. His record winning speed was at However, there are a few people who have broken this average.
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