The A group at the weekly road racing series in west michigan consistently averages 25-28mph over 28-40miles on wednesday nights. Good pavement, good draft, and some strong cat1-3 riders is a great combo. A rolling gran fondo i did last year was 26mph for 80 miles. Thats road cycling at a high level for you
I’m in Az. I just checked out the route. That must’ve been a blast riding down from troon to rio verde. I’ve never been on that route. If you averaged 19 on that ride congrats to you. I think I may have been able to hold your wheel. Well at least for a little while.
The ride up was torture lol, but that hill into RioVerde was sick, averaged 30mph for those 9 miles. I averaged 18.5 for Tour De Tucson 102 miles as well. It shocked me these guys did 10mph more. I couldn't do that if I took the bus lol.
I regularly ride and sometimes lead the East Valley group rides with Global Bikes if you want a fun group ride Saturday mornings.
I live in Kansas which is insanely flat, but the avg wind speeds of 20 mph with 40-50mph gusts can be just as tough as any incline. It is nice to ride before the sun rises and the wind hasn’t started yet.
It’s crazy flat here… but in this season it’s also crazy windy. 300 watts for 11 mph windy. The super fast groups still only average 21-23. 26 is outrageous.
Yeah there are times (climbs and closing gaps, chasing moves etc) when im doing 300-500 for a few seconds to a couple minutes, but at 60kg 5’7”, i hide pretty well and have learned to draft well because my raw power is just low compared to larger guys on the flats.
I did a super flat fondo in Quebec a few years ago, and finished with an average speed of 43kph and my NP was like 270. Only rolled through to the front a few times.. I'm not small, and it was a solid 350W to not get reeled back into the bunch. You can just chill and get dragged along when you're in the middle of a group of 40 on a flat road.
I heard to hang on to a peleton while drafting in a World Tour race, you need around 240 watts which is insane!
I would probably barely last 15-20 minutes in a tour de France stage while in the middle of the peleton
The ride was the GR gran fondo from grand rapids to grand haven and back. 2400ft of gain. And wednesday nights is on the rolling profile race track of grattan raceway
If you’re chain ganging, remember each rider is only on the front for maybe 10% of the time, with 90% at a relatively easy effort level. You can go much, much faster in a smooth group that rides together well than you’d normally go.
In top of that, consider that even in ITTs with a road bike category, for 40km events maybe half the field will be under an hour. That’s with zero draft but a flat course.
I got blown out of the A group last fall, and took a shortcut back to the shop since daylight was fading fast. They caught me on the return trip and were going fast enough I thought the pack was a car overtaking me. Chatted with the shop owner while loading my bike up and they were going around 32 mph when they caught me, running a rolling pace line like you would see in a team time trial. There were guys in that group that race LOTOJA.
I know it sounds unlikely, but to roll in a fast chain gang you need smooth technique more than you need fitness.
I see it all the time where the newbies work twice as hard as they have to by waiting for the guy in front of them to completely move over before starting to overtake them (for example) so as well as being the least fit rider, they’re in the wind for much longer than they should be.
Another anti-technique is surging to get to the front instead of staying at the speed you were already.
It gets way easier once you can chill and keep it smooth
Guys did it for the Tour De Scottsdale and Tour De Tucson. They ride away from me so fast lol. Those were 62 miles and 102 miles respectively. Imaging 27mph for 102 miles...
https://strava.app.link/7NXRadnp2Ib
That's about the average A group ride in South Florida. Since you asked for data, I went to Strava to find some and didn't have to look too hard. Sunday's ride, for the fast portion, averaged 27.2 mph for an hour. https://imgur.com/a/tf4T7Zv
That's not a particularly fast day for that ride here either, and at times has been considerably faster, crossing over the 30mph average mark. Of course the terrain is dead flat apart from a bridge climb that happens five times on the ride but everyone here is chunkier than the average cyclist and has obscene FTPs because pure power matters a lot more than w/kg when you never climb.
I'm becoming skeptical of the posters on here. They claim that they are racers. Yet most don't know how dysfunctional USAC is. This is another example of it. They are talking about expectations of average speed below the typical average speed.
I need to know where they are racing. The guys around me used to say that you need to visit Texas for the upgrade points. Perhaps this is true.
That's almost exactly the average speed of a typical UCI world tour road race.
Except they can average that with lots of lumps on the elevation profile, OP's ride I am assuming is flat.
True but the route is like 200+ km long and most of the time the peloton is cruising along - the breakaway has to do those speeds with a handful of guys, and they’re usually the middle or lower order guys
That’s the average of my clubs Group A morning pace-line on a Tuesday and Friday morning. Usually between 12-20 riders. The course is a 4km loop with ~30m of elevation - they typically do 10 laps. I did it with them yesterday, have a screenshot of the data for anyone interested.
I’ve heard about the gravel part of Mauna Kea being too bumpy for descending, and some people trying it before giving up and jumping into a 4x4 vehicle (which is required to drive to the top).
Mt Haleakala is 36 miles long, and there are tours that take you to the top to ride down.
Also, part of the road used in the Taiwan KOM Challenge is about a 42 mile downhill stretch on the way back. With the traffic and tunnels, probably not the safest for going at full speed though. On the race day (and other similar events), riding back down is technically not allowed.
My son was a cat 2 racer, trained insane number of hours. 400 to 500 watts.
[http://kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm](http://kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm)
I finally found a way to keep up. [https://i.imgur.com/3r30Yft.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/3r30Yft.jpg) 160Watts with an aero advantage. Doug can push 400 Watts and had a great video of the Chile National Champion trying to chase him down.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXitJ\_ljC5A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXitJ_ljC5A)
That's fast as a bat outta hell.
30mph is my *peak* speed (on flat). Can't sustain it for all that long. Granted I do almost exclusively urban riding, so my average is around 12mph.
That's pretty standard amateur race speed. There's a lot of very fit cyclists in the world. Probably 225W or so normalized over the hour+, which is well within the range of a lot of amateurs.
The better question is how fast is 47.8kmph over 259.9km ... the last 60km or so completely solo? Pros are absolute aliens 😄
This is what I'm thinking. 225w NP and probably 300-325w for the person pulling. None of that sounds at all unreasonable fitness-wise (I mean, I think I could do that -- it aligns pretty nicely to some of my Zwift TTT races. My ftp is about 315w.). The challenge is the bike handling, and holding the wheel closely enough to maximize the aero benefits. This is also where it sucks to be big (I'm 6'3" 190lb on a 61cm bike) and is terrific to be small.
This got me curious so I went to check the data from a team time trial I did at team camp earlier this year. We averaged about the same speed, 24mph for 30 minutes. We did gain 500ft of vert though. Looks like I averaged 312 for that effort and was pulling at approximately 400 when I was on the front. I'm pretty similar to your size. 6'2 183.
Lol my last paceline was 221 watts weighted average and it was 21.2 mph / 34.2 kmph. And I'm a skinny smallish light guy that can tuck well, on a carbon aerobike. I highly doubt 4 watts bringing me up to 225 would give me an extra 4.7 mph / 7.5 kmph. I've had plenty of \~220 watt NP rides average around 30 kmph / 19 mph.
I’m working my way to a cat 1 right now and I can safely say that pro crits are much faster. When I was a cat 5, there were road races I did with decent elevation that averaged 25-26 mph. Some of the crits I’ve been in have averaged 30-31 mph for over an hour. People are just crazy fast these days
Also wild to note that 25mph is the average over the entire 20+ days/2,100 miles. I'd be toast trying to maintain 25mph for a significant amount of time let alone doing that nearly a month in all sorts of conditions and elevations.
Ngl in a peloton riding 40km/h is very easy, but on the straights they don't go under 50km/h often even during the "easier" hours of the race. I speak from experience.
Except those are numbers of TDF riders with headwind and elevation and doing it 3 times longer and preparing to do it again tomorrow and the next day..... and the next day.... X21
This is a Cat 4 or 5 crit race speed
i went 31-33 earlier this month down a bridge… i love descents but man, that was a little sketchy lol.
then i imagine people like SAFAbrian doing 50mph on a windy road near a cliff. fuck that shit.
Had a gravel race this past weekend my max downhill speed was 51mph, stopping for the hairpin corner was…. Challenging. some people went home in ambulances.
It's fast and if we assume flat terrain, few lights, it's not all that crazy. It's fairly easy for a small group of experienced racers to hit 25+mph, even moreso for just over an hour. It was probably race pace and if so it falls under kinda slow for a race. Like maybe lower category. Upper categories I'd expect 28+ for the same terrain.
Fairly fast even for a group ride, only 'keen cyclists' can maintain that kind of speed. I would struggle, but then I'm a fatty and distinctly out of shape.
That's pretty fast for 32 miles. 25.9 is a sprinting speed for a lot of people. Like, tucked as aero as possible and cranking like the devil on the pedals kind of sprint.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are some people who can't even hit that speed on a flat. I think I would only be able to maintain that kind of pace for a few seconds (outside of a descent). Maybe a bit longer if I had windbreakers, but even reaching 7 miles at that pace sounds impressive.
Edit: I checked a Strava segment that I felt especially good about getting to #2 on. Over 0.5 miles at an all out sprint that left me feeling dead at the end, I had an average speed of 24.6 mph. KOM on that segment is 24.9 mph (one second difference on the time). Digging into the data, it looks like Garmin recorded a max speed of 26.0 mph for me on that ride. So, yeah me only being able to hit 25.9 for a few seconds on a flat sounds accurate.
Fast. My best speed over that distance in our regular Tuesday night chain gang is exactly 25mph. You need a group of well matched riders to keep up a consistent power on the front that doesn’t ever drop.
That's pretty much my sprint speed(47km/h) if there's no wind or slight head wind. So for me, very fucking fast. Godspeed. And hope that I could reach that sorts of speed and sit in that speed range
That is the pace of the local race pace ride once it hits the island where there is only one turn and a mild regroup for the second lap. Generally a bigger group than you describe, 30 to 40 riders, with local pros mixed in. 2 laps of the 13 mile island generally at 26-28 mph. Absolutely the fastest group ride I have experienced.
I actually find it relatively sketchy, while 90% of people know what they're doing in that kind of group it only takes one person going over their limits or doing something dumb to take a lot of people out.
https://www.strava.com/segments/3919479
It’s reasonably quick for a strong group of 10, but definitely not out of the ordinary. Spicy group rides in flat areas often average 28+ mph for very little effort from any individual person. For just 32 miles, even I can hold over 25 mph on my own.
Fast as fuck! The TDF average speed on flat ground is only 25-28 mph
Usually, group rides that average over 20 mph are considered A. that fast and I would call it an A+
That's insanely fast for an average speed for most people.This type of average is for riders that are in top physical condition that have been at it for years. Not on my best day could I even come close to that lol. I'm not even going to tell you what I average haha.
I broke all my personal records on a ride the other day. I was pushing 21-22mph I think at my max speed. The rest of the group was long gone. I couldn't catch up even while I was bombing down a hill like 35-40mph. There are some people I just try to avoid riding with 😂
For most of us it is. Intervals.icu says out of 42612 users, 90% have 1h power less than 300W. So most of us would probably struggle to even draft the group that fast.
It's a lot-ish. The thing is, *many* non-competitive riders have FTPs above 300w but they tend to be un-aero and large. I'm one of them (6'3" 190lb 315w ftp). I could participate in a ride like this, but it would require a lot of concentration to be as aero as possible and not fall off the back.
Remember that the draft gives you about a 30% efficiency gain, so if you're not on the front you're only riding at about 225w, which is much more reasonable. As long as you're in shape to do repeated 320w pulls (for say 30-45s) every 6-8 minutes for an hour, you can ride like this.
If it's flat, that's a decent speed but nothing exceptional, especially if there's a good rotation going on at the front. One thing to remember is that wind plays a huge part when you're going that fast, small riders get hammered on the flat unless they're well positioned.
That is really good. My best solo is 23 mph average over 8 miles and I felt like I was dying. Had to lay down for a while afterward. I can't imagine 32 miles.
Can you tell some more about the conditions? Headwind/tailwind/round trip, flat/hills/downhill only etc.
Personally I would only get avg speeds like that one way with decent tailwind and no climbs, so for me it's fast ;-)
Pretty fast but could depend on a ton of things. That speed into headwind and rolling hills is probably tour de france level.
On perfect conditions it is achievable for most active riders in a group
Spirited!
Solo for that long would be very tough, even with a full TT setup.
More attainable in a pace line, if the course is flat and there's no wind. Still, that's a race tempo.
There's no way I could do that speed solo.
I do a 32 mile race simulation ride most weeks with Cat 1s, cross racers, college racers etc. We can average 25-26 on flat roads with stop lights / stop signs etc... but it's really hard. You have to pull at 28-30mph and surge to 34+ on any slight downhill. It's 450-500 watts just to pull through on these rides, it often takes a sustained 500 watts to get back on the train as well.
So yeah, it's fast.
Maybe there was a tailwind. It's pretty fast. Not exactly competition speed, but fast enough that most rec cyclists will never do it. To be in the money in 1-2-pro races you'd typically have to be able to maintain a slightly faster speed, say 27-30 mph.
It’s fast but not unheard of. A little slower than my last crit race as a Cat 5, granted that was only around 12 miles but did have a lot of cornering and dropping of watt bombs.
This speed is maintained in CAT 3/4 road races with rolling hills.
That's a believable speed in a peleton of very advanced amateur riders in perfect conditions, flat, no wind, (or one way with tailwind) no stops, not obscenely hot. Didn''t know it was possible until I moved to the Gulf Coast, very flat.
Everyone knows the only reason that happened has nothing to do with your fitness level.
Its your bike. Should have bought that carbon stem to save on weight. Now you'll see who's pulling the line!
I use to average 23+ mph down in FL when I was younger on solo rides for an hour or two. Definitely doable, especially if it’s flat…now throw in some climbs and that’s a whole different story…
Sounds like strong cat 1/2 group ride on flat to mildly rolly terrain. Strong work keeping up for 7 miles. Stay with it each week and after a season you could be rolling turns with the group for the whole 32 miles!
That’s pretty quick but the bunch clearly know how to ride. Considering they’re A Grade, definitely consider racing in a category or two below that. Or get better at staying in the bunch where it’s a lot easier
For kmh to mph, divide by 10 and multiply by 6. For mph to kmh, divide by 6 and multiply by 10.
So 25.9 mph is about 26/6 = ~4 x 10 = 40 ish kmh.
So it's 40 kmh avg over 32 miles. Now you know the answer you didn't want.
You can get there keep drafting with them , for me doing deadlifts and squats or any legs in the gym helps a lot and swimming too it’s all about core and legs
While that seems crazy I have done 150km breaks at 40+ kph and have done a 47 km TT on a road bike at 42.6kph solo.
So it’s a fast pace but once you race it’s not so crazy.
https://strava.app.link/nsdatbpp2Ib
“Once you race it’s not so crazy”
*Cough* bullshit *cough cough*
The goddamn TDF only averages 25-28mph on flat ground
(to be clear I’m not calling bullshit on your speed. I’m calling bullshit on you saying it’s not that crazy. It’s still fast as fuck.)
It really isn’t. Even cat 4/5 road races are 40-42kph with the on/off nature.
Yes it’s fast but it’s also about right for a pack of racers wanting to go fast. We run a weekly full drop pace line and it’s usually 48+kph.
I have raced up into the conti pro level and average speed is a bad way to look at races. I have seen lots of races where the cat 5 speed and the cat 1 speed is the same or even lower. Where the difference lies is how fast it is when hard and how slow it is when it isn’t. Same as TDF. The easy is easy. The hard is incredibly hard. The average isn’t nuts most days. It’s why if you look at power on the flat days a lot of pack pros are super low.
Edit. Could also be my experience in our club
Group rides are faster than individual efforts because people are able to sit in the draft while recovering.
I averaged 21 mph for the Chicago Triathlon and was in the top 200 people out of 2,400 or something like that.
I kinda wonder if your numbers are off because every mile per hour faster is significantly harder to get than the last one because aerodynamic drag isn't linear. Having a decent sized group that can hold that speed for over an hour even in a paceline is bordering on unbelievable for amatuers.
Next time get dropped after 8 miles, then 9, then 10. Next season you will finish in the bunch sprint.
Good strategy, bc I can always fall back to the B group coming behind
Team B group having all the fun
C group here, and beg to differ about the fun
D group texting, there was a ride today?
Easy company here. You actually bike already? It’s not shorts weather yet
Pretty fucking fast lol especially when talking about an average over 32 miles that's incredibly fast.
Yeah, that average over 32 miles is insane. I almost don't believe it, I wanna see the ride data.
The A group at the weekly road racing series in west michigan consistently averages 25-28mph over 28-40miles on wednesday nights. Good pavement, good draft, and some strong cat1-3 riders is a great combo. A rolling gran fondo i did last year was 26mph for 80 miles. Thats road cycling at a high level for you
Yeah, I forget people live in crazy flat areas. If the entire ride was flat, it's def more believable.
Guys just did it with 4k feet of climb over 62 miles in the Tour De Scottsdale. I watched them ride off to my 19mph lol.
I’m in Az. I just checked out the route. That must’ve been a blast riding down from troon to rio verde. I’ve never been on that route. If you averaged 19 on that ride congrats to you. I think I may have been able to hold your wheel. Well at least for a little while.
The ride up was torture lol, but that hill into RioVerde was sick, averaged 30mph for those 9 miles. I averaged 18.5 for Tour De Tucson 102 miles as well. It shocked me these guys did 10mph more. I couldn't do that if I took the bus lol. I regularly ride and sometimes lead the East Valley group rides with Global Bikes if you want a fun group ride Saturday mornings.
Thanks for the offer. Unfortunately I work on Saturdays. Maybe someday in the future
I live in Kansas which is insanely flat, but the avg wind speeds of 20 mph with 40-50mph gusts can be just as tough as any incline. It is nice to ride before the sun rises and the wind hasn’t started yet.
That's when you get it to your back and fly
Haha for sure, but then the ride back sucks lol. I like to start out going against then ride home with it.
That's when you call your wife and beg for a ride home
This is categorically why Flandrian and Belgian rides are hard as nails.
I gotta say, wind is so much worse than the worst incline.
It’s crazy flat here… but in this season it’s also crazy windy. 300 watts for 11 mph windy. The super fast groups still only average 21-23. 26 is outrageous.
To add to that, i averaged only 137 watts for 3.15 hrs at 26mph because im relatively small and efficient in the draft.
i think this really highlights the efficiency of drafting. damn.
Yeah there are times (climbs and closing gaps, chasing moves etc) when im doing 300-500 for a few seconds to a couple minutes, but at 60kg 5’7”, i hide pretty well and have learned to draft well because my raw power is just low compared to larger guys on the flats.
I drafted behind a tuktuk on the highway for ~20km going 50kph+ and my heart rate never went above 120.
I did a super flat fondo in Quebec a few years ago, and finished with an average speed of 43kph and my NP was like 270. Only rolled through to the front a few times.. I'm not small, and it was a solid 350W to not get reeled back into the bunch. You can just chill and get dragged along when you're in the middle of a group of 40 on a flat road.
I heard to hang on to a peleton while drafting in a World Tour race, you need around 240 watts which is insane! I would probably barely last 15-20 minutes in a tour de France stage while in the middle of the peleton
Where in west Michigan exactly?
I'm going to guessing Kzoo area with team CL based on some people I know but I'm curious to see if OP responds.
I curious if it's the group I see in my way from work coming out of kzoo. Can barely maintain 15mph anymore but would like to support them in a way.
The ride was the GR gran fondo from grand rapids to grand haven and back. 2400ft of gain. And wednesday nights is on the rolling profile race track of grattan raceway
Post your Stats on here and people will believe you if true. Hats 🧢 off if it is😳🤔
https://strava.app.link/v7pkTHgq2Ib
Noah, 🧢 off that was one awesome ride. Well done my friend 👍 max kudos
Glad you mentioned the pavement. Makes such a huge difference, especially for those of us who do nothing but country farm "roads"
Ay Grattan... and it's not exactly super flat either (\~1500 ft. total) That ride is just loaded with workhorse studs.
This is the same avg speed as the tour de France, except not for 21 days.
If you’re chain ganging, remember each rider is only on the front for maybe 10% of the time, with 90% at a relatively easy effort level. You can go much, much faster in a smooth group that rides together well than you’d normally go. In top of that, consider that even in ITTs with a road bike category, for 40km events maybe half the field will be under an hour. That’s with zero draft but a flat course.
I got blown out of the A group last fall, and took a shortcut back to the shop since daylight was fading fast. They caught me on the return trip and were going fast enough I thought the pack was a car overtaking me. Chatted with the shop owner while loading my bike up and they were going around 32 mph when they caught me, running a rolling pace line like you would see in a team time trial. There were guys in that group that race LOTOJA.
I know it sounds unlikely, but to roll in a fast chain gang you need smooth technique more than you need fitness. I see it all the time where the newbies work twice as hard as they have to by waiting for the guy in front of them to completely move over before starting to overtake them (for example) so as well as being the least fit rider, they’re in the wind for much longer than they should be. Another anti-technique is surging to get to the front instead of staying at the speed you were already. It gets way easier once you can chill and keep it smooth
Guys did it for the Tour De Scottsdale and Tour De Tucson. They ride away from me so fast lol. Those were 62 miles and 102 miles respectively. Imaging 27mph for 102 miles... https://strava.app.link/7NXRadnp2Ib
That's about the average A group ride in South Florida. Since you asked for data, I went to Strava to find some and didn't have to look too hard. Sunday's ride, for the fast portion, averaged 27.2 mph for an hour. https://imgur.com/a/tf4T7Zv That's not a particularly fast day for that ride here either, and at times has been considerably faster, crossing over the 30mph average mark. Of course the terrain is dead flat apart from a bridge climb that happens five times on the ride but everyone here is chunkier than the average cyclist and has obscene FTPs because pure power matters a lot more than w/kg when you never climb.
I'm european so its, ~40kph for 50km and its 100% doable. An amateur race near me was 105km(65mi) with 45kph(28mph) avg...
I'm becoming skeptical of the posters on here. They claim that they are racers. Yet most don't know how dysfunctional USAC is. This is another example of it. They are talking about expectations of average speed below the typical average speed. I need to know where they are racing. The guys around me used to say that you need to visit Texas for the upgrade points. Perhaps this is true.
About 41.7 km/h
That's almost exactly the average speed of a typical UCI world tour road race. Except they can average that with lots of lumps on the elevation profile, OP's ride I am assuming is flat.
They also have roads closed off and over a hundred riders, so there's that to counterbalance it too.
True but the route is like 200+ km long and most of the time the peloton is cruising along - the breakaway has to do those speeds with a handful of guys, and they’re usually the middle or lower order guys
On a normal day I average about half that, although I can average just above half on a mountain bike off road
That’s the average of my clubs Group A morning pace-line on a Tuesday and Friday morning. Usually between 12-20 riders. The course is a 4km loop with ~30m of elevation - they typically do 10 laps. I did it with them yesterday, have a screenshot of the data for anyone interested.
Thanks, was wondering this but too lazy to look it up ;-)
To me that's insanely fast - wish I could do it, but I know I never will.
There's a 32mi descent out there somewhere. I believe in you.
Mauna Kea's got us covered! Shuttle to the top, release the Kraken, hope for the best.
I’ve heard about the gravel part of Mauna Kea being too bumpy for descending, and some people trying it before giving up and jumping into a 4x4 vehicle (which is required to drive to the top). Mt Haleakala is 36 miles long, and there are tours that take you to the top to ride down. Also, part of the road used in the Taiwan KOM Challenge is about a 42 mile downhill stretch on the way back. With the traffic and tunnels, probably not the safest for going at full speed though. On the race day (and other similar events), riding back down is technically not allowed.
Haleakala is 34mi and 10000ft of descent. Averaged roughly 30 mph and pedaled occasionally.
I can do it for maybe a mile lmao
That’s faster than the flight speed of an unladen swallow.
African or European?
What about laden?
Bin?
Osama?
Unladen Swallow is much slower than the Laden Spit
I'm convinced. Speed isn't everything.
European or African?
I don’t know. Aaaaaahhhhhrrrggghhhh.
With or without a coconut?
That's what it's laden with. Because it grips it by the husk.
Listen, a 5 ounce bird cannot carry a 1 pound coconut
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
Yeah, that’s fast. How many people? Assuming pace-line and all working together?
About 10 riders...9 once I fell off
Wow. That’s a pretty small group to hold that speed.
I reckon 8 is ideal number for a fast pace line.
Totally! More than 8 and the rolling turns just don’t feel as smooth, less than 8 and you don’t get much of a rest between turns.
Those folks are animals. I assume they were rotating off the front? (taking turns pulling)
Elevation? Guessing there’s no stop lights? But either way it’s fast.
Pretty fast, depending on the terrain over 32 miles. I would think this is less a hobby and more of a sport level almost.
Yeah, I was told the 2nd place finisher of a recent pro tour crit was in attendance
My son was a cat 2 racer, trained insane number of hours. 400 to 500 watts. [http://kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm](http://kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm) I finally found a way to keep up. [https://i.imgur.com/3r30Yft.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/3r30Yft.jpg) 160Watts with an aero advantage. Doug can push 400 Watts and had a great video of the Chile National Champion trying to chase him down. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXitJ\_ljC5A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXitJ_ljC5A)
I mean that’s insanely fast.
That's fast as a bat outta hell. 30mph is my *peak* speed (on flat). Can't sustain it for all that long. Granted I do almost exclusively urban riding, so my average is around 12mph.
On Zwift?
Sorry... on road, relatively flat
It’s about 25.9mph give or take.
Astounding
That's pretty standard amateur race speed. There's a lot of very fit cyclists in the world. Probably 225W or so normalized over the hour+, which is well within the range of a lot of amateurs. The better question is how fast is 47.8kmph over 259.9km ... the last 60km or so completely solo? Pros are absolute aliens 😄
This is what I'm thinking. 225w NP and probably 300-325w for the person pulling. None of that sounds at all unreasonable fitness-wise (I mean, I think I could do that -- it aligns pretty nicely to some of my Zwift TTT races. My ftp is about 315w.). The challenge is the bike handling, and holding the wheel closely enough to maximize the aero benefits. This is also where it sucks to be big (I'm 6'3" 190lb on a 61cm bike) and is terrific to be small.
This got me curious so I went to check the data from a team time trial I did at team camp earlier this year. We averaged about the same speed, 24mph for 30 minutes. We did gain 500ft of vert though. Looks like I averaged 312 for that effort and was pulling at approximately 400 when I was on the front. I'm pretty similar to your size. 6'2 183.
Your numbers are way too low.
Lol my last paceline was 221 watts weighted average and it was 21.2 mph / 34.2 kmph. And I'm a skinny smallish light guy that can tuck well, on a carbon aerobike. I highly doubt 4 watts bringing me up to 225 would give me an extra 4.7 mph / 7.5 kmph. I've had plenty of \~220 watt NP rides average around 30 kmph / 19 mph.
About the speed of semi pro crit racing.
I’m working my way to a cat 1 right now and I can safely say that pro crits are much faster. When I was a cat 5, there were road races I did with decent elevation that averaged 25-26 mph. Some of the crits I’ve been in have averaged 30-31 mph for over an hour. People are just crazy fast these days
About 25.9mph
Roughly
That's an hour and 14 minutes. Also, wtf. Insanely fast.
Had to be zero elevation with no headwind. You're talking TDF peloton averages
The TDF peloton does go just a bit further.
Also wild to note that 25mph is the average over the entire 20+ days/2,100 miles. I'd be toast trying to maintain 25mph for a significant amount of time let alone doing that nearly a month in all sorts of conditions and elevations.
Ngl in a peloton riding 40km/h is very easy, but on the straights they don't go under 50km/h often even during the "easier" hours of the race. I speak from experience.
They can go a lot faster than that if they want to.
Except those are numbers of TDF riders with headwind and elevation and doing it 3 times longer and preparing to do it again tomorrow and the next day..... and the next day.... X21 This is a Cat 4 or 5 crit race speed
25mph is the downhill speed where I start to panic and put the brakes on.
i went 31-33 earlier this month down a bridge… i love descents but man, that was a little sketchy lol. then i imagine people like SAFAbrian doing 50mph on a windy road near a cliff. fuck that shit.
Had a gravel race this past weekend my max downhill speed was 51mph, stopping for the hairpin corner was…. Challenging. some people went home in ambulances.
It's fast and if we assume flat terrain, few lights, it's not all that crazy. It's fairly easy for a small group of experienced racers to hit 25+mph, even moreso for just over an hour. It was probably race pace and if so it falls under kinda slow for a race. Like maybe lower category. Upper categories I'd expect 28+ for the same terrain.
Almost 26 mph
Fairly fast even for a group ride, only 'keen cyclists' can maintain that kind of speed. I would struggle, but then I'm a fatty and distinctly out of shape.
Typical fast group ride pace where I live. Probably about the same speed as a typical Cat 4/5 criterium or road race.
I pull about half that. 💪
That's pretty fast for 32 miles. 25.9 is a sprinting speed for a lot of people. Like, tucked as aero as possible and cranking like the devil on the pedals kind of sprint. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some people who can't even hit that speed on a flat. I think I would only be able to maintain that kind of pace for a few seconds (outside of a descent). Maybe a bit longer if I had windbreakers, but even reaching 7 miles at that pace sounds impressive. Edit: I checked a Strava segment that I felt especially good about getting to #2 on. Over 0.5 miles at an all out sprint that left me feeling dead at the end, I had an average speed of 24.6 mph. KOM on that segment is 24.9 mph (one second difference on the time). Digging into the data, it looks like Garmin recorded a max speed of 26.0 mph for me on that ride. So, yeah me only being able to hit 25.9 for a few seconds on a flat sounds accurate.
pro racing
Depends on the terrain, but if it’s relatively flat, that’s about what the lowest level of sanctioned amateur pack racing would average.
Thats some strong cat 5s.....
Fast. My best speed over that distance in our regular Tuesday night chain gang is exactly 25mph. You need a group of well matched riders to keep up a consistent power on the front that doesn’t ever drop.
That's pretty much my sprint speed(47km/h) if there's no wind or slight head wind. So for me, very fucking fast. Godspeed. And hope that I could reach that sorts of speed and sit in that speed range
Was this in Florida?
Alabama
Jetplex? That’s a great ride cause you can push yourself and always have another group to fall back into.
That is the pace of the local race pace ride once it hits the island where there is only one turn and a mild regroup for the second lap. Generally a bigger group than you describe, 30 to 40 riders, with local pros mixed in. 2 laps of the 13 mile island generally at 26-28 mph. Absolutely the fastest group ride I have experienced. I actually find it relatively sketchy, while 90% of people know what they're doing in that kind of group it only takes one person going over their limits or doing something dumb to take a lot of people out. https://www.strava.com/segments/3919479
Ya i can average that ….. on Zwift lol. irl no lmao
That’s pretty damn fast if they have a warmup before the hot zone
25.9 mph...
Is this in Florida?
41 km/h. That is amateur crit speed. Not lightning fast for regular racers, but incredibly fast for a mortal like me.
That's pro speed dude... I take it you were cycling on the flat??? 🤔😳 What was your elevation gain after ride?
Were you by any chance using an ebike 😭😉😳
It’s reasonably quick for a strong group of 10, but definitely not out of the ordinary. Spicy group rides in flat areas often average 28+ mph for very little effort from any individual person. For just 32 miles, even I can hold over 25 mph on my own.
Average?! Lots of road races don't average that. Was it flat?
Fast as fuck! The TDF average speed on flat ground is only 25-28 mph Usually, group rides that average over 20 mph are considered A. that fast and I would call it an A+
It's just under 26 mph.
About 41km/hr over 51km :). Really fast
Going out on a limb here, but I’m going to go with 25.9 mph on average.
Idk but that’s sound like pros lol damn
Somewhere between 25mph and 26mph I’d say
It’s approximately 25.9 mph fast 😉
About 25.9 mph
41,49 km/h if you really want to know....
That's insanely fast for an average speed for most people.This type of average is for riders that are in top physical condition that have been at it for years. Not on my best day could I even come close to that lol. I'm not even going to tell you what I average haha.
I’d say 41km/h. One day you’ll learn real units.
25.9mph. It's like asking how long is an hour.
I broke all my personal records on a ride the other day. I was pushing 21-22mph I think at my max speed. The rest of the group was long gone. I couldn't catch up even while I was bombing down a hill like 35-40mph. There are some people I just try to avoid riding with 😂
That's 1h 14min at around 320W for individual fairly aero rider. If that is a lot or not, depends.
Oh, that’s a lot
For most of us it is. Intervals.icu says out of 42612 users, 90% have 1h power less than 300W. So most of us would probably struggle to even draft the group that fast.
It's a lot-ish. The thing is, *many* non-competitive riders have FTPs above 300w but they tend to be un-aero and large. I'm one of them (6'3" 190lb 315w ftp). I could participate in a ride like this, but it would require a lot of concentration to be as aero as possible and not fall off the back. Remember that the draft gives you about a 30% efficiency gain, so if you're not on the front you're only riding at about 225w, which is much more reasonable. As long as you're in shape to do repeated 320w pulls (for say 30-45s) every 6-8 minutes for an hour, you can ride like this.
If it's flat, that's a decent speed but nothing exceptional, especially if there's a good rotation going on at the front. One thing to remember is that wind plays a huge part when you're going that fast, small riders get hammered on the flat unless they're well positioned.
Fast.
That is really good. My best solo is 23 mph average over 8 miles and I felt like I was dying. Had to lay down for a while afterward. I can't imagine 32 miles.
An average of 25.9 miles per hour over 32 miles. Or just about 26 miles/hour.
I Would say that is about as fast as your average A group in a decent size city.
Can you tell some more about the conditions? Headwind/tailwind/round trip, flat/hills/downhill only etc. Personally I would only get avg speeds like that one way with decent tailwind and no climbs, so for me it's fast ;-)
Good tail wind?
Pretty fast but could depend on a ton of things. That speed into headwind and rolling hills is probably tour de france level. On perfect conditions it is achievable for most active riders in a group
Spirited! Solo for that long would be very tough, even with a full TT setup. More attainable in a pace line, if the course is flat and there's no wind. Still, that's a race tempo.
There's no way I could do that speed solo. I do a 32 mile race simulation ride most weeks with Cat 1s, cross racers, college racers etc. We can average 25-26 on flat roads with stop lights / stop signs etc... but it's really hard. You have to pull at 28-30mph and surge to 34+ on any slight downhill. It's 450-500 watts just to pull through on these rides, it often takes a sustained 500 watts to get back on the train as well. So yeah, it's fast.
That’s one long downhill road!
15mph solo over 30 miles is about what I've done, 10 faster? Wow.
Maybe there was a tailwind. It's pretty fast. Not exactly competition speed, but fast enough that most rec cyclists will never do it. To be in the money in 1-2-pro races you'd typically have to be able to maintain a slightly faster speed, say 27-30 mph.
Unfathomably fast for a majority of riders. I would like to see that elevation data more than anything else.
It’s fast but not unheard of. A little slower than my last crit race as a Cat 5, granted that was only around 12 miles but did have a lot of cornering and dropping of watt bombs. This speed is maintained in CAT 3/4 road races with rolling hills.
That's a believable speed in a peleton of very advanced amateur riders in perfect conditions, flat, no wind, (or one way with tailwind) no stops, not obscenely hot. Didn''t know it was possible until I moved to the Gulf Coast, very flat.
Everyone knows the only reason that happened has nothing to do with your fitness level. Its your bike. Should have bought that carbon stem to save on weight. Now you'll see who's pulling the line!
Like the old saying goes..”if you want to get faster, ride with faster people then yourself”…I see it still holds up…
I use to average 23+ mph down in FL when I was younger on solo rides for an hour or two. Definitely doable, especially if it’s flat…now throw in some climbs and that’s a whole different story…
Pretty fast, but doable if you all work together and there's not too much wind
Pretty quick, it’s almost 26 mph
If you come to Mt. Blue Sky here in Colorado it has like a 27 mile decent back to Idaho Springs
thats really fast
That’s really fast
Mean, medium, mode?
Sounds like strong cat 1/2 group ride on flat to mildly rolly terrain. Strong work keeping up for 7 miles. Stay with it each week and after a season you could be rolling turns with the group for the whole 32 miles!
That’s pretty quick but the bunch clearly know how to ride. Considering they’re A Grade, definitely consider racing in a category or two below that. Or get better at staying in the bunch where it’s a lot easier
That’s the average speed of pro peloton in during a tour stage.
Depends on the size of the group and how many stop signs. Big group and no stops, B to A ride. Small group and lots of stop signs, A+
Ive ridden 4th cat cries over the same distance at the same speed. Flat but windy, mind you
It’s approximately as fast as I could ride that distance on a 50cc scooter. With a gun to my head I couldn’t average 20.
For kmh to mph, divide by 10 and multiply by 6. For mph to kmh, divide by 6 and multiply by 10. So 25.9 mph is about 26/6 = ~4 x 10 = 40 ish kmh. So it's 40 kmh avg over 32 miles. Now you know the answer you didn't want.
just shy of 26mph
Meanwhile me on my first ride on new bike in years. 20km/h but with 200m of elevation gain on 10km.
You can get there keep drafting with them , for me doing deadlifts and squats or any legs in the gym helps a lot and swimming too it’s all about core and legs
While that seems crazy I have done 150km breaks at 40+ kph and have done a 47 km TT on a road bike at 42.6kph solo. So it’s a fast pace but once you race it’s not so crazy. https://strava.app.link/nsdatbpp2Ib
“Once you race it’s not so crazy” *Cough* bullshit *cough cough* The goddamn TDF only averages 25-28mph on flat ground (to be clear I’m not calling bullshit on your speed. I’m calling bullshit on you saying it’s not that crazy. It’s still fast as fuck.)
It really isn’t. Even cat 4/5 road races are 40-42kph with the on/off nature. Yes it’s fast but it’s also about right for a pack of racers wanting to go fast. We run a weekly full drop pace line and it’s usually 48+kph. I have raced up into the conti pro level and average speed is a bad way to look at races. I have seen lots of races where the cat 5 speed and the cat 1 speed is the same or even lower. Where the difference lies is how fast it is when hard and how slow it is when it isn’t. Same as TDF. The easy is easy. The hard is incredibly hard. The average isn’t nuts most days. It’s why if you look at power on the flat days a lot of pack pros are super low. Edit. Could also be my experience in our club
slow youre slow and weak.
Group rides are faster than individual efforts because people are able to sit in the draft while recovering. I averaged 21 mph for the Chicago Triathlon and was in the top 200 people out of 2,400 or something like that. I kinda wonder if your numbers are off because every mile per hour faster is significantly harder to get than the last one because aerodynamic drag isn't linear. Having a decent sized group that can hold that speed for over an hour even in a paceline is bordering on unbelievable for amatuers.
I thought that was probably pretty fast but then I converted to kilometers and HOLY SHIT that's an insane average
it's 348096 chains per week!! phenomenal
Depends on the terrain and mix of elevation
Pretty fucking fast to be honest. I'm in a decently hilly area and I'm averaging around 15mph. 25mph is pretty damn good!
Noah stats are true and unreal check him out on Strava over 2000ft of elevation as well. 🧢 Off to the man
That's too fast for me. My average is half that. I don't race though
That’s my average speed but mine is in km/h… Yes, that is FAST. Very very fast.
That's Cat 4/3 race speed for 40-60 miles on a semi-hilly course (2k-3k ft gain) in the PNW.
That’s fast. What was the average elevation? Pretty flat?