My goal is 20 mph average speed

[Thejazman]

Hi everyone

I've become a (very) recent cycling addict! I'm lucky I can cycle a lot during the week and I'm starting with 100 miles per week, three times per week round Richmond Park and I'm really enjoying it. I aim to increase to 5 laps 3 times per week.

I'm currently averaging 16 mph, riding solo, and my fun goal I've set myself is to get to 20 mph average for 3 laps by September. I'm 49 and about 2 stone or 12 kilos overweight.

I'm wondering 3 things;

Is the level of improvement from 16-20mph even realistic?
Is this level of cycling enough to get me to that goal?
What impact is the 2 stone weight loss likely to have on my performance?

I totally appreciate that it's about having fun (which I do) and all of that, I'm just wondering about specific answers or personal experience in relation to these questions.

Many thanks

J

[thirdcrank]

Welcome to the forum.

As you seem from your post to be relatively new to cycling, I think that with regular riding you can anticipate some improvements in fitness, big to begin with but tapering with time. Once upon a time, 20 mph was known as "evens" and it's quite a target in non-competition riding over any distance. There's a lot more to cycling than simply bashing along, especially along the same routes, but you're free to enjoy your own preference. From what others have posted in the past, I think that one restriction on your freedom is that some of the Royal Parks are subject to a 20mph speed limit actively enforced by the Metropolitan Police Service. I don't know whether your route is affected by this but, to state the obvious, an average of 20 mph involves riding faster than that at times. (This subject has been controversial on here in the past which is the only reason I know about it.)

Above all enjoy your cycling

[Vorpal]

I think that one restriction on your freedom is that some of the Royal Parks are subject to a 20mph speed limit actively enforced by the Metropolitan Police Service. I don't know whether your route is affected by this but, to state the obvious, an average of 20 mph involves riding faster than that at times. (This subject has been controversial on here in the past which is the only reason I know about it.)

I think the limit is actually 10 mph?



A park is probably not the best place for working towards a 20 mph average, anyway. There are more likely people, dogs, etc. on the route.

I would recommend just using the park as a place to build up confidence, and then start riding on the road.

A 20 mph average is easier on rural roads, where traffic & lights can be avoided, but I imagine that it would be a hassle to take the train or something just to go for a bike ride.

Is the level of improvement from 16-20mph even realistic?

In a word, yes.

Is this level of cycling enough to get me to that goal?

Maybe? It will be easier to achieve if you join a club and train specifically for the increase in speed. It's not merely a matter of fitness, but also technique and muscle development. >Joining a club will help you learn other places to ride, as well. If you join a club that has time trials, they will have some regular courses that they ride that you can time yourself on.

What impact is the 2 stone weight loss likely to have on my performance?

First, 'overweight' is a matter of persepctive. You are likely to replace some fat with denser muscle, which may mean that you lose less weight than you might expect. That said, you are likely to do both, and both will help you get around faster. How much that impact is depends somewhat on you & other aspects of your life. You may also need to adjust your diet in order to accomplish weight loss.

[Cugel]

Hi everyone

I've become a (very) recent cycling addict! I'm lucky I can cycle a lot during the week and I'm starting with 100 miles per week, three times per week round Richmond Park and I'm really enjoying it. I aim to increase to 5 laps 3 times per week.

I'm currently averaging 16 mph, riding solo, and my fun goal I've set myself is to get to 20 mph average for 3 laps by September. I'm 49 and about 2 stone or 12 kilos overweight.

I'm wondering 3 things;

Is the level of improvement from 16-20mph even realistic?
Is this level of cycling enough to get me to that goal?
What impact is the 2 stone weight loss likely to have on my performance?

I totally appreciate that it's about having fun (which I do) and all of that, I'm just wondering about specific answers or personal experience in relation to these questions.

Many thanks

J

Addiction of all forms tends to be damaging. Why not treat cycling as just another of life's pleasures, to be enjoyed in moderation? You'll find that you'll get faster and lighter almost automatically.

Of course, those goals can be achieved via obsessive-compulsive gizmo-data-driven cycling but it may not then be "fun" and in fact may stop you cycling, if you fail various arbitrary targets that you set yourself, such as being able to average 20mph in N weeks. Many do this - their rides are "training" and if & when they fail the targets they become disillusioned and give up. Of course, some succeed but then become equipment snobs addicted to Strava-striving, inclusive of all the associated damage to their better character.

There's a queer degradation of cycling in Blighty of late, mostly due to the heavy-duty selling of spurious stuff advertised relentlessly in the fashion mode of faux racing cyclist. I recommend that you sweep away all this nonsense lying between you and cycling. You'll find that just doing it is rather pleasant and transformative in many ways besides increase in watts from your lighter-weight body, even though you get those effects as well.

Cugel

[eileithyia]

Sustaining a good average 20mph might be difficult in a park situation. Why not join a club and try some club time trials, beating 30 mins for 10 miles will give you 20+mph. It might be easier than trying to sustain it over a bigger distance around a park circuit which might have other issues to avoid; walkers, runners, dogs, children. Also hitting that average speed requirement might be easier over a shorter distance initially then try to build for a bigger distance. For the record I rarely do 20mph average when out and about cycling but can easily sustain 22/23mph over longer distances when riding TT's So is it doable, Yes.

[Audax67]

My advice would be either to cycle to lose the weight before attempting to increase your average speed, or else to walk for an hour or two on the days when you're not cycling; the reason being that you need a low heart-rate - above rest rate but below aerobic rate - to burn fat, but training for speed needs you to ride at or over your theoretical limit. You also need to forget beer, if that's a factor.

Instead of limiting yourself to parks, I'd suggest finding a club that does Audaxing. Long-distance riding against the clock will both take the weight off and increase your average. It will also take place on real roads.

See http://www.aukweb.net

Oh - you won't avoid beer, but on a 200k ride the calories won't reach your belt-line.

[thirdcrank]

FWIW, here's the thread which led me to believe that the limit was 20mph and being actively enforced by the police.

viewtopic.php?p=876754#p876754

Whenever this comes up, it seems to generate some controversy - that thread ran to six pages.

On that thread or another, the question of byelaws came up because national speed limits don't apply to cyclists. IIRC, there's a byelaw applying to vehicles and another for cycles, the latter not specifying a speed limit. Although a pedal cycle is a vehicle, it's arguable that having a separate cycling byelaw means that it's not what the byelaw means in this case. The sort of thing that needs determination and possibly deep pockets to fight. Most people might prefer to avoid legal problems rather than to achieve fame in having a decided case named after them. eg Mr Ellis, of Ellis v Nott Bower (1895) fame, who discovered to his cost that a cycle is a vehicle.

I was just alerting the OP to something to bear in mind.

[horizon]

Here's another link:

http://road.cc/content/news/169880-huge ... hmond-park

There are some good speeds being quoted - i am wondering if the OP is being a little unambitious in his aim of 20 mph.

By the way, Richmond Park isn't a local park ...

Here's another link:

https://idler.co.uk/article/how-the-cyc ... mond-park/

[iandriver]

I don't ride it too often (only passing through on the London Sightseer Audax once a year), but I recall Richmond park isn't exactly flat but you do have full on proper roads. Given the gradients, I'd be pretty happy to get anywhere near a 20 average. Strava segments might give some clues to average times.

[Audax67]

...

On that thread or another, the question of byelaws came up because national speed limits don't apply to cyclists. IIRC, there's a byelaw applying to vehicles and another for cycles, the latter not specifying a speed limit. Although a pedal cycle is a vehicle, it's arguable that having a separate cycling byelaw means that it's not what the byelaw means in this case. The sort of thing that needs determination and possibly deep pockets to fight. Most people might prefer to avoid legal problems rather than to achieve fame in having a decided case named after them. eg Mr Ellis, of Ellis v Nott Bower (1895) fame, who discovered to his cost that a cycle is a vehicle.

I was just alerting the OP to something to bear in mind.

I don't think that such a thing as an accurate bike speedometer exists, so in theory (or do I mean hypothetically?) cyclists cannot know how fast they are going and so are not amenable to prosecution for speeding. "Father forgive them..." etc. IANAL but I'd like to hear the opinion of someone who is.

[thirdcrank]

Search on speedometer and you will find your answer, mixed in with some waffle. Another old chestnut but also a red herring.

The best answer I've seen on here was from drossall(?) who made the point that you don't need access to a breathalyser to be arrested for driving over the limit.

[horizon]

Just for clarity, if not mentioned earlier:

Speed limits do not apply to cyclists within the parks but it is recommended that cyclists keep to appropriate speeds for the environment. Cycling design speeds between 8 and12mph have
been found to be more acceptable to other park visitors.

https://www.royalparks.org.uk/__data/as ... ved_es.pdf

[Samuel D]

Doing 20 MPH requires nearly twice the power of 16 MPH, all other things remaining equal. That is a large increase in power and perhaps impossible.

This is made worse by there being parts of the course where speed is limited by other things than your fitness, meaning the remaining parts of the course will require more than double the power to increase your speed to 20 MPH.

Therefore gains must be made elsewhere. Most people who sustain speeds over 20 MPH use fast tyres, dress in skin-tight clothing, and have made an attempt to ride in an aerodynamic position. These things produce large gains and will probably be necessary if you haven’t already done them.

Losing weight will not help greatly unless there is a lot of climbing involved. However, getting fitter in the attempt to lose weight will yield dividends.

[thirdcrank]

Just for clarity, if not mentioned earlier:

Speed limits do not apply to cyclists within the parks but it is recommended that cyclists keep to appropriate speeds for the environment. Cycling design speeds between 8 and12mph have
been found to be more acceptable to other park visitors.

https://www.royalparks.org.uk/__data/as ... ved_es.pdf

Thanks for that. It's good to know that this has been resolved in favour of cyclists. I get the impression that prior to this guidance, plenty of riders may have been wrongly fined or subject to a fixed penalty. Here's an old thread (2008) from a rider who received a summons with some detailed advice on contesting the summons from YOS on p3 of 5.
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14954

If there's anybody reading this who's paid a fine or fixed penalty, they may be able to seek redress.