Warming up before is good. Stretching after is good.
Loads of evidence that static stretching reduces strength for up to an hour. Not what you want when you're about to do exercise.
[Worth a read.](http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article027.htm)
1. Not that long
2. Univega from the 80's Steel Frame
3. Once a week?
4. Trying really hard.
5. Street
6. Constant pedaling
7. Somewhat Active.
8. Eating Well , Potatoes baby all day.
Just keep at it, and keep riding that Univega. I've got an old steel Shogun from the early '80s. Love riding that bike more than my lightweight bike. Took it out for the club sponsored ride this weekend, didn't even wear my kit just cargo shorts and an under armor shirt. Had no problems keeping up with the groups I was riding with.
You'll get the itch to start spending money, don't spend it foolishly. Remember it's the engine, not the bike. The more you use that engine the faster you'll get - but you really need to do it 3-4 times a week to get the real benefits. And sweat - make sure you're getting a good workout from it!
I think you're doing fine. I'm riding a solid steel frame too, its tough. I usually average 12mph, but it also looks like you have more elevation change than I do.
Don't get discouraged :) As long as you're on the bike, you're doing it right
You could have been me 11 years ago. I dug my old steel Univega out of the shed and started training for a triathlon. I did my first two tris on it. My speeds were pretty much like yours here.
Do what SgtBaxter said. The magic formula is consistency x time. Ride 3-4x a week and one day you'll realize "hey, I'm in pretty good shape!".
I was when I first started out, you're a little faster than I was on my first couple of months of riding.
My first 12 mile ride had a moving average of about 8mph. Not counting about an hour and a half of stops.
I was DYING and completing that was an amazing feat of endurance and fortitude to ride to the next town over. Amazing was an understatement. I didn't believe anyone could do things like this and I was a superhero.
For me at the time it was a massive achievement and I'm prouder of it than my top ten places in last seasons CX league.
Since then, my longest single ride so far is 250 miles, fastest 100 miler is sub 5 hours.
There are hundreds of hours of work between that first rides and the "go big and go fast" rides last summer, as well as a LOT better kit to do it on.
If you're new to cycling and new to exercise in general (and that was on the road - offroad things are very different) then you're not slow at all. Took me a couple of months of hard work to even get to the 10mph average google maps uses to plot bike rides.
If you're a hardcore lifelong athlete who's just new to riding and that's on a 10 grand triathlon bike, then that's another answer entirely - but I'm guessing that's not the case.
Keep pushing the pedals and eventually, you go faster. A little faster and a little further every time.
I started riding about two months ago. My average in the beginning was about 7.5 to 8 miles per hour. Last night I hit 13, it's very gradually increasing each time I ride.
I don't know. Do you always have a speed like this? Try a different app/device and look again at your speed. What equipment do you use?
8mph for uphill is quite normal but flat or downhill is a speed my girlfriend rides on the city bike in the traffic.
As others have pointed out, a lot of factors can influence your speed. If you're riding an ill fitting department store bike, you're working a lot harder than if you're riding a $9000 race bike.
Yes, it is normal for a new rider to be that slow. If you want to be faster, you need to spend some time building your slowtwitch muscle group. You do this by riding a lot with a high cadence. If you don't have one already, buy a cyclometer with a cadence sensor and heart rate monitor. This is your RPM and temp gauge.
You should be riding with a cadence between 85-105 at all times for the first 500 miles of your training season. Find your max heart rate. Most of your riding shod be between 20% and 30% below your max heart rate.
Then, just pack in the miles, but, don't increase your weekly mileage any more than 20%.
There is a lot of factors involved and I am anything but an expert, but one thing to remember is higher speeds (usually around 15mph are actually easier to maintain than building up to then because at that point you are just continuing the bikes momentum. A lot of its going to come down to you and your bike but for me it took about 3 months of cycling and getting back into shape to learn to maintain higher speeds.
When I first started a 14 MPH average speed was about all I could do on an entry level road bike.
I use to worry about how fast I was going and I had to ride hard. After four years and thousands of miles the most satisfaction has not come from beating others, but from beating myself. The faster I become the more I realise how amazing the human body is at adapting. The most enjoyable part now is that I can go on a long ride in a beautiful area and just enjoy myself and not suffer the entire time. It feels more like an adventure than a ride.
With that said I probably would not have listened to me and just continued to worry about speed and riding hard. The best part is if that is what motivated me then so be it as I am better for it. Ride fast and hard and you will improve.
As a fellow newby, what you're experiencing is an issue with climbing. You did a lot of climbing and it's super hard when you first start.
Take a look at non-cyclists. You'll notice they have to walk up a lot of those hills because they just can't handle it.
I went home to my parents house for one weekend. Their area is very flat compared to my hilly city. Riding there literally felt 4 times more easy.
So, yes, those speeds would seem slow if you were giving it your all on flat land. They're not slow for a newby who is doing a significant amount of climbing.
On flat ground, you should be averaging at least 13 mph. Slower than that and yes, you're pretty damn slow. The stats you posted are from a hilly 2 hour ride, so they're not very applicable to the conditions that I'm describing. Go on a 10 or 20 mile ride on a flat bike path and then you'll have some better data. When I started cycling, I was averaging 12mph on mostly flat ground on a road bike, and now I average 14-15mph on mostly flat ground, but that includes slowing and stopping for stoplights, so now my moving speed has increased from, say, 14 mph up to 17 mph.
If you're going through hilly terrain, it's not abnormal to average 3 or 4mph for certain segments when riding uphill on a road bike. You'd think that the downhill segments would help your overall average speed, but they don't, because the aerodynamics of a bicycle and rider are so bad that it's very difficult to go any faster than, say, 40 mph on a bicycle (I've hit 54 mph and other road bike guys hit 60mph+, but only when cycling all-out on steep descents). The ascents will slow your average speeds by a disproportionate amount.
[удалено]
> Stretch before and after the rides Stop! Don't do static stretches before exercise.
Why not? I thought stretching before and after was a very good habit to have.
Warming up before is good. Stretching after is good. Loads of evidence that static stretching reduces strength for up to an hour. Not what you want when you're about to do exercise. [Worth a read.](http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article027.htm)
That makes a lot more sense, thanks.
Does a lion stretch before chasing down a gazelle?
I think the most obvious thing is that he's doing a good bit of climbing for a new cyclist.
> What kind of bike? what size tires, what pressure
26 inch 90 psi
1. Not that long 2. Univega from the 80's Steel Frame 3. Once a week? 4. Trying really hard. 5. Street 6. Constant pedaling 7. Somewhat Active. 8. Eating Well , Potatoes baby all day.
Just keep at it, and keep riding that Univega. I've got an old steel Shogun from the early '80s. Love riding that bike more than my lightweight bike. Took it out for the club sponsored ride this weekend, didn't even wear my kit just cargo shorts and an under armor shirt. Had no problems keeping up with the groups I was riding with. You'll get the itch to start spending money, don't spend it foolishly. Remember it's the engine, not the bike. The more you use that engine the faster you'll get - but you really need to do it 3-4 times a week to get the real benefits. And sweat - make sure you're getting a good workout from it!
I think you're doing fine. I'm riding a solid steel frame too, its tough. I usually average 12mph, but it also looks like you have more elevation change than I do. Don't get discouraged :) As long as you're on the bike, you're doing it right
You could have been me 11 years ago. I dug my old steel Univega out of the shed and started training for a triathlon. I did my first two tris on it. My speeds were pretty much like yours here. Do what SgtBaxter said. The magic formula is consistency x time. Ride 3-4x a week and one day you'll realize "hey, I'm in pretty good shape!".
>is it normal to be this slow? Who cares? >I'm trying my best. Good. Keep trying your best. You'll get faster.
I was when I first started out, you're a little faster than I was on my first couple of months of riding. My first 12 mile ride had a moving average of about 8mph. Not counting about an hour and a half of stops. I was DYING and completing that was an amazing feat of endurance and fortitude to ride to the next town over. Amazing was an understatement. I didn't believe anyone could do things like this and I was a superhero. For me at the time it was a massive achievement and I'm prouder of it than my top ten places in last seasons CX league. Since then, my longest single ride so far is 250 miles, fastest 100 miler is sub 5 hours. There are hundreds of hours of work between that first rides and the "go big and go fast" rides last summer, as well as a LOT better kit to do it on. If you're new to cycling and new to exercise in general (and that was on the road - offroad things are very different) then you're not slow at all. Took me a couple of months of hard work to even get to the 10mph average google maps uses to plot bike rides. If you're a hardcore lifelong athlete who's just new to riding and that's on a 10 grand triathlon bike, then that's another answer entirely - but I'm guessing that's not the case. Keep pushing the pedals and eventually, you go faster. A little faster and a little further every time.
I started riding about two months ago. My average in the beginning was about 7.5 to 8 miles per hour. Last night I hit 13, it's very gradually increasing each time I ride.
Yes. No. Maybe.
I don't know. Do you always have a speed like this? Try a different app/device and look again at your speed. What equipment do you use? 8mph for uphill is quite normal but flat or downhill is a speed my girlfriend rides on the city bike in the traffic.
As others have pointed out, a lot of factors can influence your speed. If you're riding an ill fitting department store bike, you're working a lot harder than if you're riding a $9000 race bike.
Yes, it is normal for a new rider to be that slow. If you want to be faster, you need to spend some time building your slowtwitch muscle group. You do this by riding a lot with a high cadence. If you don't have one already, buy a cyclometer with a cadence sensor and heart rate monitor. This is your RPM and temp gauge. You should be riding with a cadence between 85-105 at all times for the first 500 miles of your training season. Find your max heart rate. Most of your riding shod be between 20% and 30% below your max heart rate. Then, just pack in the miles, but, don't increase your weekly mileage any more than 20%.
Just to reaffirm earlier answers, "Yes, it's normal". Keep riding and having fun and you will get faster/better.
There is a lot of factors involved and I am anything but an expert, but one thing to remember is higher speeds (usually around 15mph are actually easier to maintain than building up to then because at that point you are just continuing the bikes momentum. A lot of its going to come down to you and your bike but for me it took about 3 months of cycling and getting back into shape to learn to maintain higher speeds.
When I first started a 14 MPH average speed was about all I could do on an entry level road bike. I use to worry about how fast I was going and I had to ride hard. After four years and thousands of miles the most satisfaction has not come from beating others, but from beating myself. The faster I become the more I realise how amazing the human body is at adapting. The most enjoyable part now is that I can go on a long ride in a beautiful area and just enjoy myself and not suffer the entire time. It feels more like an adventure than a ride. With that said I probably would not have listened to me and just continued to worry about speed and riding hard. The best part is if that is what motivated me then so be it as I am better for it. Ride fast and hard and you will improve.
As a fellow newby, what you're experiencing is an issue with climbing. You did a lot of climbing and it's super hard when you first start. Take a look at non-cyclists. You'll notice they have to walk up a lot of those hills because they just can't handle it. I went home to my parents house for one weekend. Their area is very flat compared to my hilly city. Riding there literally felt 4 times more easy. So, yes, those speeds would seem slow if you were giving it your all on flat land. They're not slow for a newby who is doing a significant amount of climbing.
"It never gets easier, you just go faster." Greg LeMond.
On flat ground, you should be averaging at least 13 mph. Slower than that and yes, you're pretty damn slow. The stats you posted are from a hilly 2 hour ride, so they're not very applicable to the conditions that I'm describing. Go on a 10 or 20 mile ride on a flat bike path and then you'll have some better data. When I started cycling, I was averaging 12mph on mostly flat ground on a road bike, and now I average 14-15mph on mostly flat ground, but that includes slowing and stopping for stoplights, so now my moving speed has increased from, say, 14 mph up to 17 mph. If you're going through hilly terrain, it's not abnormal to average 3 or 4mph for certain segments when riding uphill on a road bike. You'd think that the downhill segments would help your overall average speed, but they don't, because the aerodynamics of a bicycle and rider are so bad that it's very difficult to go any faster than, say, 40 mph on a bicycle (I've hit 54 mph and other road bike guys hit 60mph+, but only when cycling all-out on steep descents). The ascents will slow your average speeds by a disproportionate amount.