Today I did my first 20 mile (33km) ride on my hardtail XC bike. I learned how to ride a bike about 1.5 months ago, but I’ve been riding pretty consistently since I learned. I ride exclusively in the city, it’s a very walkable city, but the paths aren’t always the best. I did 33km in 2 hours 53 minutes, not including breaks for water or to eat.
I see people saying that 10MP/H (16KM/H) average is a good average to shoot for, but i can’t even get my average above 7.1MPH (11.5KM/H), even on shorter rides. What am I doing wrong here? How are people going so freaking fast on bikes in cities?
How long are your breaks? How much time do you spend waiting for traffic lights or letting other vehicles pass? What’s your standard speed?
Maybe you could go faster if you did shorter distances. 3 hours is kind of a long time for doing a sport you only picked up 6 weeks ago.
My breaks are maybe 3-6 minutes, depending on if I’m eating or not.
I generally don’t ride on roads as I’m still a bit nervous to do that, so I’m generally riding on paths.
My speed on shorter rides is the same for some reason, which is weird.