UKC

I do a bit of road riding on hilly terrain at c.25 km/hr average speeds. How fast do you have be going before you can think about road racing?

In reply to Wee Davie:

Probably closer to 25MPH

join British Cycling then apply for a licence and do some Cat 4 races (this is the entry level). Most of these races are not on public roads.

In reply to Wee Davie:

Average speeds in the road race series I do vary from between 38 and 42kmh depending on any climbs.
There's a 110km sportive every March in Montelimar with 2 climbs, one is about 3.5km at 6% and one climb is about 3km at 5% - average speed for this when I did it in 2011 was 41kmh. It's crept up in the last two years.

E

In reply to Wee Davie:

Start with a local chain gang training group. You'll know when you are holding your own.

In reply to all:

Thought so! I'll stick with my triple and Strava glories! ; )

In reply to Wee Davie:


If you can do 25km on your own on hilly terrain you're doing fine and the transition to fast group riding shouldn't be too bad.

I can do 27-28kmh on my own over say 100 to 130km with hills. I have a few shorter hilly rides round here where I try to average 30kmh - when I do I know I'm ready to race.

E

In reply to Wee Davie:

It's difficult (not impossible) to get the fitness level required without group riding to push you on.

In reply to Enty:

Yeah it's all solo riding I do. Anything fast I've recorded on Strava is all downhill! I'm nowhere near the top 20 on anything uphill so I've no illusions about any latent TDF stardom. 27/28 km/hr over 100km+ is a pretty big jump from my current standard. Kudos!

In reply to Wee Davie:

Go give this a try then, plenty of races

http://www.rothesayweekend.co.uk

Or just try out a chain gang, the "open to all" session down the A77 can be errrrr fast and unforgiving, Tues and Thurs evenings but tailing off now due to darkness

In reply to Pids:

Yeah that Bute Festival looks like fun. The hill climb looks like it could be good craic...

In reply to Pids:


There's an idea for Davie! The Rothesay Hill Climb. It only lasts about a minute for the winner so you'll not be THAT far behind. The course is actually very technical and a good time can be had by getting the corners right. Fitter guys can easily over cook the hair pins where a more relaxed pace works better. Anyone that's practiced the corners at race pace starts with a big advantage.

In reply to Wee Davie:
It's all really down to saddle time .

25 kmh is not that bad for an average.

When I started I found it difficult to get out of the 25kph/15mph average on flattish terrain ( some small hills)

Doing 40 miles most nights ,getting used to a down and dirty riding position, getting bike fit ,and more efficient, all made a difference.if I was eating what I should , ideally ,be eating ,I think that would help too.

All took time .

'Shut Up Legs'

In reply to andymac:

Time. The one commodity I would have over money any day!

In reply to Wee Davie:


It's not so difficult if it isn't too hilly. I did a ride just short of 200 kms on my own a couple of summers back at 28.6 kmph average speed. Most of my rides in Finland I would be at or a bit below 30 average. But riding in England over the last month or so, on much more hilly roads than in Finland, and I've found that doing 25 kmph average even for just a shorter ride of 40 or 50 kms is really hard. The bombing down the hills at 60 or 70 doesn't balance out the time sweating up them in the granny gear doing 11 or 12 kmph!

So if you're doing 25 average over hills, well done!

Riding with others makes a huge difference. On a big sportive, I did 140 kms at over 32 kmph average and it felt pretty easy. If you get in a group that is going the speed you want, its just so much easier than riding alone and on a big sportive you might not even be need to go to the front of the group and lead for a bit.

In reply to Wee Davie:

Every single race I did averaged 25mph, no matter what the terrain. When training solo I would average 17-19mph depending on terrain over similar distances.

Group riding practice is more important for the skills than the fitness IMO.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:
>


+1 but it makes you ride faster

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In reply to Wee Davie:

Can we get imperial here guys, I'm struggling to compare my performance here!

In reply to JLS:

Oh, I would not necessarily agree. Back in the days when I was regularly time trialling = when times were slower anyway - I could usually reckon to knock off a 50mile event in no more than 2.10, on solo training.

In reply to Wee Davie: Not much help in answering the orignal question but on the same topic, i'm interested in what people generally consider as a hilly ride? I live in Bergen so there is very little proper flat riding. Calculated from total acsent/total distance, i tend to think of 10m/km or less as a relatively flat ride, 20m/km is hilly, and over that is a right leg buster! Any thoughts?

In reply to Wee Davie:


Like.......

In reply to smac:


Probably about right. If I do 100km with 2000m of ascent I know I've done some climbing.
If I do 100km with 1000m or less I tend to refer to it as a flat ride - much to the disdain of some of my clients

E

In reply to smac:

I tend to go find 10m/km about average not noticeably flat or hilly anything under is very flat and much over hilly but thats living in the south of England for you.

In reply to smac: If the wind felt the hardest feature, I'll consider it flat, otherwise I'll consider it hilly! I've yet to experience strong winds in the mountains which would probably confuse my system!

In reply to smac:

This got me thinking so I looked at my logged rides from the last couple of months. TBH the ascent per Km doesn't necessarily match up with how I felt on the ride but it also varies depending on whether it's road or MTB. On Wednesday night a quick MTB ride of 13Km with 200m of ascent felt flat, my commute home is 21Km and 260m of ascent and feels hilly but that might be because the last 2Km has 150m of that ascent!

I did the hilly bits of stage one of this year's TdF: 162Km with 2900m of ascent and it felt OK if a bit long as I hadn't done that distance for nearly a year.

I've a 16Km MTB loop with 500m of ascent (and descent) that has less than 1Km of flat(ish) riding and it doesn't feel too bad even if I hammer it.

In reply to smac:

A run with about 20 m ascent per km feels hilly, one with 25 m per km feels really hilly, more than 30 and it's hard going.

In reply to Wee Davie:

Interesting replies cheers. With regards to pace, then i notice 10m/km makes little difference but up at 20m/km it makes a big dung in my maximum average pace. I have utterly no idea how the pros churn out the pace they do over mountain terrain.!