Average MTB Speed

[Iceaxe]

Last year working with the Corner Canyon High School Mountain Bike Team I noticed my average Strava speed on dirt (less than 5% paved) was around 7 mph. I also noticed that the really strong and fast kids on the team were averaging more than 8 mph. So I spent a lot of last year working on getting my average moving speed up, which mostly meant working on cadence and technique. The work has paid off big time as I'm now always averaging above 8 mph and flirting with average speeds above 9 mph. That average is over 50 miles of riding. The interesting part is the faster you ride the easier everything else becomes.

Anyhoo.... just something I've been working on that has made me a much better rider. If I can do it you can too.... if you can average 8 mph or more on the dirt riding a mountain bike you are hauling ass.


82907

[tallsteve]

Nice. I guess an 8.3 average, on unfamiliar territory, isn't too shabby then? I averaged 9.2 on my 11 mile ride in CC yesterday and I rode stuff I'd never been on before.

[Iceaxe]

Nice. I guess an 8.3 average, on unfamiliar territory, isn't too shabby then? I averaged 9.2 on my 11 mile ride in CC yesterday and I rode stuff I'd never been on before.

I noticed you were fast after riding together for 10 minutes. :2thumbs:

Anything above 8 mph is really moving...

[accadacca]

I'm getting faster every day. It'll take me a few more months. It's true about moving faster, everything just flows.

Still working on upgrading to a bigger tire bike too. The elevation gain on that chart tells a story. If I was dropped off on top and bombed downhill ever time I could average much higher! Haha

Still working on the uphill climbs and excited to get bigger wheels and upgraded hardware!

[Iceaxe]

Yeah, to make it accurate you must start and finish from the same place. If you do that elevation becomes pretty much a none issue as you're slower going up but faster going down so things even out. Of course all of this is just a rough estimate, it's just a fun measurement to track your progress.

[accadacca]

Got it on this ride! Slowly catching up to you fast guys.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160303/a9d4c5de203234a113d5b5fa3ad5e8c3.jpg

[whansen]

Shane, what type of pedals do you use? And do you think it affects your speed?

[Iceaxe]

I ride flats and I don't think it effects my speed. I used to ride clipless (meaning clipped in) but I don't find any difference. I believe clipping in can destroy your confidence after a couple bad tumbles. And to kind of make my point about speed I won the MTB gold medal at the World Senior Games last year, but I think I was one of the few guys riding flats. Not bragging, just pointing out you can easily be one of the fastest racers in the country on flats :-)

[neilether]

Oh yeah, well I averaged a whopping 15.3 mph on Saturday. Nevermind that it was on a road bike. First ride of the year. For the perceived effort I put in, I should have been going 28 mph. I love getting back into shape......

[Iceaxe]

You were riding a road bike... ROFLMAO

That's like sleeping with a fat girl ;-)

[accadacca]

I was able to average 8 mph! Slowly starting to get faster. I rode my fat bike this morning and I can tell you it would be A LOT of work to average 8 mph on that beast!

82919

[neilether]

You were riding a road bike... ROFLMAO

That's like sleeping with a fat girl ;-)

I figure this would elicit a response of that type. :nod: Road bike is kind of like fun, but different. Besides, up in the frozen Logan tundra, ain't no dirt to be ridden yet. Unfortunately, we don't have any good low elevation trails that dry out quickly.

I do hear that the yummy BST in Ogden is good to go. I'll be making a few trips there in the coming weeks as things dry out here.

My goal is to beat Tall Steve up the whole Mill Canyon climb in AF Canyon. I'm still perturbed that he had me beat last summer by a couple of minutes. Sure, it's only a couple minutes on a ~70 minute climb, but still I begrudge him his victory.

[tallsteve]

My goal is to beat Tall Steve up the whole Mill Canyon climb in AF Canyon. I'm still perturbed that he had me beat last summer by a couple of minutes. Sure, it's only a couple minutes on a ~70 minute climb, but still I begrudge him his victory.

Ha! Oh, yeah, I forgot about that! That is a bugger of a climb- Over 2,000' in 6 miles or something like that and I love it! One of my favorites!

I'm home from spending 6 days in Houston on business. More than ready to get back in the saddle.