Average road bike speed for 3.5 w/kg cyclist

Triathlon Forum
1

I posted a few months ago about my frustration with not being faster on my road bike. I have a brand new Tarmac with a left sided stages crank PM. My ftp is 275, I am 173 lbs, so about 3.5 w/kg. I can hold 300 watts for 20 minutes outside, and probably higher than that now. But when I ride, my average speed for zone 2 riding is only 17-18 mph. Last weekend I rode for two hours, zone two, and averaged 15 mph with 2000 feet of climbing.

I keep reading about others on this forum who regularly average well over 20 mph on their road bikes. What am I doing wrong lol? I wear regular cycling clothing, nothing too baggy, but this time of year with the cold weather I wear a jacket or a loose fitting heavy shirt over a few layers. But even in the Summer I was not that fast.

2

Route, roads, and traffic play a huge part. I am similar numbers. I race my TT bike on a so-so position at around 22-23 MPH. I typically ride my road bike around 18-19 MPH. But, that is highly driven by starts, stops, and turns. My average power on a road bike ride is typically around 190W tops. Whereas, my average TT bike power in a race is 220W - 230W. I have a local loop I also ride on my road bike with almost no stops and all fast turns. I average around 20.5 - 21 MPH on 220W - 230W.

3

I posted a few months ago about my frustration with not being faster on my road bike. I have a brand new Tarmac with a left sided stages crank PM. My ftp is 275, I am 173 lbs, so about 3.5 w/kg. I can hold 300 watts for 20 minutes outside, and probably higher than that now. But when I ride, my average speed for zone 2 riding is only 17-18 mph. Last weekend I rode for two hours, zone two, and averaged 15 mph with 2000 feet of climbing.

I keep reading about others on this forum who regularly average well over 20 mph on their road bikes. What am I doing wrong lol? I wear regular cycling clothing, nothing too baggy, but this time of year with the cold weather I wear a jacket or a loose fitting heavy shirt over a few layers. But even in the Summer I was not that fast.

That seems about right.

The people doing over 20mph on their road bikes are either riding above zone 2, riding in a group, are on flat ground, or are stretching the truth.

4

My brother in law is only 150 lbs, can average 22 mph for 30 miles, all flat roads. That kind of ride usually takes him about 210 watts. He is obviously stronger than I am, but he has a faster bike. He has a Specialized Venge, with aero wheels and faster tires.

I can keep up with him but only on my tri bike lol.

5

How cold weather?
Winter clothes are usually much more loose and flappy than summer clothes.

Those two factors alone could be easily be >1mph

6

I posted a few months ago about my frustration with not being faster on my road bike. I have a brand new Tarmac with a left sided stages crank PM. My ftp is 275, I am 173 lbs, so about 3.5 w/kg. I can hold 300 watts for 20 minutes outside, and probably higher than that now. But when I ride, my average speed for zone 2 riding is only 17-18 mph. Last weekend I rode for two hours, zone two, and averaged 15 mph with 2000 feet of climbing.

I keep reading about others on this forum who regularly average well over 20 mph on their road bikes. What am I doing wrong lol? I wear regular cycling clothing, nothing too baggy, but this time of year with the cold weather I wear a jacket or a loose fitting heavy shirt over a few layers. But even in the Summer I was not that fast…

If your zone 2 is 200+ watts, and you are riding a mostly flat course, yes, 17-18mph is on the slowish side.

If youre zone 2 is 240ish watts, its very slow, in my opinion.

I can get 19-20 mph on 200watts on a $700 road bike, and cheap Amazon clothes with plenty on wrinkles, and I also barely ride in the drops because my lower back becomes a limiter if I’m down there too long. In short, this is my clearly NONoptimized aerodynamic bike ride. That’s on a 2hr ride with a few hills, 1600ft total climbing. On my TT bike with TT wheels, tight clothes, it’s even faster, significantly so, I take off about 10-12 minutes on 2 hrs on the same effort.

With an true FTP of 275 (meaning your PM is accurate, might want to check), you should be literally BLOWING by nearly all the cyclists on the road even on a Z2 effort since most of them are non-racing cyclists, with the exception of packs of competitive cyclists (whom are pretty obvious and will often give chase as you pass them!). If you’re not blowing past everyone, you should probably check your powermeter.

7

…and 2000ft of climbing in two hours is probably also 0.5-1 mph compared to someone riding in Florida (depending on how aggressive you ride the downhills)
.

8

The PM is brand new and was installed by the bike shop when I bought the bike in June. I ride the Peloton almost every day this time of year, and it also has my FTP within a few watts of the Stages shows. I know the Peloton only averages power and is not a true PM, but the effort feels almost identical at all zones to riding outside.

I guess I could be stronger with my left leg and since it is a left side crank PM only, it could be 5-10 percent off.

The last time I did an FTP test outdoors I averaged 303 watts for 20 minutes on a flat course. My speed was 22.3.

9

If your ftp is approx 275w, then Z2 should be somewhere between 165 and 220w
17mph at that sort of power is about right from my experience if you get ap and np as close as possible (normally about 8w difference for me) on relatively flat roads with junctions and whatnots.
I’d consider 2000ft of climbing in 2hrs flat, mostly I end up between 60 and 100ft per mile.

Don’t worry what other people claim to do or at what intensity they’re doing it at. Z2 is the bread and butter that the rest of your fitness is built on.

10

The PM is brand new and was installed by the bike shop when I bought the bike in June. I ride the Peloton almost every day this time of year, and it also has my FTP within a few watts of the Stages shows. I know the Peloton only averages power and is not a true PM, but the effort feels almost identical at all zones to riding outside.

I guess I could be stronger with my left leg and since it is a left side crank PM only, it could be 5-10 percent off.

The last time I did an FTP test outdoors I averaged 303 watts for 20 minutes on a flat course. My speed was 22.3.

This calculator may be helpful, seems reasonably legit. Works pretty well given my results on rolling-hill type courses (no megaclimbs) on a road bike (not aero-optimized TT bike)

http://bikecalculator.com/

Per that calc, 303w is roughly 22.9 mph so FTP test speed sounds about right

If your zone 2 is 160-200, on that calc:
160w is about 18mph
200w is about 19.7 mph
300w is 22.9 mph

So if assuming this calc is in the ballpark of right, 17mph for your z2 given your FTP seems quite slow, whereas your FTP test results seems only a a little slower than the calc.

Z2 is a big range - if you’re riding <160w, that’s likely too slow for z2.

11

I posted a few months ago about my frustration with not being faster on my road bike. I have a brand new Tarmac with a left sided stages crank PM. My ftp is 275, I am 173 lbs, so about 3.5 w/kg. I can hold 300 watts for 20 minutes outside, and probably higher than that now. But when I ride, my average speed for zone 2 riding is only 17-18 mph. Last weekend I rode for two hours, zone two, and averaged 15 mph with 2000 feet of climbing.

I keep reading about others on this forum who regularly average well over 20 mph on their road bikes. What am I doing wrong lol? I wear regular cycling clothing, nothing too baggy, but this time of year with the cold weather I wear a jacket or a loose fitting heavy shirt over a few layers. But even in the Summer I was not that fast.

That seems about right.

The people doing over 20mph on their road bikes are either riding above zone 2, riding in a group, are on flat ground, or are stretching the truth.

I disagree.

Why does the “zone” matter in this case? It’s a matter of figuring out why the average power doesn’t match the speed for the elevation of the routes. One person’s “zone 2” isn’t necessarily another person’s.

He said he did 2000 ft in 2hrs at 15mph. 2hrs at 15mph avg is 30mi. 2000ft / 30mi is 66 ft per mile. Not flat, but not mountainous either.

I often ride my road bike on roads averaging around 60ft per mile at 200w AP and NP to go right at 20mph. I’m about 160lbs. I can’t hold sweetspot for 3 hours nonstop. I’m not some Paris Roubaix roulleur pro. I’m a weekend warrior schmuck. Also with Covid, I ride solo only. Period. So it isn’t zones and it isn’t a group.

But back to it…it’s an investigation in why the power doesn’t match the speed. Not the zone matching the person really. People are different.

It’s a combo of route, and paying very close attention to your power output at all times. Ride good lines to preserve speed and always enable yourself to put power to the road. If you do a lot of coasting down hills slow lazy cornering, it’ll kill an average speed. Same for trying to spin at 50rpm up a hill just to stay in the middle of Z2. Just get over the damned hill and take a rest down the other side then get back to your target in the flats.

If your routes have a lot of stops OR a lot of stops at the bottom of hills, that absolutely kills the average speeds. Minimize the stops. Also, IMHO…I don’t like too many stops in rides as I feel it defeats the training stimulus a bit with all the micro resting of stop signs or waiting around.

I’d be curious to see the routes to see what the stops and corners and stuff looks like.

Around 200w AP out of a 280w ftp. A very typical route for me. Meter may read low. I dunno, but it says 200ish watts to go 20mph on 60ft per mile.
https://www.strava.com/activities/4342685883/

12

I think the road surface can make a lot of difference. I live in the Scottish Highlands, and our road surface is a rough chip and seal, when I went to Denmark I think my average speed increased by about 2kph.

13

No doubt bike, tires, road condition hills, weather, etc. all have impact on your speed (not your power).

Sometimes I go out and focus on average speed and then check my power when I’m done. So you might try the same ride at 20mph average spee and see what power you have at the end.

Or you can do what I do 99% of the time. I don’t look at my speed, only my power to make sure I’m doing whatever the training plan calls for. If I look at speed I invariable increase my power to increase my speed. This is especially an error when doing lone rides in z2 or recovery rides. And when I’m doing speed/interval work, I like looking at power.

14

Forget zones, what were your AP and NP for the ride? Also, did you have your garmin on autopause (or did time at stoplights count)?

For ref.: I’m a larger guy (180lbs), and I’ll average ~19mph for a 30mi loop with 1000ft of climbing on 190W. This is on a non-aero road bike with 60mm carbon wheels, riding on the hoods, on good roads. NP is ~220W since I’m pushing up the hills and doing some coasting on the back sides (casual riding, not doing a TT here).

15

For ref.: I’m a larger guy (180lbs), and I’ll average ~19mph for a 30mi loop with 1000ft of climbing on 190W. This is on a non-aero road bike with 60mm carbon wheels, riding on the hoods, on good roads. NP is ~220W since I’m pushing up the hills and doing some coasting on the back sides (casual riding, not doing a TT here).

To go 19mph it takes me about 210-220 average power. Also 180lbs but 6’5” tall on older school aero road bike with non-aero training wheels.

But lots of factors impact that, especially wind. Wind is always a kick in the teeth if you’re looking at average speed.

16

I ride indoors so much I forget what speed is lol but I did a solo century in September. I averaged 196w and 210w NP and did 19mph at a 160-165lbs and a base model Allez equipped with Claris and stock non aero wheels. 4000ft of climbing so not super hilly.

No stops except traffic lights, I did this on two bottles of water and no rest stops

17

…and 2000ft of climbing in two hours is probably also 0.5-1 mph compared to someone riding in Florida (depending on how aggressive you ride the downhills)

2,000 ft on a 30 mile ride will slow you down a lot more than that.

18

I keep reading about others on this forum who regularly average well over 20 mph on their road bikes. What am I doing wrong lol? I wear regular cycling clothing, nothing too baggy, but this time of year with the cold weather I wear a jacket or a loose fitting heavy shirt over a few layers. But even in the Summer I was not that fast.

What tires are you using? As another poster asked what kind of road surface? The cold is going to slow you down a lot. Power can be higher for some but the air is denser and your much less aero due to baggy, bulky clothes.

19

What kind of tires are you riding? My Gravel tires Vs GP5000s are worth 2+ mph

Are you stopping at lights/ riding through neighborhood… or on wide open roads? The former kills average speed

When you’re doing z2 rides… are you holding steady power or does AP/NP vary? Your ride isn’t “flat” so if you average 180w based on going hard up hills / coast down, your speed will suffer

Sometimes it’s fun, if you have a small loop, to see what your speed is at varying powers. My Z2 power range is 70w. So speed is really different at 180w vs 250w, whist both are in z2

Just go ride more and have fun =)

20

Your bike is one of the least relevant parts of the equation.
Terrain/surface, weather, position, clothing, tyres, and actual power numbers are what you should be looking at.

I say actual power numbers because FTP and “zone” is hardly precise and a left sided PM only gives a very rough estimate unless you’ve cross referenced with other instruments and are pretty sure you’re close to a 50/50 balance on this sort of ride. How are you defining zone 2?

I’m in the same general vicinity as you in terms of weight and power, or at least I was until a couple of months ago when I got lazy. Most of the last year I’ve been able to do about 310W for 20mins and 270W for an hour at a weight around 83kg (~183lbs).
I’ve done several rides of 2-3hr duration at 31km/h+ (~19.4mph) on flat and rolling terrain (mixed surface quality, mostly average tarmac with some very poor sections), very few junctions or traffic lights, and just light breezes. I was using GP5000 tyres with butyl tubes and reasonably tight fitting normal cycling jerseys with arm warmers and a conventional road helmet. Non aerodynamic road frame and only 31mm deep wheels. No PM for these rides but I’d guess at average powers in the region of 200-220W. I wouldn’t regard 73-80% FTP as Zone 2, but there are a variety of zone definitions out there!
I don’t think there’s anything obviously inconsistent about your speed, given the details provided but they’re insufficient to be more accurate than that. Any junctions or bad surfaces on your routes for example?

You say you wear “nothing too baggy”. There’s a huge spectrum between this and tight fitting. Actually taking this seriously is the easiest and cheapest performance gain available. You don’t have to buy a speedsuit. Just avoid anything loose or hugely wrinkled.
Next, for periods when you’re pushing hardest, especially if you’ve a headwind, and for the whole ride if you can manage it, try to minimise your drag. The best position on a road bike tends to be hands on the top of the hoods with forearms horizontal. This will generally get you as low as the drops position but with lower drag from your arms. Try and keep your elbows from sticking out, and your head sticking up more than necessary.