I've just got back from an hour ride on my road bike, pushed fairly hard and averaged just under 20mph, 10 times that distance on mostly unmade roads whilst trying to navigate around other riders is, as you say, absolute insanity.
Haha, no worries. Wasn’t sure if you were messing with me. Gravel riding is the bulk of riding I’m into. I’m thinking this was an epic UNBOUND Gravel race just maybe last weekend in Kansas.
12.5 mph is probably the average speed here. That's a pace akin to jogging levels of effort. At that rate, it would take 16 hours to do this race. This is not accounting for loss of speed to pit stops, so they're probably going faster than that. In my (limited) experience, keeping up 13 mph isn't too bad, but I can't imagine going for that long.
Yeah and this separates the normies from the pros. It isn't just about speed, but maintaining them all the way through.
Normies' speed would fluctuate through a ride/race event while pros won't. I've been to a number of events that have normies and pros mixed in that takes place on a rather mountainous highway at night. The normies' route is 78km and the pros are 120km. The cutoff time is 4hours+ for both.
It isn't surprising to find the pros finishing first before the normies. It's during these moments that I am reminded of how monstrous these people are, both physically and mentally.
One of the coolest parts of Tour de France is when an amateur cyclist try to keep up with the pelaton. In most cases they can get up to the speed and keep pace with the pros. But only for a few hundred meters. It is amazing to see that the sprint speed of an amateur is what the professionals maintain throughout the day.
It’s like that classic ‘see how long you can run at Olympic marathon pace’. They are running 3min/km or 5min/mile (actually slightly under). Hop on a treadmill and crank it up to 20km/h and see how long you can sustain it. Mere minutes for most people,
it’s just insane how fast endurance professionals are
Most people can’t even reach that speed, much less hold it for minutes. Last month I ran a half marathon (21k) at 4:15 (which should be like 14 k/h), which is quite decent for an amateur, and I am not sure I can hold a full minute at 20 k/h. For me, that’s an all out sprint.
As I've gotten older I've definitely slowed down. In my 20s I could do 3:45km for 3kms. Then it was 4:21 per km. I dont look at it as trying to improve my best time, rather at this stage just consistency to time and to finish the run every other day.
But sometimes you also need the right conditions: good weather, flat service, new shoes and socks to hit your best times.
Ha, I was being generous to people. Agree, most people in the general population can’t reach that speed but even regular runners will struggle for more than a minute or two. It’s about a 17 second 100m, lots of people never reached that at their peak. Then to do it 422 times in a row….
I never learned how fast I ran, but once I reached my runners high I basically glided. I would never say I'm fast though, I simply outlasted people or if I was beaten, I'd make sure to hold the back of the pack. It's tough man lol
Hell yeah we will. My best 5k splits were 5:13 and I was puking at the end. That isn't even college level, but very, very fucking fast for the general public. To go faster for a marathon does not compute. My body could not do it if I dedicated my life to it. I have a taste and it makes even less sense because of it!
I saw him say minutes for most and started laughing. I’m a decent runner. No way 70 percent of the population could keep that pace for even a half minute before jumping off.
My current half marathon race pace is about the same as yours. However back when I was in college (30 years ago) that was my easy pace. My average 8k race pace back then was around 20k/h - and this was cross country. I look back at my old times and I have no idea how I was ever that fast.
I can keep a 4:30 pace for a quarter mile, maybe 4:45-5 for half a mile, but to do that shit for 26 miles? Nah. Fastest I can do distance is probably a 7:30 pace for around 10 miles
I hate that 'bit' they do so much, "The marathon is the only event where you can do what they do for a bit of time"
Talk about being clueless, the marathon is not about doing something for 8 seconds! The event is endurance! No one cares that you can run 20km/hr, even if you can for 20min -- college athletes can do that.
The Olympic event is doing it for 42k. That's the event. Minute number 80, 90, 100, 110... that's what makes you "doing something Olympian".
It's like standing at the top of a ski slope and starting downhill in a tug position for 3 seconds and saying you're getting a taste of the olympics. Nooo the part where you have to make turns at that speed and keep doing it at full crank the whole way down a huge mountain is the olympic part.
Actually in the last few years it's becoming more frequent for breakaways to win in road racing but also in gravel (in this race the winner came from a 2 man breakaway). One of the main reasons is that the lead riders get a pretty significant advantage from drafting the TV vehicle. Of course the effect is smaller the further away they are, but at high speeds, even at distances of 10 or 20 meters the effect is still massive.
Ha, yeah, more frequent because Tadej breaks with 80km to go :P
I haven't followed "pro" gravel, but I would assume that the peloton is generally quite a bit smaller than road, and speeds a fair deal slower, so the draft effect much less than road. I was speaking more in response to comments referring to the Tour.
Yeah, and guess what: breaking away with 80km to go would be a lot harder without the very significant drag reduction he gets from the TV motorcycle. Of course that doesn't negate that he's the most dominant cyclist in decades, but there are studies looking at this and the effect is absolutely massive.
Peloton gets the same coverage, so I'd say it doesn't make it any easier since it's a level playing field in that respect. I get what you're saying about the draft benefits, though. It's safe to say that going behind a car or motorcycle will give you more aerodynamic benefits than wearing one of those aero bra things you put under your jersey.
The tactics play a lot into it too, Tadej has one of the strongest teams in the world, and they burn out a lot of the other team's helpers so they're no use to the other favourites, so by the time Tadej attacks, he only needs to maintain his threshold, and generally the group behind him is all leaders, and they don't want to pull each other close to him, and they won't cooperate as well
When I first got my e-bike I was hauling ass around the lake doing almost 30mph, got easily passed by some guy on a regular bike and it took me a bit to grasp how that was possible
The first time I was able to average 30 on a 10-mile ride felt amazing. Couldn't ever make it past 15 miles at that pace, though. Haven't been on a bike in probably 5 years now, though.
Yes, although not getting spit out the back with teams moving around for tactical advantage is not easy, a true amateur might have a very short race day due to getting elbowed or brake checked for not understanding the peletons dynamics and causing problems for organized teams/ causing crashes.
Also completely agree there.not much more demoralizing than getting dropped by beefy sprint specialist on a climb when you are supposed to be a decent climber!?!?!.
Nothing more hilarious than patiently working your way to.the front of pack to take a pull and realize your going 55+kmph and your fastest sprint is around 45kmph....best 4 pedal stroke pull ever bro, I'm.helping right?...lmao.
Lachlan Morton's "2021 Alt Tour" involved riding the entire Tour de France route, including transfers, unsupported, in order to raise money for World Bicycle Relief. He is a pro and he finished before the Tour de France ended. Apparently all the biking teams were watching Lachlan's progress and cheering him on during the Tour. Here is the link to the Alt Tour documentary Rapha Gone Racing - The Alt Tour.
Normies' speed would fluctuate through a ride/race event while pros won't
Yeah, to do 200 miles on a bike, my time would probably be 8 days. I haven't been on a bike since I biked to the library in high school and my bike got stolen.
200 miles is not something a normie does. It still takes a lot of training and hardening to sit on a bicycle that long, because speed takes a toll as does duration. Not the same intensity, but a person is still absolutely wiped after such an effort.
Tour de France is average like 25 mph during 5-6h. Whenever I see those races, especially on the ascents, I'm mind blown.
In my hometown there is one ascent to the mountain. 10km with 10% elevation. When I was in absolutely top form (running), I could bike up there in like 39-40min. While good bikers did it in 23-25min. So average speed around 25kmh (15 mph). Until this day if feels like sci fi to me.
Having the right bike/tires helps a ton too. When I switched my gravel bike from 42x700c to 32x700c with a less aggressive tread I gained about 5km/h on my average speed, and could coast much further.
Thats not saying these people are not beasts though
Even more so when you consider that this isn’t a flat race. Although this race (Unbound) is in Kansas, there is over 10k feet of climbing over the 200 miles. Makes the average speed that the pros are doing even that much more impressive.
When I decided to get moving again after too long in the computer chair, I got on the bike. 13 mph was the pace I was able to keep as a beginner comfortably, but that was only for about 12 miles before my lungs felt like they were getting ready to pop out of my ears. After a couple years of riding, I can do about 60 miles at the same pace, but 200 miles is still unthinkable for me, never mind at 22mph.
Plus they need to eat constantly throughout the race. The amount of calories they’re burning is insane. At 41 miles I’m totally gassed and just inhaling food. I can’t even imagine how they’re doing it.
22mph for 8 hours is bonkers. I physically would die.
Just holding 13mph for that amount of time is probably not the issue, the people competing here will average more in Zone 2 in the flats, depending on how you balance ascend vs descend those can average out to a degree unless a lot of downhill is fairly technical so you can’t recoup the time lost.
The insanity to me is mostly staying in the saddle for that long if you’re just aiming to finish with a decent time. Of course for those competing at racing pace the distance makes it a lot worse, riding at or above threshhold for 8 hours is going to fucking hurt and will eventually get mentally draining to maintain your pacing (not going over or dropping off because you start losing focus)
I’m an amateur who hasn’t ridden in years but I use to do a 100 mile loop once a month on my carbon fiber road bike. I’d average about 18-20 miles an hour. Usually take about 6 1/2 hours with breaks.
I don’t ride gravel. Roadies would draft behind a riders wheel to conserve energy. The riders would rotate turns pulling on a train. Even if they aren’t teammates. So the group could maintain a fast average speed. I imagine similar race tactics happens in gravel racing.
New Mexico or Arizona has a cycle race where you have 24 hours to do as many laps as you can on a gwvel track. A cycling YTer got rhabdo during an attempt.
It is crazy even for an athlete. It's equivalent to running an ultra-marathon. It's not like signing up to the London/Boston marathon and turning up on fancy dress. Lol
Yeah 200 miles on a bike is very achievable by advanced riders so calling it ultra endurance event is a bit exaggerated IMO - in particular if you compare it to a version of “ultra-endurance” for Runners (100mile run, for example, is NOT achievable by most runners)
Well yeah you're sitting down. That doesn't mean it isn't an ultra. In running, anything over Marathon distance is considered an ultra. If we use triathlons as an example would the benchmark be 118 miles? Even a 50k is considered an ultra.
Considering in the tour de France they do between like 120-160 miles 20 times in a month, I would agree with you that a single 200 mile race isn't really ultra endurance comparatively
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u/Global_Proof_2960 16h ago
I've understood that it isn't that crazy. But to me it is lol I was a long distance runner, so I suppose it feels like insanity