7 Ways To Improve Your Average Speed On The Bike

This episode of the Get Fast podcast is brought to you by Trivelo Coaching, where we help triathletes and cyclists like you train smarter to race faster. You are joined, as always, by your host, former Australian Ironman champion Jared Donnelly, and I am Jordan Donnelly. In this episode, we're talking about seven ways to increase your average speed. Seven different ways to increase your average speed. Now, before we get into the seven ways, I want to talk about increasing your average speed and just your comments on the relevance of increasing your average speed. Because obviously if you want to get from A to B faster, the best way you can do that is to increase your average speed from A to B. But that's kind of misleading because not everything's just about average speed, is it?

Average speed is probably the least important piece of data that you could ever want to look at.

It's not a very good thing to say when we're just about to talk about seven ways to.

So it's a great headline. People definitely want to go faster. That's the main point we're making. But average speed is a result of what you do to create an improvement in your average speed. So it's the outcome. So we really want to talk about what's the input, what's the things that can create an overall result, which is to ride faster. And the funny part is when someone comes to me and says I can ride on my Saturdays at 32Ks an hour. And I think they think that's impressive to me, but it's just, it just has no relevance to your ability.

Even if they said 42 or 52 kilometers an hour, the number years, the number doesn't matter.

Or I could say, you're in a very fast bunch. Did you contribute? Is my next question. At any stage, were you on the front of the bunch? And I go, oh, no. Well, that's not your speed. That's the bunch of speed. You are in a bunch that averages 42, or you are in a bunch that averages 26. So for you to identify that as your speed, unless you're at the front the whole time, then you could say that is your speed. But otherwise it has nothing to do with your level of speed, your best speed that you can capable of doing. The only way to find that out is to ride solo.

And even then, if you are riding solo, aiming for a certain average speed isn't necessarily, like you said, the be all and end all. That's the outcome that will happen. But I rode at 32km an hour. What was the course what was the wind conditions that day? You know, you can't just aim for a certain speed every time because the conditions always going to be different.

Yeah, and that's why the other things we use, such as, you know, power, those things will give us a more indicative indication of what actually happened in that ride. So if you happen to ride a course that's A to B potentially into the headwind the whole way, you could have done a PB, but your average speed would be 4 or 5 kilometers slower. And in my mind that's a great result. So therefore the average speed is irrelevant. But someone would be disappointed who doesn't know that there are other things that are more important because it wasn't as fast as last week, because I was 4km an hour slower than I was last week, but the conditions were completely different. And that is so important to understand how irrelevant the average speed is for the majority of the time.

So to clarify, we're talking about you individually, not what you can ride in a group or a group race. We're talking about time trialing pretty much and we're talking about average speed. As a final result, we're talking about the seven things that you can change and what your input is to change your the output of your average speed.

And to be clear, we're talking about general bike riding. Time trialing specifically has the real average speed result. But in road racing, criterium racing or mountain bike racing, the average speed is, is not a good indicator of, of how good or effective the actual ride was. So that's what we're trying to make. People really get that, a grip on that statement so that they look for other things to give them feedback about how well they're going. But having said that, in the time trial, I know that if I can ride 42 kilometers per hour for a 25 to 30 minute time trial, I'll possibly win the event in my age category. So yes, average speed does play a role. That is if the conditions are dead flat, no wind. So anytime I go to a race where there's wind and it's undulating, that speed has a compromising result. So am I satisfied with riding 39ks an hour on a hilly course with lots of wind? Probably, if I've ridden good power and ended up on the podium. So they're good examples of how the average speed has some role to play. But it's not the be all and end all.

Yeah, and in the case of a triathlon you're pretty much always time trialing. So it is Something you're going to pay attention to.

But yeah, and as I say to someone, if it's a course that's out and back for 180km, which is 90k at 90k back, if you've ridden 90k into a headwind and you're relying on your average speed, you will ride way too hard to try and keep your average speed up. By the time you get to 90k, you're done, you turn around, you've got this tailwind, you can't use it because you've ridden too hard. So average speed can be an actual negative in a triathlon. If you're in a course where it's, you know, four laps of 45k, 45k, 45k, 45K, you've got a better idea after 45k, how well you're going in the race. So therefore, when you get to 90k, you've done out and back, and then you go out and back again. So you've got four things to look at or three things to look at before you finish the race to give you an idea of how you're traveling in terms of average speed. So we do look at average speed in time trials a lot, but it's the end result. So to try and pace yourself off average speed at the beginning of any time trial is a really bad idea because unless it's pancake flat with no wind, then it's just not the metrics you should be looking at. As I've just said, there are other things that are more important.

Let's go into the very first one. One of the major factors that's more important in terms of what is going to help get your average speed faster, and that is power to weight ratio. And improving your power weight to ratio will go a long way in increasing your ability to have a higher average speed.

So let's just make this as clear and as simple as possible. There's two ways to allow you to have a better watts per kilo and what is watts per kilo? It's the amount of power you can push divided by how much you weigh. So when we talk in general terms at the coffee shop, what's your FTP number? And that's such a arbitrary number to answer. And someone might say, oh my God, my best FTP is 400 watts. And someone else might say, oh geez, I'm not so good. Mine's 180. But the 400 watt person, unless they weigh the same as the 180 watt person, you can't compare the two. And that's why the power is divided by your weight. So we get, you know, 4 watts per kilo, or 3.5 watts per kilo, or 3 watts per kilo as a professional, 5 watts per kilo, 6 watts per kilo for that 20, 20 minute FTP test. So that's a better indicator. And you could boast if you wanted to, about how good a rider you are by not saying what your actual raw power number is, but what your watts per kilo are. So how do you become a better rider with this particular point? Increase your watts by training harder and lose weight. So they're two massive things that will improve your watts per kilo. So if you were a rider who rode 200 watts per kilo and you weighed 100 kilograms, you know, you're basically dividing that out and you, what are you? Two watts per kilo. So, you know, in order to get to 3 watts per kilo, you either need to do one of those two things, improve your power, or the second thing, lose weight. So the minute you're right at 210 watts and stay at the same weight, you're already going to 2.2 watts per kilo. So you've improved. So if you continue to do that, continue to improve your power, you're going to actually get your watts per kilo closer and closer to what your goal is. It might be 3 watts per kilo, but if you do both of those things together, lose weight and increase your power, which is the ultimate goal for every cyclist, that should be the ultimate goal. Maybe they don't understand that, but I'm trying to explain that that is what you should be doing as the number one factor in all of your training. Get the right training program, of course, but improving your watts and losing weight is going to give you a higher watts per kilo, which means you will end up with a higher average speed on the bike.

Yeah, perfect way to put it. Point number two is if you are. Once you have a better power to weight ratio, one of the next most important things you can focus on is your aerodynamics.

Yeah. If you're going to sit on the bike as wide and as tall as you possibly can, you're effectively slowing yourself down. So getting a good bike fit from a professional and trying in a podcast, we have talked about that. So it's really important we don't dismiss it as a key factor in getting an average speed that's quicker. So getting to sit on the bike properly so you can sustain the position comfortably and the Second part is to make sure that you're not a massive truck compared to a mini miner. The bigger you are on the bike, the more wind resistance, frontal wind resistance you create. And we want to be as tiny as we possibly can on the bike without losing the functioning breathing and pushing power. So getting a good position where you can still function well, but you're as tiny as you can so that you're cutting through the air and wearing really tight clothes is a really good idea. So that you don't have a sail flapping from your neck and the whole back of your body is full of air like a spinnaker, to slow you down, a dragging effect. We want to eliminate all of that. So. So getting yourself as aerodynamic as possible on the bike without compromising your position for breathing and for pushing power, they're the simple ways that you can just move yourself into a better position to be more aerodynamic will get you. If you look at the bike computer on your head unit, you'll see, sit up, sit on a flat bit of road, sit up, see what happens as you're pedaling the same power, and then tuck down, pedal the same power, and instantly you might go up 0.5 kilometer per hour faster.

It's definitely a good test. And I mean, without discouraging people to go get a bike fit, you can definitely practice positions on the bike on a certain ride. If you just get one main stretch that's the same terrain and not uphill or downhill, you can practice different positions and see yourself what's actually for the.

Same power giving you better speed, same cadence, same power. Just move your body up and down, around, forward, backwards, you know, wider, tighter, and just see the difference. And the road needs to be reasonably flat. But it is a really good experiment to just see, wow. By getting into this really good tuck position. And there's no. You know, obviously riders you see in the Tour de France, when they're going downhill, they don't sit up. Right. They go into. They're now sitting on the top tube of the bike as low as they can, with their head and their chin resting on the handlebars. That's how important they think the gains of aerodynamic are for getting the bike to go faster.

Yeah, and that sort of experiment is just so you can see the difference and show yourself how it can completely change by half. Half a kilometer per hour or more. But that's not a scientific experiment. You need to go get yourself a body fit, a bike fit, to control all the variables.

Yeah. And look, we just. The question is how do you get to go faster? And these are the answers. So not only get the bike fit, sit in a better aerodynamically, but wear clothes that aren't going to be a drag.

Yep, definitely. And that brings us straight to the next point, and that's understanding the difference between a TT bike and a road bike and how much it plays a part. And if you're trying to go faster on the road bike, you know there's only so many positions you can get in. Like you're just saying with the Tour de France kind of tuck, kind of style when you're descending, that kind of thing. And you've got more ability to get into a more aero position, obviously, on the TT bike. But we had a Trivalo athlete share some unreal footage of he got a TT bike, thought he was in a really good position, thought he was really aero, because you're naturally in a very aero position as soon as you jump on that TT bike and went and got a bike fit. And the before and after was totally different. And it just shows that just because you're on the TT bike doesn't mean you're automatically in the best aero position.

Yeah. So changing bikes from road bike to TT bike, no matter what position you sit in, it's going to be faster. So that's one. But don't just leave it at that. Go to point 2. Changing bikes from road bike to TT bike. But getting into a better aerodynamic position is going to be much better than just changing bikes, if that's all you did. So it goes back to the first two points we've talked about, which is obviously power to weight and the aerodynamic position. So changing bikes, obviously there are still people competing in triathlon on road bikes, which is, if that's all they can afford, they need to get their body in an aerodynamic position. But certainly on a TT bike, you're going to be faster without even changing your position. It is a faster way of traveling.

And you would say a lot of people even just still underestimate the difference between the two bikes. And someone might see you go flying past on a TT bike and they're on a road bike and think, how are they going that fast? And the bike has a lot to do with it and people need to not underestimate it.

Yeah. So the bike is generally faster because of the position you're sitting on it. That is the main thing to understand. You can't get that position on a road bike. It's, you know, you do see the Tour de France professionals with their elbows Resting on the handlebars with their hands holding nothing out in front. And they're really skilled at this. And they're bent over into a beautiful TT position on their road bike. And that will only happen if they're in a solo breakaway or, or they're on the front of a small breakaway, or they're trying to drag the peloton along as a team effort, being the domestique. But they will go into that position ahead of holding any other position on their road bike because they know it's faster for less effort or, sorry, the same effort, it's faster. So don't underestimate. You know, the bike is important, but the position that you're sitting on is going to be a determining factor.

Yep.

Great.

Our next point is on the same sort of theme, apart from just upgrading your bike, upgrading your equipment as a whole.

Yep. Well, you know, we've talked about this in depth.

We did it. In fact, we did another whole podcast on this exact thing. Upgrading your equipment to go faster. Yeah.

So we won't, we won't dwell on this. But, but, you know, obviously getting the right helmet, the right bike, the right wheels, you know, you know, even down to the right shoe covers the most aerodynamic clothes you can possibly get.

Skin suits, aerodynamic drink bottles on the TT bike.

Yep. There's, there's every, everything you can possibly think of, you know, shaved legs, you know, minute one percenters. If you're looking for one second here, two seconds there, and don't laugh because races and I've lost races and won races by under a second. So, you know, it could have been the aerodynamic helmet I had on or, you know, I rode around the corner better or faster or, you know, which, which is another really valid, valid point which has just reminded me a lot of course knowledge in some of the time trials we do is such an important point in making sure riders understand that there could be six or seven turns, left hand turns or bends or sweeps or roundabouts, where if you know what their ability to go through them, whether it's dangerous or you have to slow, if you've got really good course knowledge, you can pick up two seconds here, three seconds there. And there's a particular course in Melbourne called Kew Boulevard. And I've taken a few guys around some of those corners on my wheel, showing them the line that I take, and I stay in the tuck position down the drops. And 95% of the people we were racing with all were too scared to go in that position. But once they see that someone can do it then that's two seconds saved. So the average speed of that ride instantly goes up two seconds. So I think there's five corners, so there's two seconds times five is 10 seconds. That could be the difference between winning and losing. Just by positioning yourself in the tuck as compared to that position on one course.

I was having a conversation with another tribal athlete just last week about this and he was saying that in a race, if he is ever dropped and he's just off the back, he really backs himself to be able to get back on around any corners. He's such a good descender or getting around corners, he gets back a second or two on every corner. And in fact he did it not long ago which allowed him to win the race. He got dropped from the breakaway and then he got around the corners fast. I got back onto them and then won the race. And that like we said, I mean to, to quote the now infamous Lance Armstrong, every second counts. And it really does.

Yeah, and, and just not dismissive of that, of that. You know, we're talking about really fine tuned things here. When everybody's quite even, even or equal in ability, it's these little things that could be the difference between you actually winning and losing. And let's face it, the three or four hundred professionals that are in teams around the world, they're all very talented, highly skilled athletes. Well, why doesn't the same person win all the time? It's because there's different things that happen on different terrains and different abilities and people have got strengths and weaknesses on particular courses form all those sort of things. So even the best people can't win all the time. So you've got to try to be on top of your game with everything, right? And then make sure you're fit enough to win.

And I would even say the example I just used was a really good cyclist competing against other really good cyclists. So that that slight advantage was actually a really big advantage. But even more of a gap is just a standard cyclist. And I would say every time I ride with you in the hills, it highlights to me that my weakest part of cycling is descending around corners. And you gap me by 10 or 15 meters in a second around corners just because you're much more experienced. And if that's happening in a race against competition, you know, where it's a few riders who are less experienced against each other, that is much more than just a second. It creates five second gaps constantly.

It's a game changer. It's a winning ability because every Time you get gapped by 15 meters, you have to burn a match, so to speak. And what do we mean by that? Do an effort. We call doing an effort burning a match. And you only have five matches or four matches available to you per race. And burning a match means if the race is up the road and you're 5, 10 seconds off the back, you've got to push out massive watts, which is going to hurt you physiologically, create lactate levels, increase your heart rate and you're getting tired while the other rider hasn't done any of that because of his skill. So it is a factor that will contribute to your overall average speed or your overall ability to keep your fatigue levels low to enable you to win the race.

Yeah, absolutely. So next point, were you going to say something else on that? Next point on in the seven ways is just thinking overall about your training. You just need to be fitter.

Yep. There's definitely a high correlation between creating a faster average speed and being fit enough to sustain it, depending on how long the event is. Obviously. And you know, we can talk about individual pursuit on the track, that might go for 3 minutes 30 compared to a time trial out in the road that might go for 25 minutes or an Ironman or a half ironman, which is a, you know, a ride that goes for between the top guys two hours and the, the average riders three hours plus. So we're talking about three minutes to three hours. And every single thing we're talking about here is important for any of those events. So you can apply everything we're talking about so far to anytime you ride a bike, whether it's on a track, whether it's short, whether it's long.

And the secrets to getting fitter probably can't be summarized in a two minute point. It's probably the point of our whole podcast, isn't it?

Yeah. So, so obviously with the first point we talked about was the ratio between weight and power. So to train, to train your fitness so that you can hold the right power, you know, it's sort of the back the bookends here. We're talking about number one and now we're talking about the program. So you can't, you can't do much with your power unless you actually got a good training program. And you know, the example I can give you is if I'm out doing sessions that are got such variety, like one minute I'm doing strength sessions, one minute I'm doing sub threshold sweet spot time trial riding for, you know, one hour times two or 30 minutes times two recovery, easy recovery, rides, tempo with some, some spin sprints in it, just all endurance type riding, everything you can think of, high intensity racing. All of these variable training sessions, variety of sessions are going to give me the program that's going to enable me to do what number one goal we talked about was improve my power and.

Improve the average speed. So.

Which will improve the average speed? Yeah.

So you, I just want to highlight this. You would say that if you just wanted to improve your average speed over a 30 or 45 minute or hour effort, you still are not still better off doing the variety of sessions compared to just riding. Let's say your best speed is 32 km an hour for that hour, doing the hour and seeing how fast you can hold and then trying it again next week and doing 32.5km an hour, see if you can hold that. You're better off still doing the variety of sessions.

It's a great question because if you did test yourself weekly, which I don't recommend by the way, but if you did do that and you trained the same way during the week, you would get to a point you would possibly improve slowly and you would get to a point where you would stagnate and you would stay the same and eventually your fatigue levels of training the same way without recovery. And if I'm saying you want to train the same way to get that average speed at 32Ks an hour. So every session you do is 32Ks an hour. And don't laugh, people do train like this. So I'm not being facetious almost. It's a method that people use and think that's okay and they're going to stay the same and progressively lose fitness because they're not having the principal theory behind training, which is push yourself harder, faster, further.

And I would definitely say that it is very common for a new athlete to come to us. And one of the things they say to you is, I've just plateaued. I've been the same sort of rider or triathlete for six months, a year, two years, and I'm not sure why. And it's often down to the training program.

Yep. And you know, when we started this conversation, you know, athletes come to us saying I can ride 32ks an hour. And you know, we pulled that apart at the start saying, well, unless you ride solo or at the front of the bunch, it's, it's not an indicator of how well you can ride. So after telling you all the things that we've talked about, now from the start of the program, now you get a better idea of why it's not a good indicator because there's so many things that are not being contributed by you. You know, the bunch is contributing the majority of the, of the pace. So the minute you can stay on the front of that bunch, then you own that, that average speed. So, so training the same way like we talked about. People just come to us with the same method of training and they are so complaining about not getting any better. It's because they're doing that same program over and over again. And, you know, the feedback is not so much the average speed in your bunch ride that it's getting faster, but that you contributed more. That would be good feedback. And that's the phone calls I get is, boy, I was just not a passenger today. I was actually on the front doing some turns. So now you're starting to get and feel improvements from your training by training differently. And you can now use that average speed in your bunch as your. As part of you because you're actually now a contributor rather than a spectator.

Yeah, and I learned this exact lesson yesterday. I did a time trial and it was. It was a 5k time trial and I haven't been doing that much speed work and I was disappointed with my time. And I said, you. I just, I just didn't feel like I could. I could. I had the intensity in me to, to go any quicker. And you said, well, this is a perfect example of that training specificity and needing to run faster than what I would run in a 5K and train at a faster rate so that my body can actually increase that intensity. And that was probably just been lacking recently. So that's probably a focus going forward.

Yeah. And to be fair, you know, there's a lot in what you just said. It's a sea race, it's a solo time trial in the boondocks on a road where there's no one else around. And it's just a measurement to see how you're going. And you did the second fastest time ever. So the negative results you're feeling in your brain actually not realistic. And it's something that you're in a period where you've done some massive endurance training, building up your fitness. We've done no specific race training for that event, yet you still did the second fastest and missed out by six seconds on your pb. And you did that PB in a race when you were quite trained up for speed. So that's an outstanding result. But there's two ways of looking at it, isn't it? From one, from an athlete's point of view where they think, oh, I should have done better. I feel like I'm as fit as anything. Well, you are. You just don't have that specific speed yet. And this is kind of what we're talking about here is, you know, the only time you really want to test yourself is, is at the end of the program or the, the race day. And that's the day where, at the end of that ride. And again, it does depend on the undulations and the terrain and the, and the wind. But you know, your result will be based around a whole lot of metrics. But if your average speed is, is what it should be, given the circumstances are the same, you will be faster. And that's what we're trying to achieve here.

And I have to say, it is, it is just. I've heard you coach thousands of athletes. I've heard of thousands of conversations you've had with athletes. And a lot of this stuff I've heard a thousand times. And it still doesn't sink in when it's yourself and you can understand how athletes, as an athlete, you just forget this stuff and you can easily focus on the wrong thing or not realize all factors or think about all the factors that are contributing. And it's almost, it's almost embarrassing to say that and hear from the coach's perspective. You've done your second fastest time ever. You know, what are you worried about? But these are the factors that it's just important to have a coach's perspective and reminder about.

But don't, don't, don't dismiss your concerns because that shows you how embraced you are in the program and you want success and you want to improve. And, and it's, you know, it's someone else's can point out, you know, some positives and you're just focusing on the one thing that you just wanted to do, a pb. That was your whole focus and that's not actually what the goal and the outcome of the session was. And it was good because your brother actually asked you, what's your goal? And you said, oh, my worst outcome is if I go over 1640 for 5K. And you beat that. You went under that. So you should have actually been happy except you changed your goal to I wanted to do a PB when you came back, you know, things like you're running by yourself and there's no competition. You know, they're all factors that contribute to the result as well.

So, yeah, I just think that it's just very important for people to remember that. Yeah, definitely. Getting an external and coach's perspective just helps remind you of those. Of those factors. So much so bringing it back. And the next point is similar to what we're talking about is your overall execution and pacing.

Yeah. So no matter how well you do those other. Are we up to point seven?

This is six.

Those other five points, no matter how well you do those, if you stuff up the execution, and I don't care how fit you are, and I don't care whether you're Peter Sagan or Chris Froome, if you go too hard and muck the execution up, you will still bugger up the result. So understand that the pros at the top of their game, if they did a time trial and went out above their threshold, they will not get an improved average speed, they will get a worse result. So getting the right bike, getting trained up so your power's better, losing weight, getting the right equipment, being more aero, getting the, you know, focus on execution is the key. That's actually the key thing. For without that, all the other things can't be. They can't be achieved. So, so people can dismiss that as, oh, yeah, well, that's. Of course you want to. But no, if you don't do it right, you will actually not achieve what you're after at the end of the day. And execution is one of the most dismissed topics that people just don't want to hear. And even guys that I've taught coached for three, four seasons still. We just had a week of testing and still with their tail between their legs went, I know I went too hard too soon. Why don't I learn? And it's just a mistake that just happens repeatedly, but you've got to experience it before you'll understand that you don't want to do that again. And I always use the analogy of if you do that and muck up all of the training you've put into this, the time and the money, and if you muck it up on the day that it counts, you know, you feel really disappointed in yourself because it's nothing more than you executing incorrectly. And the feeling you get because of doing it wrong is the lactate build up. It feels like you're running with bricks for legs. You know, your breathing's uncomfortable. It's not a good experience either. You actually feel crap. And, you know, I always say if it's a time trial and you've blown up and you've gone too hard on a time trial. You feel like, I want to get rid of this bike, I never want to ride it again.

I've said that before.

Before you finish the ride. I'm selling this bike. I can't ride the friggin thing. It's no good, I'm no good at it. It's totally to do with how you executed it. And that's why I keep using the professionals, because they. You think it's you. Well, it is you, but your execution, not you as a, as a athlete. You have the fitness, you have all, you've done everything right. Just like a professional is at the top of his game, yet he still can do exactly the same as what an amateur can do if he buggers up the execution.

Yeah, and I mean all of these points are valid and all of these points kind of rely on each other, but especially for this point, you can have the best power to weight ratio, you can have the best aerodynamics, the best equipment, you can be trained really well, you can have the best bike. But yeah, if you stuff up the execution, then you just can't hold it a good average speed.

And the sooner you realize that, the less times you'll bugger it up.

Yeah, so that pretty much wraps up our main ways. We spoke about a lot of side topics there, which, you know, in terms of the equipment, skin suits, that kind of thing, There are a bunch of ways that you can improve yourself to improve your all average speed. I mean the last point we actually wrote down, which I thought was pretty funny, I saw a joke online that said this is point number seven. The fastest way to increase your average speed is to change your computer from miles to kilometers and you'll be going faster.

That's fantastic. Yeah, well, if that's the only resort you're going to, you're in a bad situation.

Yeah, but that's it for this podcast. Is there anything else you wanted to say?

No, no, look, I just think, you know, just understand the point we're trying to make in this podcast is average speed is the output and there's so many factors that go into creating the result. So the points we made, things that I really want you to concentrate on in every day in all the sessions you're doing and you will get the outcome, which is to be a faster rider, without any doubt. Perfect.

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