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Ive been for a ride round Alton water (in suffolk) today, its just over 8miles round it and the surfaces vary from mud to stone to concrete in places with loads of small but knackering hills, (which i didnt know about as it was my first time round)

Anyway i pushed myself all the way round without stopping and even had to use the granny gear on a few hills, what i thought was going to take me just over half hour took 50mins,

I worked out that my average speed was 9.7mph (correct me if im wrong) is this about average? only asking as i was a bit disappointed that it took so long even though i was pushing so hard.

I used to be able to run 8miles in an hour a few years ago, but that was on the road which is pretty flat and only slight gradient.. I suppose it's the hills that kill the average speed on the bike. I think that's about my average at the min

Avg speed will depend on the terrain your riding... Get yourself a cycle computer as it will tell you on their what your avg speed was, or use a phone app like endomondo to track the route and give you stats on it...

It completely depends on the route I take! I have a regular ride which is 10 miles, usually takes bang on an hour. If I'm tired/ill/hungover, average speed drops to about 8mph, when I'm really pushing it can be up to 12. It's pretty flat though, I'm sure someone fitter could absolutely smash that.

Unless you've got two people doing the exact same route, you can't really compare it. Around here I'd say 10mph is a fairly reasonably average speed, go somewhere a bit hillier and 10 is probably incredibly impressive!

It's a case of how long is a piece of string I'm afraid....

.... the amount of climbing, how exposed your are to the wind and whether you're riding with or against and the amount of mud can have a massive impact on speeds .....I can ride same trails in winter and summer and the average speed will be max 10 km/ph in winter and min 16+ km/ph in the summer.....

...also, for a short blast the average speed will, obviously, be higher than on an all day epic....

...even tyre choice can make a difference - with soft rubber tyres noticeably dragger and slower on hard pack surfaces....

....best bet is to keep a mental note of your average speeds on the trails you ride regularly during the year and you'll soon get an idea of your typical; speeds but will also start tom note how much quicker you can start to ride if you keep at it regularly.

All that said - when planning longer (half to full day) rides I've found an average of 10 kmph works fairly well to provide a sensible estimate for how long the ride is going to take - but I'll adjust this depending on the terrain I'm riding - e.g. for big rides in the Lakes I'll add 30 min extra for each hour I think I'm going to be out

It is pretty hilly through there,an dwhen it drys up a bit it will be a lot faster, ill give it another go next weekend if i get chance, i need to get it down to 40 mins at least over the next few months.

phone apps, ahh i forgot about those, ill have a look what i can get for my crapberry,

Did Bedgbury today in the wet and windy sloppy conditions.. managed two circuits of the place... but it was immense fun in the rain... Avg speed was down to 6.9 for whole duration... not bad considering the conditions.. in the dry I'll say that will probably go upto about between 8 - 9

I'll average around 13.5 mph on the offroad pathway around Richmond Park which I use as my commute home on my singlespeed hardtail.

I average 6mph on a 17 mile Surrey Hills excursion on my Pitch at the weekend.

If you want to see how you do against others, look at strava - time all your rides and also when you pass through a registered segment it puts you in a leader board - loads of the surrey hills trails are set up in there. You can also set up segments yourself and it will automatically put people's times in who have previously recorded themselves on that segment (even though it didn't exist at the time).

http://www.strava.com

When i first got my bike i took a ride along the roads to my mates which is bang on 10 mile from mine, it took an hour in full sun last summer. I was a bit p'd off with that time, i thought it was pathetically slow as i was and still am quite unfit. But looking at the times of everyone else it seems average

Just started strava and looks really addictive. Brilliant!

It is ridiculously addictive. Very good for giving you the incentive to really push yourself though.

Found Barry Knows Best in 2:04. Next time I'll try and see how fast I can do it
http://app.strava.com/segments/705138
and I'm 37th/143 at Swains Lane climb

I am well far down the list on BKB - there are some seriously fast enduro racers that are all over some of those trails. They love the pedalling.

If you have any gpx files recorded already you can upload them.