how long did it take u to increase your avg speed

[lammy]

I was very surprised that spinning up climbs produced nearly as much power as standing and mashing. Times are similar too, but you feel much fresher at the top with a similar/lower bpm if you do it right.

[Xplora]

Depends on your genetic muscle twitch and twitch fatigue; some prefer to stand and deliver, some prefer sit and spin. Reminds me... might be a standing day on the trainer.

[15wilsonwu]

A year of cycling increased my average speed by approximately 5kmph.
This is according to Strava, which may not be entirely accurate.

[poohkies]

I'm slowly getting my average back up, and the more I do hill the better it is but have gone from a 30 to 34 av in Darwin to a 24 25 av in Brisbane getting up to the 27 - 28 av on most commutes to work

[g-boaf]

Depends on your genetic muscle twitch and twitch fatigue; some prefer to stand and deliver, some prefer sit and spin. Reminds me... might be a standing day on the trainer.

For a while I'd spin quickly up hills (that was riding with a knee injury - low rpm would upset it). I'm finding now that I can do better at lower cadence and feel fresher, but as soon as I get over the top of the hill I'll spin really quickly at over 110rpm for a short while and then pick up the bigger gears again shortly after that.

More recently I have been spinning a lot less on the hills and grinding out the gears whenever possible. Its making a bigger difference, momentum is higher and my legs feel stronger. Increase is 1-2kph over 1-2 hour rides.

Also trying to use different muscle groups and positions on the seat when climbing hills and trying to recover, this is definately 100% helping as when I reach a crest of a hill I will swap over and use a different muscle group which still feels fresh and I can keep the speed going, not just freewheel for recovery. Love to hear from other riders using this technique or post links please.

I'm no expert, but this is what I've been doing as well - but I'm tending to swap between staying seated and standing. I've also been using big gears up hills quite a bit, cadence at 45-55rpm and speed lower. I'm seeing improvements from that. But my other riding is also helping in that I'm not bothered pushing big gears.

[boss]

I'm finding the same as Xplora - can push big gears, low cadence to deliver higher sustained power than spinning.

I'm a lean guy too - 69kg and 5'10, but should be nearer to 66-67 if I had a better diet.

I find standing taxes my breathing less and my legs feel up for it.

I got 299w for 12 minutes the other day, previous best was 287w for 12. And after the spinning 287w I was hurting, whereas after the 'grind' effort I had a fair bit left in the tank.

Obviously it's a case of horses for courses. The PM just helps us work out what kind of horse we are, I guess.