Three years or so ago when I re-started cycling with a purpose this would have seemed impossible. Last year there were a few rides where I got some high 19 averages but I was pretty well all out on these and could not see any improvements popping up and helping.
However this year there have been actually some signs that it might just be possible. I have pretty well given up on KOM chasing - there are too many people out there just outright faster than me now, so my general focus and plan (although its nothing as formal as that) has been to try to improve my ride average. Together with the fitting of a slightly more "he-man" (for me) 12-25 cassette on my Giant here I have been riding in one gear higher than I would normally for most rides now.
Anyway, last Tuesday I went out for a short run in the evening (to make up for fact that I had not cycled to work that day). I'd not really gone out with any aim - other than for about an hours ride, but realised about 10 minutes in that although my legs felt tired that actually I was going pretty quickly. I therefore decided to see what I could do in terms of ride average. The wind was "benign" so was not a flat out headwind but neither was it a tailwind either. I just put my head down and pushed. A couple of glances at my Garmin suggested that I should easily do it, although by the time I got to Monkspath Hall Road the head wind and a slight incline (average 1.2%) really sapped me, although I picked up the pace again on Widney Manor Lane and got a PR. I really pushed hard and got home with an average of 20.3mph over 18.2miles and 415 feet of ascent:
The satisfaction was immense and I have been feeling great for the past 5 days or so!
Here's a graph showing my performance with a linear fit for average speed:
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