Realistic goals?

Question

I have started commuting to work two weeks ago on a fairly cheap and heavy mountain bike, not ideal I know, but I'll have to save for a while to find something more suitable. My commute is just shy of 3 miles and at the start of the week took me 21 minutes, its now taking me 16 minutes. Realistically what sort of time should I be aiming for at this , fairly short distance?

Answer 1

Based on traffic and other variables you might shave a few more minutes off. But if you put a really hard effort into getting there and don't have a shower to use where you are going you'll be kinda smelly all day.

Answer 2

If you are riding a fairly heavy mountain bike with knobbie tires on pavement, you are moving out pretty well.  At 5 minutes per mile, you are turning in 12mph performance.

As you get in shape, I am sure you will cut your time down some more.  

If you are riding on pavement, the other thing that will help is to get some non-knobbie "city" tires.  These will be lighter than you knobbies and will also have less rolling resistance.  You'll probably feel like you are flying with some "slicks" on your ride.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

when i ride on my local bikepath (flat) i can cover 7 miles in under 25 minutes = 3.35ish per mile.