Any question answered...

last night, which felt reasonably speedy, post-rush about 8.30pm, on the main roads between beckton and stockwell via the ferry. yesterday morning, proper rush-hour, and into a headwind - took the same time! but I was late, and the ferry was quicker.

beckton -> ferry -> woolwich rd -> trafalgary rd -> greenwich high rd -> new cross rd -> peckham rd -> camberwell new rd -> vasall rd to clapham rd.

it's a bit of a stupid question really, obviously it's just that I'm slower than most people (seemingly, everyone) on the forum. bah.

No idea about your roads but was chatting about this issue this mornign in the changing room with a colleague. He has the sameish commute as me (16 vs 17km) and he takes an hour whereas I take half that. (I'm not a better/faaster cyclist than he is).

I used to use some of his roads on my old commute and I was much slower (half the lenght in about 25 mins). So what I'm taking a long ime to say is that you can be the fastest in the world but if you have shitty roads (i.e. busy and no space) and a ferry you are always going to be a bit slower than you would be if it was a clear run.

Last few days my average speed has upped by around 3kmphr for the simple reason the schools aren't in. I find the best way to compare the commute or any regular training run is to maje sure your computer stops when you do. If I start to add in the time at lights, stopping for police parked on the cycle superhighway etc I have no real way to compare the journey other than perceived effort (which can be affected by other things like being knackered etc).

Sorry for being no help