increase average bike speed

I can't remember who stated it,"You don't get fitter, you get faster"  

I think that when riding you don't notice the fitness improvement over a given loop, say ridden once per month, you still feel tired when finishing, and the climbs still hurt, however you do tend to go a bit quicker each time as the training\fitness improves.

My average speed is increading all of the time, the more I train, the fitter and lighter I get and the time improves, but you do need to push yourself

2 approaches i have used were

Intervals (they are supposed to be hard).
Volume. esp the long ride. if you are aiming at a sub 6 hr bike then you want to be happy knocking out big rides, and the base period (now, weather allowing)is where you build those up.... these will be easy in the first hour but will get tougher as the time goes on. a 4-5 hr z2 ride gets tough.

Once you have the volume sorted, throw some IM or half IM effotts into the long ride

Finally if you are a riding newbie it can take a while for the training to bed in.

Finally on race day semi closed roads help as there is no real stopping at junctions
.....

Thanks for all the replies I am going to start making some changes to the bike plan and see how that goes and poosibly drop a run session to fit in another bike.

Jason, thanks for asking the question. If it is any comfort, I am in the same boat. Following the intermediate plan and on the few occasions i have been able to get off the turbo, my speed is probably 4kmph where i want it to be.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/277541900

I kid myself that it is due to the hills i am doing, but the fact is quality time spent on the road that will count come July 7th

I helped increase my brothers average speed by not letting him coast down hill

only stop peddling if you're above 35mph .... it's supprising the difference it makes 

WW,

I did this in my ride last week, pedalled all the downhills etc and felt much quicker, even though i wasn't gong to spend less time coasting and more time pedalling, just hope I can keep it up for 112 miles in August