First Time Trial - Crash Course in Reality
So I have been attending a few "beginner" criteriums, and have been doing pretty well in that I haven't been dropped and I usually finish somewhere in the middle.
I swam for my school in college - I think I read that a few of you did that as well, so you'd know that for a Div. I NCAA college team requires you to practice about 20 hours a week, and on top of that you'd lift weights, etc. I graduated about two years ago.
With my swimming background and recent success with criteriums, I thought that a Time Trial would be a piece of cake. I read from a few articles that you're supposed to pace yourself, while other people had said that you should feel close to throwing up through the whole race. The TT I chose was 10 miles long, and my commute to work is about 12 miles, so distance shouldn't be too much of a problem. On my commutes, my average speed's about 16 mph with hills, stops, etc. This TT is supposedly pretty flat, so I figured 18 mph average speed would get me a top 3 finish.
First someone held up my bicycle at the start, which was a little unnerving, then as he let go, I thought I was going to fall. No matter, I spun right up to 18... then it became 20... and I couldn't slow down. After 2.5 miles, I'm still holding 22mph comfortably, but 2 people have passed me by now (we're spaced 1 minute apart). At 4.5 miles I'm desperately looking around for the turn around cone. At 5 I finally find it, spin around, nearly crash, and speed back up. At 6 I had to grab a drink of water, and 3 more rides pass me with relative ease. At 8 I considered pulling off to the side and riding back home, I'm barely holding 19 mph. At 9 miles I remembered an article which mentionned you should give it all you have at the last mile, but I really didn't feel like I had anything left. At the last half kilometer, one last person passed me and I could see the finish line. And I finally finish, average speed of 21.5 mph.
I was positive no one could've gone faster, I was as pleased as punch at my average speed. I walked up to the results sheet.
Ahem. Dead last. By a good 30 seconds. The first place-er came in 5 minutes faster.
So in light of this educational experience, how was your first times? I'm wondering if I should've gone faster during my first few miles. What did you do to improve your times, (i.e. changed your warm up routine, learned from experience, etc)? What drills should I be doing to increase my speed? Do cycling teams practice time trials and how often? I obviously need all the help I can get.
First time trial:Crash course in reality...
Boy I'll say it was a crash course in reality for everyone! Thank you for the input and reality check. I'm facing my first 40k TT this weekend. I'll say this, I'm not fast, but I'm determined. You all have given some very sound advice that I plan to consider. I think I'm riding a Catrike so I'm not expecting really high speeds, but I would like to keep my cadance up around 100. My best speed is usually around 18-24mph. How long can I sustain that speed? I guess I'll find out on Sunday. Wish me luck girls. I raced North Manchester,IN this last weekend and tied for second place in the women's class with Jane Hunn, who is a very tallented recumbent rider. I never worked so hard in my life....nor have I ever felt better. If you've never raced, take my advice. TRY IT! Win or loose, you'll have a ball.
First time trial:Crash course in reality...
Hi gang, well, I didn't do the 40k at the Iowa State Time Trial today but opted to cut my teeth on the 20k and I'm glad I did. The course is for the most part flat for both the 40 and 20k, although there are some slight rises in the road and a couple of banked curves. The first leg of the run was great thanks to a tail wind that felt more like 12 to 15 mph instead of the 5-10 the weather service was predicting. I managed to hit 21.6 mph on my Catrike Speed and average 18.6-7 mph, which everyone tells me is a fairly decent speed for a trike.I made the turn around with no problem, thanks to the turning ability of the Speed. It can spin on a dollar and leave you change.....and smacked head on into that aforementioned headwind that had everyone, including the strong Roadies and Recumbent riders moaning and dropping mph's like rocks. At one point, probably about with 4 miles to go in my run, I thought to myself....you know you DON'T have to do this ....and my next thought was no, I WANT to do this! And I dug in and managed to finish in 44 minutes with a personal best of 16.75 mph. up almost 1.5 mph from my average last week at North Manchester. This may not seem fast to a lot of people, but considering the fact that I am 53, just started training in March and racing in May, and ride with a history of Rheumatic Heart Disease, I ain't complaining. Every mph that I can gain on my average is hard earned and every race I finish is a success story. Was it hard? Yeah, it was brutal, but I know that from this point on it will get easier. My S.O. managed to finish the 40k in 55 minutes riding a True Grit/faired recumbent. Now THAT's an accomplishment. I can only hope to be as fast on a bike as he is. My advice is to try a time trial when you can. I came home with a medal for my efforts and a true sense of accomplishment. No matter if you finish 1st or last, you go into it pedaling your heart out....and win. I have pics from the race that will be posted. I'll put up the website addy when it is available.
First time trial:Crash course in reality...
Pictures from my race at the Iowa State TT can be found at: http://www.veloliner.com/iowaTT06
brecca
