Time Trial

[SadieKate]

I forgot to mention that the latest issue of Bicycling Magazine has a great article with the MIT Cycling Team. They talk about aerodynamics. Who know that gloves had such huge drag.

Of course, psychologically I feel naked without gloves. Haven't crashed in years but leaving off my gloves might jinx the kharma.

[kelownagirl]

This is an interesting thread. I haven't been riding long enough to do TT's but it's definitely a goal of mine eventually. I think I do pretty well on the flat courses and have pretty good endurance so maybe someday I'll be able to try one. So my question is - how do you know when you're ready? Is it realistic to go out and do the TT route on my own and see how fast I can go over a 10km ride or are the conditions/ situation just too different from the actual even to be able to compare? There are not many women my age who race around here so I can't even compare myself with others my age.

My fastest average speed on the flats so far was a 25km ride, averaging 29 km/h (about 18 mph?). (Would have been faster if we hadn't had to slow down on a hwy offramp/overpass ) Downside, I was drafting part of the way - upside, I was on my mountain bike. I have nothing more accurate to use as a comparison...

Anyway, thanks for posting the stats etc!

[SadieKate]

I don't have the magazine in front of me to know if this is the entire article from Bicycling Mag:

http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6..._-Get%20Faster

[SadieKate]

Kelowna, race adrenaline always drives you faster. Our local TT is very informal in that no stats are kept regarding age or gender. There might be a comment about something extraordinary like last week's 8 yr old rider or someone using a racing trike. Name and and time are the only items recorded. I use it as a personal goal and a benchmark for myself and myself alone. I don't have the genetic make-up for superb timetrialing. I really don't care (well, not that much ). I use it as a personal goal and a benchmark for myself and myself alone.

I need to go look up that 8 yr old. Apparently, he rode with Lance in Indiana and the newpaper article quoted Lance's comments about him. He averaged 17.48 mph for 10 miles.

[Eden]

I need to go look up that 8 yr old. Apparently, he rode with Lance in Indiana and the newpaper article quoted Lance's comments about him. He averaged 17.48 mph for 10 miles.

Don't those little kids just amaze you sometimes. There's a little one on the race circuit around here, I'm not sure of his age, but he's looks to be maybe 10 or 12, who rides crit's with the cat 5 men and keeps up just fine. There's a lot of grown men who can't do that, much less with the handicap of being about 80 lbs and having to use junior gearing.

[Hammer]

Hey, fun discussion! I live in Southeast South Dakota, there doesn't seem to be much for racing around here. Our club just sets up different rides with different goals in mind. Tonight they're going to go and do hill repeats. It'd actually be a good night to do them, but it's my turn to go and visit the boyfriend.

I haven't done the time trial since the first attempt two weeks ago. I want to get out there and keep at it, but I've succombed to using humidity as an excuse not to exert myself quite THAT much. oops, I'm a pansy... but like 60+ percent humidity... blah, I'd rather not. AND it's HOT!

Still, if there isn't a race circuit around here, I may as well try to beat myself. I find myself comparing my times to the other gals and guys a bit too.

[RoadRaven]

Wow SheFly… the first time you did your local course you averaged 33.6kph ( I have to keep the calculator open on the PC while I visit TE)
I am well-impressed! And your PB is 37.95… May I ask how old you are or your age category?
This def is your speciality, at that kind of speed you could consider trying out some national competitions…

My partner and I have talked about getting a racing tandem too… although at the moment it would probably be used by my two older sons as they are of similar ability and cadence. My partner could ride with either of them, but he is still stronger than them and would have to adjust his cadence to match their flying legs.

My partner and I are similar in cadence, so once I’m a little stronger (and lighter – still have about 10-15kgs to go) then we might be able to race together.

You are right – It is extremely addictive – I have printouts of the fastest club times at work which I (not infrequently) sometimes just stare at and drift off into a world of numbers, calculations, variables – like wind, and heart rate…

[kelownagirl]

Do they ever have TT teams racing? - ie husband/wife team? DH and I love to ride and draft and are always trying to beat our last time / avg speed. It would be fun to do that in a race...

[RoadRaven]

Kelowna, SadieKate is soooo right. I train over the TT courses I mentioned above, and some other courses I treat as a TT. But I always beat a PB set training when in a race situation. Although a TT is a race against yourself, when you do it in a race situation, setting off a minute apart from other riders, you have two incentives to give you wings… you want to keep in sight of the person in front, and hopefully close the gap a little (then you know you are improving your time) and you want to stay ahead of the person behind (having someone pass you can be a bit of a head f**k and sometimes demoralising).

The first club TT I did I was started first… so I had two goals. One was to do a PB and the other was to make sure no-one caught me. I achieved both.

[SheFly]

Wow SheFly… the first time you did your local course you averaged 33.6kph ( I have to keep the calculator open on the PC while I visit TE)
I am well-impressed! And your PB is 37.95… May I ask how old you are or your age category?
This def is your speciality, at that kind of speed you could consider trying out some national competitions…

My partner and I have talked about getting a racing tandem too… although at the moment it would probably be used by my two older sons as they are of similar ability and cadence. My partner could ride with either of them, but he is still stronger than them and would have to adjust his cadence to match their flying legs.

My partner and I are similar in cadence, so once I’m a little stronger (and lighter – still have about 10-15kgs to go) then we might be able to race together.

You are right – It is extremely addictive – I have printouts of the fastest club times at work which I (not infrequently) sometimes just stare at and drift off into a world of numbers, calculations, variables – like wind, and heart rate…

Thanks, RoadRaven! I am 38, and really LOVE doing the TT! You should consider a tandem ride despite difference in cadence - DH and I are at two VERY different racing levels, but the tandem allows us to stay together, and the cadence adjustment comes with time and miles on the road. We have been riding our tandems for several years, and I really LOVE to do the TT on it as well (although the past two weeks, there has been some swearing involved ).

Eden - a humid day is the BEST day for a TT! Two weeks ago, the heat index here was 114 - 101 degrees plus vicious humidity. Believe it or not, the humidity makes the air less dense, meaning that it is faster to get through with less effort. I came within a few seconds of my PR that night...

Tandems are a separate category in most races, but are not allowed in most USCF events. DH and I are planning a road trip (from MA to OR) next year for the very same stage race Eden posted! I think that would be an absolute hoot!

RoadRaven - we have 9 seconds to trim before setting our club course TT record on the tandem.... The longest 9 seconds in eternity . I'll keep you posted - next race is this coming Weds. There are worse things to which to be addicted!

SheFly