First Time Trial - Crash Course in Reality

[RoadRaven]

Hi Brecca... welcome to the board and good luck with the TT on Sunday... I have a 25km one on my Saturday which will be almost your Sunday!!!

Remember to pace yourself, settle into a rythym and don't get phased by others... its your race, you ride it.

[SheFly]

Woohoo - two new TT victims . Welcome to both of you. Eden and Raven have given you some great advice, with which I will concur. Warm up is key for a TT, especially the shorter ones where you will need to have a high output the entire time.

On our 9.75 mile course, I am pretty much pegged from the time I start until I finish. Last night, after we crossed the line (DH and I were on our tandem), I literally couldn't pedal anymore. My average HR for the duration was 180 bpm, with a max of 186.

The biggest piece of advice - keep at it. You will see steady increases in your average speed each time you go out. When I first started, my speeds were in the 21 mph range, but I have progressed to now averaging 23.8 mph on my own (although we had over a 28 mph average on the tandem last night!).

Welcome to the addictive world of TT!

SheFly

p.s.
Raven and Brecca - good luck to both of you on your TTs this weekend! Please let us know how you do.

[mtbdarby]

Love this info ladies. Maybe I'll convert sometime but I like reading about the speed here.

So question. How do you figure out your lactate threshold? Sounds like if I figure that out and train using that info I should be able to work on my speed. Then I can truely embrace my inner tourtoise!

[AuntieK]

Wow, freshsushi, you couldn't have written a better description of my first
TT! I still haven't gone back, but am planning to soon, so I too am thankful for the advice given in this tread.

[Brecca]

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.

[SheFly]

Congrats, Brecca! Sounds like you had a great time, and you improved your average speed a significant amount. Those headwinds can be terribly demoralizing, but you perservered, which is fantastic!

RoadRaven - how did your TT go on Saturday?

SheFly

[Brecca]

Pictures from my race at the Iowa State TT can be found at: http://www.veloliner.com/iowaTT06
brecca

[RoadRaven]

Congrats, Brecca! Sounds like you had a great time, and you improved your average speed a significant amount. Those headwinds can be terribly demoralizing, but you perservered, which is fantastic!

RoadRaven - how did your TT go on Saturday?

SheFly

Alright I guess... I did win my grade (G), and would have come 11th in the next grade up, and second to last in the grade above that.

There were 17 women out of the 98 riders, I came 7th out of the women - but don't know where I would have come if it was age graded rather than ability as I don't know the ages of all the girls/women.

It was a nasty nasty day with a dreadful cross and head wind that swirled around the hillsides so despite the relatively flat course I didn't even average 30kph. Coming down the only hill I was pedalling flat out in my biggest gear and couldn't get over 40! It really sucked.

My only consolation re my time is that everyones times were slow. My eldest son and my partner would usually expect to have a 40+ average... they were both 39.something...

But did I enjoy it as a race - oh yes... I loved it. I loved it loved it loved it!

I am so obsessed and addicted its crazy!

Thanks for asking - sorry its taken a week to get back to this thread!