My first pairs TT

[RoadRaven]

Thanks for the details... I'll watch this thread for more details on the ITT when you do it.

I wish we had a TT association here, but li'l ole NZ is just toooooo li'l I guess! Our local club seems to get in one ITT per series, although over summer there are Thursday evening ones. I only managed to get to one this last summer, so am looking forward to next summer with something akin to lust

That 57km average of the individual winner seemed a bit high to me - Tour de France riders hit 50+ speeds in ITT prologues and yours was a hilly course. So I hope you don't mind... I did a calculation and I get an average of 40.91kph for a 30km course in 44 minutes.

Rough (I have a precise one in an xcel spreadsheet) calculation is:

DISTANCE divided by TIME multiplied by 60 = AVERAGE SPEED


And remember, time trials, particularly individual time trials, are one of the toughest races out there. This is because there is only you. There is no hiding in a bunch, there are no group tactics - you have to do your share (even in a pairs/team TT). The mental attitude is huge. Some people simply will not do TTs and yet they will try almost every other type of bike race. No wonder it is called the Race of Truth.

Now, you will improve relatively quickly and at first your 26 1/2 kph average may climb to about 29kph over just a few races. Getting an over 30kph average is a milestone but be prepared that from then on, your improvements may not be as significant. Instead of a whole km improvement or a 2 minute improvement, you may be thrilled to be half a km faster, or half a minute quicker.

To go from a 32km average to a 40 km average like that quick guy in your race takes TWICE the power output from you. Its alot of effort for just fractions of numbers. But it is fantastic fun.

Welcome to the addiction

[midlife]

Sorry Roadraven, I wasn't very clear, I meant the average time taken for the riders in the the field was about 57 mins

The winners results were

Phil Smith 0:44:54 40.09 +04:29 1place - so yes his average was 40.09. Not bad considering the course.

Yeah if my time is to improve I need to hit the local velodrome and do some sprint sets. I didn't really train at all for this, but it's just fun to participate!