Getting in to time trialling?

rovers69

I am 38 and have returned to cycling after many years away.
I am managing to get my fitness up and fancy doing a time trial or 2 next year. My memories of racing clubs 20 years ago are not good. Very serious and often elitist establishments, where only the brave got involved.
I am enjoying riding on my own at present but suspect I would benefit from some company, time permitting.
Anybody out there any experience of getting into competitive cycling late, and any experiences of the club scene as a 'neo-vet'

mossycp

I've just taken up competitve cycling at the grand old age of 39. I'd been a Sunday morning footballer for the last 20 years but took up cycling to work nine years ago. Gradually I became more interested in cycling, bought road bikes and went on longer rides. At the end of last year I entered some MTB races and a couple of cross races on my MTB. There are more entrants in MTB races so the standards are much wider ranging from elites to fun riders. Even cyclo cross is very accessible, very friendly and you just go as fast as you can around a closed off road roughly 1 mile circuit, if you get lapped, no one cares, if you come last, no one cares.

This season the football died a death, more from a lack of interest from the rest of the team than interest from me but I had always intended to give up at the end of the season anyway. Giving up football gave me the opportunity to go for longer rides on a Sunday morning, I extended my commute home and joined the local club. Joining a club is a revelation and I haven't experienced the elitist or cliquey attitude at all. I joined the Sunday clubrun, which was very friendly, no one gets dropped and it's so much faster and more interesting than riding on your own. I'd looked at the evening time trials and plucked up the courage to have a go. Everyone is really friendly, no one bothers about what time you did and whether you are fast or slow. There are some who are really really fast and some who are really really slow, some young, some old. The majority, I would say, are veterans (over 40) and some VERY fast over 50's and 60's (and 70's and 80's!)

Most local clubs are desperate for members. The good ones will welcome you with open arms and give you all the help and encouragement you need. Cycling has it's characters the same as any other club and it's just great to be part of a group of people with the same interests as you. Please, go and do it, you won't regret it.

BeaconRuth

Well said Mossycp!

Rovers69 - If you want to try a few time-trials by far the easiest thing to do is to go along and join a local club's clubruns. Start mixing with some of the guys and gals who have experience of time-trialling locally, ask their advice about equipment, training and local courses. Choose a club that holds regular evening TTs (most do) and next season you'll have plenty of opportunities to have a go at racing.

(And stop worrying that you're 'getting into competitive cycling late'! I'm 38 and one of the youngest racing in my club. You'll be considered a fresh-faced youngster and you'd better prepare to be beaten initially by many guys (and possibly gals) who are 20 to 30 years your seniors!)

rovers69

Mossy and Ruth(?) thanks for two excellent and inspiring replies. Methinks I will just get on with the business of picking a club and getting stuck in!
regards.

NorwegianBlue

While joining a club is a good idea it's also quite possible to go trialling without being a club member. Many clubs will allow you to turn up and pay to ride without being a paid up club member. This is a more expensive method in the long run than being a club member, but if you just want to try a couple of time trials in your first year this may be the way to go.

Bear in mind also that many clubs will allow you to turn up at a couple of meetings to get the feel of things without being a paid up member.

So find a club that will do both try a couple of meetings, do your first time trial and if it feels good, join up.

Don't be worried about elitist attitudes, the last time trial I attended as a marshall featured every skill level and the whole spectrum of machines. The chubby bloke on the old Spesh Hardrock was as welcome as the block on the disk wheeled carbon low pro dream machine. And the latter wasn't the fasted anyway, that honor went to a bloke on a steel framed machine that must have been over twenty years old.

Felix-da-house-mouse

i went to my local clubs ride on wed nite just to watchand meet the guys, i was fairly nervous going upbut i got chatting to a couple of them and they're all really nice guys. one guy who was there watching even took me round in his car so i could watch the guys and see there times, not brave enough to do one yet tho lol, my advice would be to do the same

SteveR_100Milers

Remember, once you start, you will embark on a battle with your life, your wallet, your partner....everty ride becomes a training ride, and of course we all know fast guys train 24/7....go faster? that'll be a TT bike then....and then you get the violent mood swings: one day you're up and the world is singing with you, next week same course, same legs, despite more training and your world just collapses around you, as that clock (though your bike computer will many times) lie. And this is JUST time trialling, wait until you get fast enough to try road racing, then the bug really kicks in.

There is something really addictive about churning up and down an anonymous dual carriageway on a sunday morning, the dilemma is that whilst you are actually riding it, it really is the worst thing you could be doing, yet when you have finished, even if your time is cr*p , its motivates you to have just one more go, to get a better time next time; and so it goes on, the cycle of disappointments followed by the occasional period of ecstasy when you go better than expected. Be warned, unless you are inherently gifted and are an otherwise undiscovered talent this feeling is rare, so savour it when it happens, and make sure everyone else that took part in the race, all your mates, your family all know about it and share your excitement

bornagaincycler

What sort of average speed do you need to have, in order to be not last in Time Trials ????? Just for guidance?? I have never done one, but am thinking, well, just maybe??

mossycp

Well that all depends on who's riding! what course and the weather. The idea is to worry about your own times not everyone elses! It is nice to compare times and try and beat those around you though.

The lowest average at our evening 10 is about 16mph and the highest about 27mph (way more than me!)

I've only been doing TT's since April and I have to agree with everything SteveR_100Milers said. It is hopelessly addictive this cycling lark!

NorwegianBlue

I used to trial years ago and I did have a special bike that I used to trial on. It wasn't some low profile special, it was a very ordinary road bike. I kept it that way because I wanted to measure my performance, not the performance of the bike. Like Lance says...

stevejmo7

I started cycling at 50 and joined a local club within a few weeks. Did three road races and two tts last year at 54. Thoroughly enjoyed the tts (long 28 for 10, short 13 for 5) and have done about 20 tts this year from 5 to 30 miles. Love it. Made loads of mistakes which I can work on this winter (cadence, pedalling in circles, intervals etc.) and now have 2 tt bikes, one for training and wet weather races and one for dry races only. If you can do evens (20mph) then thats a good starter for a 10 although there will be people doing 32, 34 or more in local ,enter on the line, evening events. In my experience NO-ONE passes any comment about the slower riders - its you against yourself. Go for it.

redddraggon

For guidance, (generally) what are the routes like for, say, a 10mile TT?

Are they stop free routes? ie no lights, no right turns (with traffic), no junctions you have to stop at?

I reckon I could hold a pretty decent pace while I'm moving, but I'm overly cautious at the sort of things I mentioned above and so add a huge chunk of time to my rides.

bornagaincycler

I've averaged 16.5 MPH over a very hilly course of 45 miles in Sussex while on my own. Sounds like I won't be too out of place then?? Bloody knackered afterwards though!

NorwegianBlue

Courses ten to be either "out and back" with a roundabout to turn round or a loop with only left turns.

You won't find traffic lights as a rule and while you do have to obey the rules of the road the routes are usually planned with the minimum number of give way situations in mind. Here's one of the courses near me http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Sovereign-Time-Trial

SteveR_100Milers

redddraggon wrote:

For guidance, (generally) what are the routes like for, say, a 10mile TT?

Are they stop free routes? ie no lights, no right turns (with traffic), no junctions you have to stop at?

I reckon I could hold a pretty decent pace while I'm moving, but I'm overly cautious at the sort of things I mentioned above and so add a huge chunk of time to my rides.

Courses have to be approved by the CTT (used to be the RTTC) which prevent the use of dangerous courses, such as those with too many junctions, RAB's etc. Any course that ahd traffic lights would be a disaster, as no one would pay money to ride it! Most courses are loops that usually run in an anticlockwise direction, so you only ever make left turns. You will ride a good 2-3 mph faster on a proper open 10 than you will out on a normal road, after all how many of us train or simply ride on a dual carriageways??

Jeff Jones

Here's another, the U18C 25 mile TT course used by the Severn RC:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/U18C-25mile-time-trial-course-Gloucestershire

There are no lights on this one, and only a few points where you have to slow down to merge. It's undulating but there are no real climbs. I'm doing the TT on it this Sunday and hope to go under the hour. Like NorwegianBlue, I've been using a standard road bike, but I am hoping to get astride a proper TT machine soon to see what all the fuss is about Except then I'll have to find something else to do other than project theoretical TT times based on my current vs. possible equipment.

As mossycp indicated, average speeds at a local '10' range between about 16 and 28mph, ie somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes (or more). At mine, no-one seems to be too bothered about who is the fastest or slowest. It's a personal contest more than anything else.

caissad

bornagaincycler wrote:

I've averaged 16.5 MPH over a very hilly course of 45 miles in Sussex while on my own. Sounds like I won't be too out of place then?? Bloody knackered afterwards though!

I'm 46 and took up cycling 3 years ago. My best ever average speed over a hilly course of 42 miles in Lancashire is 16.3 mph. I took up Time Trialling this year and have done three 10 milers so far. I started with a 28.18 in mid-June , then I did a 28.03 two weeks ago and last week did 27.18. That should give you some idea of the times you might get. However, although it's definitely "not about the bike", I do only have a touring bike (Hewitt Cheviot SE) which may be better suited to a 42 mile hilly ride rather than a 10 mile time trial so you may find that you will be able to do better times than I have achieved.

notanotherhill

I wo8ld be in a very similar situation to you rover69. I started at 34, trained for about 18 months and then got sent back to college by my job, so have effectively been off the bike for the last 12 months. (started training again 7 days ago, and crashed yesterday....great start!!!)

When I took it up I went on a couple of club spins with a local team and didn't like the attitude of some of the members (just a general snobbery about them). Simple answer....I went to another club. I would have to say that the first club seem to be the exception rather than the rule and the vast majority of people I've encountered in cycling are extremly friendly and give advice/guidance regularly.

I intend riding TTs next season, so keep in touch and we'll compare notes on how two neovets are getting on

Bonno

mossycp wrote:

. Giving up football gave me the opportunity to go for longer rides on a Sunday morning, I extended my commute home and joined the local club. Joining a club is a revelation and I haven't experienced the elitist or cliquey attitude at all. I joined the Sunday clubrun, which was very friendly, no one gets dropped and it's so much faster and more interesting than riding on your own. I'd looked at the evening time trials and plucked up the courage to have a go. Everyone is really friendly, no one bothers about what time you did and whether you are fast or slow. There are some who are really really fast and some who are really really slow, some young, some old. The majority, I would say, are veterans (over 40) and some VERY fast over 50's and 60's (and 70's and 80's!)
.

Just as a matter of interest what club did you join?

mossycp

Stowmarket and District CC

Bonno

mossycp wrote:

Stowmarket and District CC

Nice one, I was thinking of swapping clubs and joining them last year, but had a spill and was off the bike for a while,so just carried on where i was.
So you recommend them then? How many do they get at the clubruns? I'll have to try and go to one, one sunday, Cheers

Eurostar

Gordon Bennett, you lot are making me feel like a right pansy. I was 'forced' to stop training during my first season of TTs by (ahem) piles. When I recovered I decided I didn't really miss the lactic acid torture or the boredom of training on the A10, so I retired. The most pathetic part is that by then I'd bought the club skinsuit.

I put a lowrider on my bike and became a tourist instead.

SteveR_100Milers

Eurostar wrote:

the lactic acid torture .

I put a lowrider on my bike and became a tourist instead.

Thats a shame you stopped, but I guess you have to actually "like" that pain to want to continue.