How specific should training be/different bikes.

chrisw12

I believed in the mantra 'training should be specific' 100%. Last year I 'converted my road bike to a tt position bike and road it throught the winter. When the summer came I moved over to my tt bike and did all my training rides on it. You could say, that with all the hours spent in the aero position, I got used to it. Result, great comfortable position for races upto 5 hours, an absolute nightmare for anything longer.

So now at the start of another training season I'm wondering if it's worth the bother. I want to go mountain biking, I want to ride a proper road bike with mudguards, but by not ridding in 'the position' would I just be wasting my time?

So how important is training should be specific, train as you race mantra? I'm thinking of doing intervals on a turbo say twice a week, on my tt bike over the winter, the rest of my ridding done on other bikes, is this a good plan?

nolf

If you don't keep up riding because you enjoy it it just becomes another chore to acheive a goal, do what you love!

I would have thought that in the off season if you do a lot of training not on the TT bike that should be so long as you are doing training.

So long as by January/February you start getting back on the TT bike (during the specialisation phase of training) then your body should adapt and you then spend those months applying the work you've done over the winter.

Try doing some weights as well to build strength and add a bit more variety to your training.

SteveR_100Milers

Having ridden a proper TT bike for a couple of races now, I am amazed you'd want to ride one for anything other than TTing! Impressed with your dedication though...

andrewgturnbull

Hi there.

I did the same last year - rode and raced cross, fixed whatever - just for fun.

But I kept to the TT bike for my weekly turbo sessions.

Cheers, Andy

Ric_Stern/RST

chrisw12 wrote:

I believed in the mantra 'training should be specific' 100%. Last year I 'converted my road bike to a tt position bike and road it throught the winter. When the summer came I moved over to my tt bike and did all my training rides on it. You could say, that with all the hours spent in the aero position, I got used to it. Result, great comfortable position for races upto 5 hours, an absolute nightmare for anything longer.

So now at the start of another training season I'm wondering if it's worth the bother. I want to go mountain biking, I want to ride a proper road bike with mudguards, but by not ridding in 'the position' would I just be wasting my time?

So how important is training should be specific, train as you race mantra? I'm thinking of doing intervals on a turbo say twice a week, on my tt bike over the winter, the rest of my ridding done on other bikes, is this a good plan?

i normally suggest a couple of hours per week in race position at a brisk workload (zone 3+) all winter.

Ric

SteveR_100Milers

Chris I came across a couple of articles on the interweb claiming that training for TT's should be done as much on your TT bike as possible as the hip/leg angles are tighter in an aero position. just google " training for time trialling" as ever some info looks useful some doesn't though i guess its all personal specific.

chrisw12

See Steve, I see stuff like that and I follow it, 99% of my riding has been done in the race position, but I don't see anyone else doing it.

So Ric, you think that I can get away with just a few hours in the position and then spend the rest of the time on normal bikes?

SteveR_100Milers

chrisw12 wrote:

See Steve, I see stuff like that and I follow it, 99% of my riding has been done in the race position, but I don't see anyone else doing it.

So Ric, you think that I can get away with just a few hours in the position and then spend the rest of the time on normal bikes?

Do as I do then and race on your road bike! All I have to do is ride on the drops and that gets me to roughly the same hip angle as riding with aero bars. Of course, my back position is different, but thats a separate (comfort) issue.