10m TT Question

Langman

Hi there

I took up cycling this April and have built my self a nice TT bike off ebay. I have got the cycling bug and go out nearly every day on my old racing bike.

I have set myself a 10m TT course that is very twisty and has an accent of 155m in total. To ride it feels pretty bumpy and quite hard to get a rhythm going. Is 155m accent normal or classified as a bumpy circuit?

Also has anybody got any advice about getting up the bumps is it best to stay seated and spin a low gear or get out and push a heavy gear?

What sort of time should I do before I enter the local club TT - I don't want to bring up the rear?

Anonymous

I have set myself a 10m TT course that is very twisty and has an accent of 155m in total. To ride it feels pretty bumpy and quite hard to get a rhythm going. Is 155m accent normal or classified as a bumpy circuit?

About normal (it's ascent btw )


Also has anybody got any advice about getting up the bumps is it best to stay seated and spin a low gear or get out and push a heavy gear?

Depends, I find it best to plough over them in a big gear, some find it better the other way, you'll have to experiment!



What sort of time should I do before I enter the local club TT - I don't want to bring up the rear?

If you can ride 10 miles in under an hour, give it a go! (If you are slow the try and be the 1st one off...) You are racing yourself when you start out, just trying to beat your own time. Be careful, it's addictive...)

Langman

Thanks for the advice.

As a matter of interest - how much of a warm up is needed for a 10m TT?

Anonymous

Quite a bit, I find at least 30 mins with a couple of short intervals at TT pace suits me.

SBezza

I do around 30 mins on the turbo before a 10, again with some hard efforts to wake the legs up.

Don't worry about bringing up the rear, you are really just trying to beat your times, no doubt there will always be people faster than you. 30 minutes is always a good target that people aim for for the first attempts at a 10m TT.

As to courses some are hillier than others, my local course is a more sporting course, but I have raced on undulating dual carriageways as well. I have never found a flat course yet

Langman

Do things like the energy drinks etc, if taken beforehand help at all?

Also how do I get quicker?

Mettan

Langman wrote:

What sort of time should I do before I enter the local club TT - I don't want to bring up the rear?

I'd imagine you'll be able to do 30-35 minutes quite soon, if not now - doesn't matter if you take 35-40 minutes or whatever - quite common for a new rider. It's all about personal progress and challenging yourself to beat your own PB on a particular course. Just enjoy getting on the "scoreboard", then progress from there.

rokkala

Just get in there and do it asap! Went along to my first one last week and was good fun, people were encouraging. Just treat it as a race against yourself and anything else is a bonus, not much point making comparisons against the others as some will have road bikes and no aero bars(like me :E), some road bikes with aero bars, and others full blown TT bikes like yourself.

Managed a 27m30s on first one, dunno if its good but im happy enough, and managed to beat one regular Can't wait to go try beat it next week.

Sorry for hijacking slightly, but is interval training best way to get improvements on a 10mile TT? Never given that sort of stuff a go.

Pokerface

NapoleonD wrote:

Quite a bit, I find at least 30 mins with a couple of short intervals at TT pace suits me.

I warmed up for 5 minutes and did a 21 minute flat tonight. And on an uphill course. Too bad it was only 7.5 miles!

Pokerface

Langman wrote:

Do things like the energy drinks etc, if taken beforehand help at all?

Also how do I get quicker?

Good hydration is always important. But a TT is a pretty short undertaking so you probably won't have time to drink while riding. I would say topping up with water before the TT will do fine. Not sure an energy drink will help BEFORE riding as it mostly replaces things like electrolytes that you LOSE while riding.

Only one way to get quicker: TRAIN.

Just keep at it. Push yourself. Push some more. Nothing beats being out there and working your nuts off in a race situation.

When not racing (TT-ing) you can try intervals - basically get your body used to the pain and suffering of riding under pressure. It will adapt - and grow to accommodate that pain.


With no special training, I managed to drop several minutes off my TT times - mostly by going out every week and pushing myself to get better.


others will have better, more detailed advice.

SBezza

Langman wrote:

Do things like the energy drinks etc, if taken beforehand help at all?

Also how do I get quicker?

For the drink, whatever you find best. I used to use SiS Go, but now use a homemade drink with natural ingredients. I will drink a full 750ml whilst warming up, finish the warm up about 5 to 10 mins before the start (depending on how far the start is away from where I am warming up). And then ride the event, for 10 miles that should be more than adequate. Make sure you rehydrate asap after the race however, I can drink in the region of 2+ litres after an event.

As for getting better, as mentioned before intervals are good, or just race, the more you race the better you tend to go IME. I do hardly any interval training currently, and have done low 21/22 min 10's in the last couple of weeks.

DabanannaDude

Hey Rokkala, a 27 30 is pretty rapid for your first ten - have you done any training for it? If you do then you could be pretty quick. [/quote]

rokkala

DabanannaDude wrote:

Hey Rokkala, a 27 30 is pretty rapid for your first ten - have you done any training for it? If you do then you could be pretty quick.

Hey DabanannaDude, thanks!I'd have been happy with anything under 30mins for first time! Nah didnt do any specific TT training. Starting riding beginning of April, and I just pretty much go out and ride my bike :E Have done some hill repeats though. Start of TT was 5 mins away from me, so i just rode up 10mins before it started, was 2nd guy off so was only waiting about for 5 mins!

But seems from reading here i should look into doing interval training. Not really sure how to structure it at all tho? :S There any other specific training you can do for TT?

Also, there aint point concentrating on that if your always gonna get beat by people with shiny TT bikes and aero bars and the like?

SBezza

Rokkala wrote:

There any other specific training you can do for TT?

Hill repeats are a good form of interval training

Rokkala wrote:

Also, there aint point concentrating on that if your always gonna get beat by people with shiny TT bikes and aero bars and the like?

Don't worry about others, concentrate on improving your time. It is good to see if you can get closer in time to them, but it doesn't matter if you can't beat them, especially in a club event.

rokkala

SBezza wrote:

Rokkala wrote:

There any other specific training you can do for TT?

Hill repeats are a good form of interval training

So would i be better off doing hill repeats to train for TT, or better doing stuff like 3x20mins hardest i can go? And what rest period do you leave inbetween doing intense intervals like that?

Yea your right, just focus on myself best thing to do!

SBezza

Well anything that will help improve your threshold power will help, if you have a turbo, or a stretch of road you can do 20 mins flat out on, then that is probably more ideal.

If I do 2 x 20 on the turbo I would leave a 5 to 10 min break between each one, with hill repeats, it is as long as it takes to do a slow coast back down the hill. With hill repeats you ideally need a hill that takes at least 5 mins to climb.

If I am out on the road, I find doing hill repeats a bit easier, as having 20 mins of uninterrupted hard riding is not always possible

rokkala

SBezza wrote:

Well anything that will help improve your threshold power will help, if you have a turbo, or a stretch of road you can do 20 mins flat out on, then that is probably more ideal.

If I do 2 x 20 on the turbo I would leave a 5 to 10 min break between each one, with hill repeats, it is as long as it takes to do a slow coast back down the hill. With hill repeats you ideally need a hill that takes at least 5 mins to climb.

If I am out on the road, I find doing hill repeats a bit easier, as having 20 mins of uninterrupted hard riding is not always possible

Cheers SBezza, can prob manage 20mins uninterrupted on some of the roads i got around here. about 7-8 miles from a valley too so got a good few hills that last longer than 5mins anyways. I'll have a bash at doing both of those for a bit and see how it goes.

Langman

Thanks for all the advice - much appreciated.

One more question - how many days a week should I train and how often should I practice or do a TT?

SBezza

Langman wrote:

One more question - how many days a week should I train and how often should I practice or do a TT?

I think that would depend on how much you race, I tend to race 2 or 3 times a week, so do very little training in the week, as with recovery it isn't always possible to get quality training in.

If you are just doing one mid week TT, then you could probably do a couple of blocks of training with a couple of recovery days, though I am no coach, so others may have a better idea.

AntG

Great reading this as I did my first TT last night and now can't wait to try and better my time (26.43) - not sure if the course would be classed as flat, but there were two sharp hills at the start and it was absolutely pouring with rain!