First 2 Up TT - advice sought

iggs

Next week I'm partnering up with a mate of mine for our first 2 up 10 mile TT and I was wondering if anyone on here had any advice on tactics.

We're similar in terms of times, he's a bit faster than me, the course is a reasonably flat out and back. We'll both be riding time trial bikes and both know the course pretty well.

What I'm wondering is how much time we each should be aiming to spend on the front. I'm trying to work out how much time its possible to push just over my aerobic threshold and then try and tuck in behind and recover?

Any thoughts?

nick hanson

Whatever you do,DON'T loose his wheel as he goes past,& onto the front,You'll end up loosing shedloads of time.
The key seems to be comunication,ie shout to let your partner know if he's too slow & you want to take over.Also,shout if getting dropped,& tell your partner to do the same.
Coming up to the turn,have the one on the back tell the other one if any vehicles coming up behind.It's only a small matter,but the one on the front,can't see past the one behind.
Good Luck...many a beautiful friendship has been ruined by racing together!!!

markos1963

Go out and practice with your partner. I went to a 2 up TT tonight and beat half the field who where riding 2 up(I was solo as my riding friend wasn't able to come) I was expecting most of the field to come past me but as I turned for home I could see on my way back several pairs were split by up to 10m !! If your times are very different then I would say don't bother.

iggs

thanks for the responses folks, much appriciated.

The club TT this eve was on the same course as the 2 up next week and we're both pretty close in terms of time so there is a chance we'll make a good team.

What I'm not sure about is how long we should be aiming for to have on the front if we're pushing evenly. Would 30 seconds be about right? I have no idea :-S

Also in an ideal world how much difference should working as a team make to our time? I'm trying to work out an average speed to try and aim for (thinking about even race pace over the distance). We're both around the 25 minute mark for the 10 mile course.

nick hanson

Try aiming for 30 secs,as you say.
The hard thing about two ups is when riding as a pair,you tend to go a bit into the red when on the front,then aim to recover when off the front.Sounds easy,but it depends on how good your recovery is.Also,as i said before,you must communicate,& stick very close together.
Regarding a time for you both,it really is hard to say.Although you are both doing 25 min 10's now,it all depends on how deep you are going,ie are you really on the limit when you finish,or could you honestly have gone quite a lot harder?
A 2 up should have you going as hard as you can,& you may find yourself going a minute faster over 10 miles,but then again you might not go hardly any faster than you would have done,riding a more even pace on your own.
This last couple of weeks I've done a tentative come back,after donkeys years out & done 2 club 2 up 10's,,& am really finding the change of pace hard to handle.(mind you,the course has been up hill,or cross headwind,& has 7 roundabouts in the 10 miles!)
Best of luck with it!!

ozzzyosborn206

most people say about 30secs is good, but when i did a 3 up 25(ended up being 2 up as other guy dropped off after 5 miles) we were doing a bit longer than that as i preferred to go to the fornt and drill it as hard as i could then drop back and have a rest while the other guy did the same, but if you can keep the same speed up but switching more frequently it takes less out of you. We did a 53 59 and my pb is 55 42 and his is a 56something. i would say for a 10 you should probably be able to do a 23 if you are both doing 25s on your own

nick hanson

How do you get on,in the end??

Anonymous

I'd stay on his wheel letting him pull all the way round until the last 200m when I would emerge from his slipstream and sprint for the line to cross it first, arms aloft in an immense display of QuadPower(tm).

nick hanson

Come on iggs,what time did you do??

iggs

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you all with the results

Didn't go brilliantly tbh :?

Our time was 25:39 which is way off our pb's. The following week I did 24:43 by myself. My partner wasn't feeling well (tail end of a migraine) and also wasn't comfortable riding on a back wheel. We has problems with even pace as well

I think the advice on plenty of practice was probably most important and was ignored if I'm honest.

I'm keen to do another though. I like the idea of a team time trial. The brutal efficiency of a team of cyclists working well together is a great feeling and is FAST

nick hanson

iggs wrote:

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you all with the results

Didn't go brilliantly tbh :?

Our time was 25:39 which is way off our pb's. The following week I did 24:43 by myself. My partner wasn't feeling well (tail end of a migraine) and also wasn't comfortable riding on a back wheel. We has problems with even pace as well

I think the advice on plenty of practice was probably most important and was ignored if I'm honest.

I'm keen to do another though. I like the idea of a team time trial. The brutal efficiency of a team of cyclists working well together is a great feeling and is FAST

For TT's,I think your wording of BRUTAL,is spot on!!