Good 10 Mile TT time on regular road bike?

Richa1181

I'm quite getting into the idea of doing some time trials this year but don't want to fork out for a bike until I find out if I'm any good or not. Unfortunately I have carbon aero bars on my bike so I can't even attach clip on tri-bars!

After having a couple of goes on the drops in less than ideal conditions I'm getting late 27 minute times. Not fantastic I know but what would you class as half decent? I'll probably end up getting some alu bars and clip-ons at some point but what sort of times would one rate as worthy enough for investing in a proper bike for the job?

simon_e

Just enjoy it.

Many people have done impressive times riding drops and plenty still ride time trials today the same way. No point comparing you on your course in your weather to anyone else apart from the people doing the same event on the same day.

You don't have to "earn" new gear, it's your money. If you get hooked you can upgrade in due course but don't rush into it.

danowat

27mins is pretty good, but alot of it depends on the course and the conditions.

I was doing mid to low 26's on my road bike before I got a TT bike, I now do low 24's for a 10 and 1:00:53 for a 25.

amaferanga

For the only TT I've done the fastest time on an ordinary bike was 24:48 (it was me ). Quite a fast course I think, but a very windy day. Fastest time was a 20:43.

Anonymous

Anything under 25 mins is getting pretty good. However, your 27 would be quicker in a proper event as the number on your back always gives you a little extra...

jibberjim

danowat wrote:

27mins is pretty good, but alot of it depends on the course and the conditions.

On my club course (G42/10 pretty slow) my PB in the full TT set up (P3 disk/S60, helmet etc) was 21:57 which was good enough 5th if I remember rightly in an Open. My best on the road bike with shallow wheels but still a skinsuit (what I road race in basically) is 23:12.

The conditions were probably slightly better on the road bike day, but around 90seconds at that speed seems about normal for me. I produce a little more power in the road bike position.

Richa1181

So what do you think the difference is from a road bike to a TT bike with a pointy hat? About 2minutes over 10 miles maybe depending on the course? I may invest if I can get my time down to 26, at least then with a bit of work I could maybe be competitive on a club 10..

Anonymous

I reckon 1 minute, maybe 1 minute 15s for full set up... For me anyway.

Surfr

Endura came down and rode our club 10 the night before the Tour Series event a couple of weeks ago. Dave Clarke was fastest with a short 23. Ian Wilkinson did a long 24 but was apparently filming the first mile on his iPhone whilst riding! They were all on their road bikes with road helmets (i.e. what they race the Tour Series on). I did a 25:32 on a road bike with clip-ons. Fairly standard for me at the moment.

http://www.ystwythcc.org/news/general/t ... -25th-may/

http://twitpic.com/52feqn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTgl7v8z ... r_embedded

danowat

Richa1181 wrote:

So what do you think the difference is from a road bike to a TT bike with a pointy hat? About 2minutes over 10 miles maybe depending on the course? I may invest if I can get my time down to 26, at least then with a bit of work I could maybe be competitive on a club 10..

Its hard to say, on a road bike, for me aero bars took nearly 2mins off on the same course, and I remember the first time I rode my TT bike in an open I was dissapointed at how close it was to my road bike in terms of time, differences in kit are hard to measure, although the first time I won some prize money I was using a new aero helmet!!.

Training and positioning are where the most of the gains come IMO.

simon_e

danowat wrote:

Training and positioning are where the most of the gains come IMO.

+1 to that.

My tri-bars haven't make me much quicker (yet) but one benefit is that my shoulders are less tense.

Some potentially useful numbers here:
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/h ... ero-19273/
and here:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/aero ... namics.htm

Alex_Simmons/RST

Richa1181 wrote:

So what do you think the difference is from a road bike to a TT bike with a pointy hat? About 2minutes over 10 miles maybe depending on the course?

Depending on many things, it can be more than 4-seconds per km. See here:

http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-skool.html

Dug

I reckon about 45 seconds - 1 min difference from road bike to TT bike over a 10 mile course.

Fastest I've done on my standard road bike with shallow wheels was 22.50 for a ten.

thiscocks

recon its more than that. People in my club say they gain nearly a minute just with tri-bars

freehub

I did a 23:58 on a road bike with clip ons, I reckon aero bars alone make about 10-20 seconds difference.

I did a 30 mile TTT on Saturday and was using a pointy hat, felt it made no difference.

My position is absolutely cack so as said I reckon perfect position is probably the most important thing.

I've not directly compared on the exact course but on road bike with drops I did 24:53 (macc wheelers), and on Manchester wheelers course with aero bars I did a 25:09, and yesterday I thought to myself when on the hoods I'm not even going any slower here and I was sort of sat up.

Anonymous

thiscocks wrote:

recon its more than that. People in my club say they gain nearly a minute just with tri-bars

I gain about a minute on a 10 with full aero set up compared to my completely standard road bike.

One of the reasons it's not much more is I put out about 10% more power on my road bike due to position.

e999sam

Before tri bars in the early 80's comp record for a 10 was around 19 mins it's now just under 18 so 1 min about right.

Tom Butcher

For me clip ons and a bit of adjusting the position to make the most of them is worth about a minute. I reckon it's possible a full time trial set up could be worth 2 minutes but that would be pretty much absolute top end with all the gear and assuming a really good position on it vs a standard road bike and road jersey, helmet etc.

Jeff Jones

Best I ever did on my club 10 course was 23'20 on a bog standard road bike - good conditions and I was fit.

PB on the same course in full TT get up is 21'12 - almost certainly no fitter than when I did 23'20, although I don't have power data to compare. And I'm confident of lowering that this year through both fitness, aero gains and better tyres.

The gains you can get from aero improvements and reduced rolling resistance are potentially massive but it does take some time and money to experiment with position/kit to figure them all out.

procyclist

Sub 22 minutes on a standard road bike is OK

blackhands

e999sam wrote:

Before tri bars in the early 80's comp record for a 10 was around 19 mins it's now just under 18 so 1 min about right.

But was that on a "road bike"? Probably on a bike with drops but an entirely different and more aero position to a road bike as we understand it today..

The Competition Record of 21:33 for a Junior Girl was set without tribars or a disc wheel.

1_reaper

well reading this thread makes me feel sooo slow. Did a 29.03 the other night for my first one in about eight years. Don't know of this makes much of a difference but got a flat minutes before the start so speed tube change with mini pump. got home to find i was only running 60 PSI. Maybe would have grabbed a handful of seconds. onwards and upwards ! to be fair though most people were saying it was a tough course for what ever reason?

sub55

In answer to the original post, it all depends how slow you are to start with.
I suspect there are some people out there who can gain 2 mins by changing to a full tt set up. But if your already riding 22`s ,your not suddenly going to do a 20. Percentages .

Matt the Tester

i think it's debatable wether a TT helmet will actually help! it possibly will do more then a normal helmet but depends how much you actual spend on your equipment.

danowat

steady rider wrote:

i think it's debatable wether a TT helmet will actually help! it possibly will do more then a normal helmet but depends how much you actual spend on your equipment.

Depends on the helmet, I think my aero helmet helps, but I couldn't prove it......

Graeme Jones

danowat wrote:

27mins is pretty good, but alot of it depends on the course and the conditions.

I was doing mid to low 26's on my road bike before I got a TT bike, I now do low 24's for a 10 and 1:00:53 for a 25.

Thread revival lol. Would you say this is down to the bike alone?

Graeme Jones

HaHa I was googling time trial info and the thread came up!

I did my 2nd time trial on the same loop via a loop set up on strava it is a loop that is required to be ridden 3 times but there are a few mini rounderbouts and turns to make to go full circle, it is on a quiet route after 7pm so is ideal.

I think the turns took around 30seconds off my time as I had to slow for cars twice that I can remember but managed a 28.50 which I was disapointed with as I was aiming for anything in the 27minute bracket.

I rode on the drops for 95% of the TT but have also read some info based around its not necessarily the most aero or best position to drive power and have lung efficiency?

I may try using the top bar and narrow my profile and slam the stem and see if that helps. I set off too fast as expected and come mile 3 felt like I had gone off to quick and my HR was up to around 85-88%FTP then I struggled a little in the 2nd loop.

I think between position and tactics I can achieve a full minute off that no problem. I am aiming for a 27 by the end of this month and then a 26 by the end of the summer.

If I achieve this then I may invest in a TT bike for next season and put in some specific training through the offseason and try and improve when everyone else in my club may do less work.