My first 10 mile TT

slowbike

Nickoo wrote:

only problem is that you can get much better time on a turbo/roller than actually on the road as there no wind

Rather depends ...
What resistance is it set to?
There might be no wind on a turbo - but wind can help as well as hinder. There are also no climbs/descents (even small ones) - and a descent can help you recover.

There are no turns or junctions to worry about, no potholes to avoid .. but there is nowhere to hide either - as soon as you stop pedalling on a turbo you slow down - quite dramatically in some cases ... But you don't have to "go aero" either - so you can sit up and get more air into your lungs ...

All 10 mile TTs are not equal .. so why should a Turbo 10 be equal?

retrobike007

Had a right stinker last night. 27.32 or there abouts. Not happy with that
Brutal head wind on the last few miles.
One if the young lads managed a 24.38. On a road bike with aero bars. He is 19 and rides between 800 and 1000 miles a month.

thegodplato

I did my first 10TT about 6 weeks ago with a very respectable 26:09 on a std road bike. The following week I pulled a muscle/cramp and struggled with 27:43. Haven't been back since but thats due to other BMX related obligations.
I cannot think how anyone can think a turbo is anything other than training. Yes I agree that by using the same resistance you should be able to compare previous efforts but there is nothing like being out on the road to really test yourself. I would have thought a low resistance and high gear would mean you should be able to pedal ( depending on gear ratios ) at over 30mph no problem on the turbo.

Mettan

retrobike007 wrote:

Had a right stinker last night. 27.32 or there abouts. Not happy with that

Perfectly fine time Retro - many club TT'ers are doing 24:30 - 27:30 min 10's on average DC's (or Spocos) when the wind is up (I do) - some people are lucky enough to live near to drag-strips with decent traffic (and even gift hills) - no problem with that, just luck of the draw for them. On the fastest courses many people can do 22-24 mins (not suprising) - alternately, on a windy night in the ''outer-hebrides'' ''on hillier'' slower DC's many people are doing 24:45 - 26:45, again not suprising. Just keep on truckin, and if you go in for open's eventually, travel a bit and do some decent courses.

retrobike007

Popped into lbs last night. He has a giant trinity demo bike in my size. Might have to give it a try. He reckons it will take a minute off without really trying.

Forgot to mention. New club record was set by the man behind me last night. 20.something, he came past me after 4.5 mins lol.

madbiker2007

retrobike007 wrote:

I have just done my first ever 10 mile TT

26.59 min Pretty happy with that, just wanted to share

With all due respect that is a terrible time. I have never known anyone do walk, let alone cycle 10 miles in 26 hours and 59 mins.

retrobike007

Resurecting an old thread as I am going to have another go this year, I have sourced a TT frame from a friend, so just need to build it up and get pedaling

napoleond

Good luck!

jotko

I am going to enter some 10s this year.

I have done some of the local courses on strava - got 27.50 on U7B in pretty grim conditions, albeit with a rolling start.

I think 25 something would be realistic for me this year.

jordan_217

I'm planning on doing a few this year. Club, midweek 10's, treating them has hard training sessions for racing at w'ends. Just bought a 2nd hand Scott Plasma with a few hundred miles on it. Was going to just do them on my normal bike but for £500 it would have been rude not to

retrobike007

I am going to start with the club 10s and see how I get on. If I like it, I may venture a little farther afield and maybe have a go at some 25s

Agent57

After knocking a minute or more off my best time on the local course (12 laps of a circuit, really) last summer, I'm hoping to cheat and buy some speed this year. Wifey gave me some aero bars for Xmas.

retrobike007

Getting there



Ebay bargain £250



Another bargain from the club, £35 for the bars, levers and brake levers

Just need to connect up the cables and get my zipps back from the wheel repairers

steve6690

I decided to concentrate on TT's this year, so went out and had a go at the Worcester club's 10 mile course. I've not been on the bike since September, and it was windy as hell which explains the crap 35:40 time. I did the outward half quicker last year during a 55 mile ride so I'm hoping for rapid progress, certainly under 30 minutes within a month or so.

Graeme Jones

Weather along with many variables play a big part I am also hoping to join a club and participate this season.
My best 10TT effort last Sept was 26:11 on a standard road bike but with good weather and fitness. Baring in mind this was a sportive course I was happy with the time and could break 25 this year with the right training.
It's natural to loose some pace over the winter I've done a couple of training efforts which have been 1.5-2 mins down but with wind on one occasion to fight in to and traffic issues and temporary traffic lights that weren't expected on another day that held me up so who knows might have been close to my best without those issues but that's the joy it's got to all fit in to place.
I'm hitting the intervals hard right now to help matters.

retrobike007

All finished, just needs a bit of fettling on the gears and I will be testing it ready for the first club 10 next week.
I have taken it for a quick spin up the road, and it does seem to ride very well, so I just need to get out and ride it now 8)

retrobike007

Best time last year 26m 59sec
Best time this year 25m 14sec (first time out)

Bike needs to be set up a little better, but what a difference it makes. Happy with that result 8)

RideOnTime

retrobike007 wrote:

Getting there



Ebay bargain £250



Another bargain from the club, £35 for the bars, levers and brake levers

Just need to connect up the cables and get my zipps back from the wheel repairers

That's a good build for the money.

slowbike

I did my first TT about a month ago just broke evens - on a hard course (apparently), strong crosswind and on a road bike (albeit my best road bike) so happy with that.
Will be doing one next week on an older road bike with aero bars (can't fit them to my best bike due to carbon bars) and have been training as much as possible on it just to get used to the position ... I just need to do better than last time !! should be fun!

whoof

Slowbike: Well done anything under evens is a good start. There is plenty of time to lumped off without trying to buy speed things such as : Specific training, a good warm up and very important concentrating on riding. I gave up when I would rather be thinking about buying a pint of milk on the way home, owls or Dad's Army rather than riding hard.

Agent57

Agent57 wrote:

After knocking a minute or more off my best time on the local course (12 laps of a circuit, really) last summer, I'm hoping to cheat and buy some speed this year. Wifey gave me some aero bars for Xmas.

Forgot I'd posted this here.

Had the first outing of the aero bars last night. Took my time down from 27:17 to 26:18. All hail the magical properties of aero bars. NapD says I should have been faster than that with the bars. :oops: But I say I'm fatter than last year, and older, so...

Been looking at some new wheels today (literally just wheels, not a euphemism for a whole bike). I'm led to believe upgrading wheels is the biggest single improvement you can make, although I've really know idea what difference say Fulcrm Racing 3s would make versus my Aksium Race from 2009. Lighter, no doubt.

daxplusplus

16:18 - that's bloody impressive! ;-)

Agent57

DaxPlusPlus wrote:

16:18 - that's bloody impressive! ;-)

What's a minute between friends?

napoleond

Agent57 wrote:

Agent57 wrote:

After knocking a minute or more off my best time on the local course (12 laps of a circuit, really) last summer, I'm hoping to cheat and buy some speed this year. Wifey gave me some aero bars for Xmas.

Forgot I'd posted this here.

Had the first outing of the aero bars last night. Took my time down from 27:17 to 26:18. All hail the magical properties of aero bars. NapD says I should have been faster than that with the bars. :oops: But I say I'm fatter than last year, and older, so...

Been looking at some new wheels today (literally just wheels, not a euphemism for a whole bike). I'm led to believe upgrading wheels is the biggest single improvement you can make, although I've really know idea what difference say Fulcrm Racing 3s would make versus my Aksium Race from 2009. Lighter, no doubt.

Hey I was only kidding!!

Lighter wheels will make little to no difference on a normal TT course. Better off going aero.

iron-clover

You're going some good times there!
I wouldn't worry too much about a dedicated TT bike for the time being- I bought a par of aerobars on Ebay for last year's season and was able to do respectable times, with a pb of 23:59 on a very good day. If you can get into a nice position on your road bike with clip ons by lowering the bars and maybe putting on a longer stem then you're most of the way there already!
I noticed nearly 1 minute difference in times after learning how to use them, although the conditions are never the same and I did get a little fitter over time.

I recently bought a bargain alloy TT machine that's probably over 10 years old off of a club mate, and as others have said it has been incredibly well looked after- the paint looks like it rolled out of the shop yesterday! It's also pretty much as good as any modern machine as well. I've only used it in anger once so far, and am still fiddling with the position- but I'm not suddenly setting the world on fire!

I'd stick with clip ons for a year or two, and keep an eye out for second hand gems from your local club or sales etc. But remember that the fit is the most important factor in wind resistance, so if it doesn't fit properly, it'll do you no good no matter how fancy it is!

Agent57

NapoleonD wrote:

Hey I was only kidding!!

NapoleonD wrote:

Lighter wheels will make little to no difference on a normal TT course. Better off going aero.

Probably quite so, and Salt Ayre is almost completely flat (I think there's a height variation of around a metre or so, as you might remember having ridden there).

So, "alien" helmet it is then. Maybe. If I get a bit faster and think it's justified. Actually, not keen on the long tail helmets at all (e.g. Uvex Aero, Giro Advantage style), but I do quite like those stubby Kask ones (Babino, quite a lot more expensive than the pointy ones).

HellsCyclist

markos1963 wrote:

retrobike007 wrote:

junglist_matty wrote:

retrobike007 wrote:

Already hooked. Started looking for tt bikes last night on eBay lol

LOL!

If you're on a tight budget, the Canyon speedmax AL looks pretty good value, £2k with Reynolds Assult carbon aero wheels :shock:

I'm seriously tempted to get one myself

Tighter than than that. Looking under 600 for something 2nd hand really.

I got an Orbea Ora for £650 from ebay. Some of the stuff on it I didn't need(wheels, some bars and shifters the owner threw in etc) so I sold them on to others and got £150 back. So £600 is doable, don't get carried away by price though and forget about sizing which is critical on a TT bike. Err on the small size if in doubt.

Wheels are quite useful on a bicycle imo, why didnt you bother using any?

markos1963

HellsCyclist wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

retrobike007 wrote:

junglist_matty wrote:

retrobike007 wrote:

Already hooked. Started looking for tt bikes last night on eBay lol

LOL!

If you're on a tight budget, the Canyon speedmax AL looks pretty good value, £2k with Reynolds Assult carbon aero wheels :shock:

I'm seriously tempted to get one myself

Tighter than than that. Looking under 600 for something 2nd hand really.

I got an Orbea Ora for £650 from ebay. Some of the stuff on it I didn't need(wheels, some bars and shifters the owner threw in etc) so I sold them on to others and got £150 back. So £600 is doable, don't get carried away by price though and forget about sizing which is critical on a TT bike. Err on the small size if in doubt.

Wheels are quite useful on a bicycle imo, why didnt you bother using any?

The wheels with the bike were Fulcrum 5's and very worn. I sold them to a mate for his turbo bike, the bike came with both drop bars and TT ones and shifters for both. So I sold the carbon drop bars and the Veloce shifters etc. I already had a set of 50mm carbon tubs from racing so those went on the bike. Now got a S/H Corima disc off ebay for £60(long story) for this season.

retrobike007

Done 2 TTs on the new bike now, normal club 10 - Got 25m 14s pretty happy with that as it was the 1st time I had ridden the bike.
Then last week I did the sporting 10 (a bit lumpier) and got 26m 42s

Back to the normal club 10 route this week, still fiddling with the bike position so will be up to Castle Combe circuit tonight for a shakedown and some fiddling. I really want to break the 25 min barrier this week.

retrobike007

retrobike007 wrote:

Done 2 TTs on the new bike now, normal club 10 - Got 25m 14s pretty happy with that as it was the 1st time I had ridden the bike.
Then last week I did the sporting 10 (a bit lumpier) and got 26m 42s

Back to the normal club 10 route this week, still fiddling with the bike position so will be up to Castle Combe circuit tonight for a shakedown and some fiddling. I really want to break the 25 min barrier this week.

Nope, 25m 22s lost 8 seconds, first sector I was 16 sec better than the previous one, 2nd sector was 5 sec faster, but blew up in sector 3 so guess I went out too fast.

I am completely hooked and currently joint 2nd in the club championship, but that will all change after the 4th one when the handicaps are assigned