Team TT - How Hard Should the Lead Rider Push

Barbarossa
Barbarossa Posts: 248
edited May 2014 in Amateur race
I am doing a 10 mile team TT for the first time at the end of next month. I am loking for some guidence on how hard the lead rider should push and how long he should stay out for. All of us can manage about 300W average over 10 miles solo.

Comments

  • Omar Little
    Omar Little Posts: 2,010
    Ive never done a team TT but have done pursuit on the track so there is a bit of a crossover - key thing is keep it smooth dont accelerate when coming to the front (the lead rider should pull off rather than the 2nd rider rolling past). The time spent on the front really depends on the riders - stronger riders should take a longer turn - this is where the biggest speed gains are made not stronger riders coming to the front and upping the pace too much. If you are all pretty evenly matched then 30 second turns would be a good place to start.
  • mulletmaster
    mulletmaster Posts: 502
    knowing the wattage isn't terribly useful as 300w to one might be impossible for another to follow due to one having a vastly superior position. It obviously has to be above 10 effort or you won't go any faster than you would solo but it is one of those things done on perceived exertion I think. I depends greatly how close you can ride together and how hard you can peal in from 1st to 4th man I found this very difficult and was working harder as 4th man than 2nd which clearly isn't right.
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Barbarossa wrote:
    I am doing a 10 mile team TT for the first time at the end of next month. I am loking for some guidence on how hard the lead rider should push and how long he should stay out for. All of us can manage about 300W average over 10 miles solo.

    Nobody can answer that, apart from you or the other riders. It's a good idea to practice TTTing with the riders you plan on riding with - for this very reason. If not, you risk ending up in a right old mess...
  • paul2718
    paul2718 Posts: 471
    mulletmaster wrote:
    knowing the wattage isn't terribly useful as 300w to one might be impossible for another to follow due to one having a vastly superior position. It obviously has to be above 10 effort or you won't go any faster than you would solo but it is one of those things done on perceived exertion I think. I depends greatly how close you can ride together and how hard you can peal in from 1st to 4th man I found this very difficult and was working harder as 4th man than 2nd which clearly isn't right.
    4th man will be working a bit harder than 2nd and 3rd (assuming 4 in total). Having someone tucked in behind you reduces your drag a bit. Probably not what you were noticing.

    I'm guessing the OP might be talking about a 9up though.

    Loads of things to think about though, and communication is difficult. For example coming round a left hander with the wind swinging to come from the right, the leader needs to move well away from the left hand curve to allow a bit of echeloning, otherwise everybody ends up in the wind. Or coming round a corner to head downwind, or downhill, bear a thought for whoever is trying to get on the back but hasn't reached the corner yet, before letting the speed rise. Gaps and riders losing contact cause chaos.

    (Not an expert in anything TTT other than some things that can go wrong...)

    Paul
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,106
    One thing is make sure people are honest and don't try and do "their share" and then blow - and if they do blow shout don't wait til someone looks back and they are 50 yards off the back - no shame in asking people to ease off a touch on a rise but if everyone has to sit up and wait for them to get back on it kills it.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • olake92
    olake92 Posts: 182
    My team are doing a 9up this year as well (same one?). At the risk of giving advice to the competition, the lead rider should be going pretty bloody hard, but for a short period of time. A 9up TT should be sub 20mins, so the lead rider should almost always be over 50kmph. You'll all want to average your max 20min HR, so should sit just below it when drafting.
    DeVlaeminck wrote:
    One thing is make sure people are honest and don't try and do "their share" and then blow - and if they do blow shout don't wait til someone looks back and they are 50 yards off the back - no shame in asking people to ease off a touch on a rise but if everyone has to sit up and wait for them to get back on it kills it.
    This is very true, although you can shed a few riders so don't worry too much. Everyone should know what happens if they blow, which should be determined beforehand and take into account how much further/how many riders remain.
    I'm on Twitter! Follow @olake92 for updates on my racing, my team's performance and some generic tweets.
  • whoof
    whoof Posts: 756
    From experience this all depends on the individual.
    There are plenty of riders who will miss loads of turns as they realise that all those people they have been riding away from on the winter club run climbs might have only been riding steadily. This now feels really hard and I don't like it.
    At the other extreme you may find someone who is going like a train and is determined to demonstrate this to everyone else in the 'team' by ripping their legs off and then shouting at them for not coming through.
    Do plenty of training sessions to identify and if possible rectify the above.

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