first TT

pete.b

HI, i have joined a local cycle club & have done my first TT, i was personally disappointed with my time of 28.05, i wasn't thinking of doing this on a regular basis, but like most things that give me a challenge i`ve got the bug.
i know in myself that i can improve on this, but is there any advice that you could share, (please no ride faster).
also my normal cadence is a average of 95/97 rpm. i was up 103 rpm on the ride.i appreciate i need to do a few more and get used to the distance giving it 100%.

steve6690

Like you I did my first club TT last week. I was disappointed with my time until the other riders said there'd been a strong headwind for around 9 miles of the 14 mile course. I wondered why I'd felt like I was slower than normal.
Anyway, I've been training for around 3 months now and have seen big improvements in my average speeds due to having a proper training plan and sticking religiously to it. I don't do rain so it's meant a lot of hours on the turbo. Some on here turn their noses up at it but I use TrainerRoad and it's worked for me so I'm going to keep using it.

JackPozzi

Biggest thing is get your pacing right. Often see people in the first TT sprinting away from the start and running out of legs before the first mile is done (not saying that's what you did, but was certainly the case in my first race!). The first 2 miles should feel almost too easy then settle into the ride and smash it to the end.

Cadence is down to personal preferance and finding what works for you, I've found I prefer to be around 80-85 rpm when I normally ride at 90+ but generally don't think about it too much....

pete.b

JackPozzi wrote:

Biggest thing is get your pacing right. Often see people in the first TT sprinting away from the start and running out of legs before the first mile is done (not saying that's what you did, but was certainly the case in my first race!). The first 2 miles should feel almost too easy then settle into the ride and smash it to the end.

Cadence is down to personal preferance and finding what works for you, I've found I prefer to be around 80-85 rpm when I normally ride at 90+ but generally don't think about it too much....

hi jack,
yes like you say, i need to maintain a good constant pace, i just went for it, ran out off gas recovered a bit then went again, i think also i had someone go 1st who i know i should catch and focused on that instead.

benmac75

Ride the same event (presuming its a weekly club evening thing) a few more times before making a judgement. I'd bet that having done it a couple of times you'll see a chunk of time drop off this week's time. Even though TTs are never complicated in terms of courses you'd be surprised how much knowing a course helps from where there's maybe a slight rise to push yourself a bit harder on through to daft stuff like where the worst potholes are.

philwint

benmac75 wrote:

Ride the same event (presuming its a weekly club evening thing) a few more times before making a judgement. I'd bet that having done it a couple of times you'll see a chunk of time drop off this week's time.

I think this is good advice, our 10 mile course has over 500ft of climb in it and I'm still learning where to push and not.

mfin

pete.b wrote:

JackPozzi wrote:

Biggest thing is get your pacing right. Often see people in the first TT sprinting away from the start and running out of legs before the first mile is done (not saying that's what you did, but was certainly the case in my first race!). The first 2 miles should feel almost too easy then settle into the ride and smash it to the end.

Cadence is down to personal preferance and finding what works for you, I've found I prefer to be around 80-85 rpm when I normally ride at 90+ but generally don't think about it too much....

hi jack,
yes like you say, i need to maintain a good constant pace, i just went for it, ran out off gas recovered a bit then went again, i think also i had someone go 1st who i know i should catch and focused on that instead.

If you go into the red right at the start then back off you will never recover properly. Don't do that next time as others suggest and you could knock an easy couple of minutes off what you did.

Also, warm up with some proper riding for at least 5 miles, then your body knows it is cycling when you start.

napoleond

For a 10 I need a really good warm up.
Pacing makes a HUUUUUGE difference. Massive. I including this knowledge of the course - i.e. when to push and when to ease off.
This was my first 10 back after 3 years off. Woefully slow (for me) and power was shocking but it was a new bike and position wasn't dialled in. I also haven't ridden on aerobars in over 3 yrs. I think I will be a lot quicker next week. BUT. I think the pacing was absolutely perfect though I do say so myself. Steady, pushed in the right places and crossed the line with nothing in the tank. Look at the power to see how I paced it. FWIW I actually rode it on feel, not looking at the numbers - this shows how important knowledge of the course is.

I did a 24.56, Should be looking at sub 22 by a few weeks.

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/athlete/w ... BQDREZQQPQ

olake92

In regards to pacing, your first mile should be 'comfortable' (hehe), you should want to give up by half way. With a third remaining you should probably feel like death warmed up. Although you won't believe it at the time, it's quite possible to push through. IF you do feel like blowing up, it's amazing the difference simply backing off by 5rpm for 30 seconds can make. This is all made easier by tools like heart rate monitors and power meters.

As others have said, simply doing more TTs will result in a marked improvement in your times. Furthermore, as you acknowledge, your cadence was up on your normal average. While this is to be expected in a race, make sure you don't spin out too much, I'd sooner drop from 95 to 90 rpm than spin out at over 100rpm for a long period. If you're fine with that, ignore this last piece of advice! (it's very much a personal thing)

craker

First for me too last month, I've now done three all within 10 seconds of each other. Slightly disappointed too, had tribars on for the first time and had no idea how to ride them. It's like a tiller on a boat. (27.16 pb).

I keep telling myself it doesn't matter that a 15 yo girl called Sophie keeps finishing ahead of me, or a 70 yo called Trevor once again beat my time. I'm trying to work out how to make myself go faster without resorting to spendiness, it's an interesting challenge. The right food, the right bike set up, the right warm up.... I am getting better at pacing now. Next week for a huge pb then.

AD1

pete.b wrote:

HI, i have joined a local cycle club & have done my first TT, i was personally disappointed with my time of 28.05, i wasn't thinking of doing this on a regular basis, but like most things that give me a challenge i`ve got the bug.
i know in myself that i can improve on this, but is there any advice that you could share, (please no ride faster).
also my normal cadence is a average of 95/97 rpm. i was up 103 rpm on the ride.i appreciate i need to do a few more and get used to the distance giving it 100%.

Don't be disappointed with your time, use it as a starting point and try and better it the next week and so on. I started doing a few TT's at the start of last year (22k distance) and knocked over 3 minutes from when I started to when I finished (ran for approx. 10weeks). I used a road bike and put aero bars on and I used an aero helmet.
I did one during the summer and managed the following stats on a 16.1 TT (out to roundabout and back).
Avg Max
Speed
40.1km/h 49.0km/h
Heartrate
178bpm 186bpm
Cadence
83 114
Calories
498
Temperature
21℃
Elapsed Time
24:02

For a 16km TT ride the course as your warm up (nice steady tempo). This will give you an idea of wind direction conditions and where there may be pot holes to avoid. Aero bars help to get into an aero position and there's also gains from using a TT helmet, both these are relatively cheap. I also try and breakdown the distance into 4 x 4km. With TT your riding right at your maximum just below where you feel your legs start burning. Its about maintaining that pain threshold for the duration of the TT. My heart rate was pretty close to max for the duration of the TT. Best of luck next week and try and aim to knock 30seconds off your time. In few weeks you might be passing out some of those with TT bikes, Aero helmets and skin suits! (its a great feeling!)

MountainMonster

I really need to try a TT eventually. Maybe it'll get me in the mood for a TT bike as well, which I have been hankering over for a long time!

napoleond

MountainMonster wrote:

I really need to try a TT eventually. Maybe it'll get me in the mood for a TT bike as well, which I have been hankering over for a long time!

TTs are addictive. Riding a TT bike is addictive as they are so sodding fast!

MountainMonster

NapoleonD wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

I really need to try a TT eventually. Maybe it'll get me in the mood for a TT bike as well, which I have been hankering over for a long time!

TTs are addictive. Riding a TT bike is addictive as they are so sodding fast!

I could imagine, especially after your recent build! Enjoy that monster!

napoleond

Cheers

pete.b

hi guys, not been on for awhile as i had a log in problem,

Anyway after doing a few more of these i have started to see some improvements, 1st 3 was all in a second of each other, cadence was higher than average, so i started to work on this keeping a lower cadence 88rpm and pushing hard, started to see some better times 27.48 to 26.22, my 1st thoughts when i started this was a sub 25 minutes which i thought no way, but last week i clocked a 25.48 , i was buzzing so im thinking next year that a sub 25 might be possible, thanks for the advice much appreciated.