Forum menu
So, having got a road bike a few weeks back, I accidentally did 10 miles in 30:18 the other day.
Decided to give it a proper go today and did it in 27:15 with big crosswinds, rubbish traffic and feeling like shit.,(So I can definitely do it faster.)
Route is pretty flat, just goes along the coast (Sunderland to South Shields).
What I was wondering, what would a 'good' time be to aim for?
And any tips on improving time? I did this on a Canyon Roadlite, which is not a 'race' bike, quite short in fact. I also very rarely use the drops, mostly use the hoods. How much time could I save by becoming more aero?
27:15 is pretty quick. 25 minutes is the magic number I think. Using the drops can make you more aero, but then sometimes its more aero to stretch out on the hoods, it all depends on the bike and how flexy you are.
A friend's PB is 24mins, which i'm aiming to do this year. 🙂
Good time.
But I think thats 10 miles in a straight line rather than 5 out and 5 back?
barrykellett - Member
Good time.
But I think thats 10 miles in a straight line rather than 5 out and 5 back?
Aye, I meant to say in my opening post 'unofficial TTs'. Means I can get a cake when I finish though, I didn't have any in the house 🙁
Will shaving my beard help?
Anything under 25mins is doing well. In the summer you may well find a mid-week club TT in your area that you can roll up to ride. If you get serious get a set of tri-bar and a low profile front end bike.
Using the drops can make you more aero, but then sometimes its more aero to stretch out on the hoods
IMO it's far more aero to stay on the hoods and drop your elbows, or rest your forearms on the tops, however both are less comfy/controllable than the drops.
But I would say from a purely aero POV the drops are never the best.
njee20 - MemberIMO it's far more aero to stay on the hoods and drop your elbows, or rest your forearms on the tops, however both are less comfy/controllable than the drops.
But I would say from a purely aero POV the drops are never the best.
Agree with this. Super aero position I find.
I'd also say that is a good time.
You use Strava? Often good for working out a nice 10 mile TT segment!
Aim for sub 24 mins thats 25miles an hour eventually aim to go under the hour in a 25 is most peoples goal 27.15 is slow by the way and would put you down with the 70+vets in an open event
Agreed, hoods are best for aero. If your bike has brake cables that aren't under bar tape and you are brave then these can be used as a hand hold. (please note I hold no responsibility for anyones untimely demise though!!).
You will find all TT bikes have a shorter than equivalent roadbike top tube so you may have a reasonable basis for adding clip on bars, beware it becomes an obsession. I started on a CX bike and got down to 23.30ish, then I added clip ons, then build up a cheap road bike to use and then ultimately bought a proper bike - PB now in the 21:20's.
I think the bench mark time for an out and back is 24 minutes or 'evens' as it's called = 25mph average.
My advise, quit now before it takes you!!!
AlwaysHorizontal - MemberMy advise, quit now before it takes you!!!
Too late unfortunately 🙁
"But I would say from a purely aero POV the drops are never the best."
You should tell the entire pro peloton, they've been getting it wrong for so long
Whatever time you do you will always want to beat it and like me never satisfied. I actually hated riding 10 mile TT's, you have to go hell for leather right from the start. 50 miles was my preferred distance as had I could ease into my pace as it suited the training that I did.
PB now in the 21:20's.
Gulp.
Clip on's worth buying though? Thinking of having a go this year to add a bit of focus to my time on the bike .. after work TTs seem to fit in best with life in general at the moment.
I've done a 23.26 and I wouldn't say thats anything like a good time. 21 and under is good IMO.
clip ons helped me get my time down loads, I'm selling some too! in Whitley bay if you're interested? Deda parabolics, 25 quid. email in profile
Clip on's worth buying though?
yup.. 1 week. normal road bike on our [url= http://app.strava.com/segments/907949 ]lumpy TT course[/url] 25:15. following week with clip on bars 23.35 🙂
surely if any gains are from spending money you're defeating the point of it? or is the point just to go as fast as possible by whatever means you've got (financial or fitness)?
"But I would say from a purely aero POV the drops are never the best."You should tell the entire pro peloton, they've been getting it wrong for so long
🙄
Why? Base bars are in a position that far more closely replicates the drops than the aero bars. Can't remember the last time I saw a rider doing a TT without using the aero bars. Got any examples?
Why don't they just TT with drops, if that's more aero?
I did saying purely for aero purposes and acnkowledged it is neither comfortable nor particularly safe. You're not gonna want to sprint or even stand up, or take corners whilst resting your forearms on the bars. It's fairly common to see riders in brakeaways getting right down like that though.
Reducing your frontal area makes you more aero - set your bike up infront of a mirror. Hold the drops. Then rest your forearms either side of the stem and bend your elbows. Which gives you a smaller frontal area?
on our lumpy TT course
53ft of climbing 'lumpy'?
Comments like this:
27.15 is slow by the way and would put you down with the 70+vets in an open event
are meaningless, it depends entirely on the course. I personally don't see the point in an 'out and back' dual carriageway course, just miserable! Much prefer a decent sporting course, but they are inherently slower. On my local course 27 would do you pretty well. On a dual carriageway course it's not that quick, but as that's not what you did as a test it's a stupid comparison.
"But I would say from a purely aero POV the drops are never the best."You should tell the entire pro peloton, they've been getting it wrong for so long
From what I've seen the last couple of years, let's say on a break away, so effectively tt'ing, riders are invariably either on the hoods with elbows bent and back flat, or are resting their fore arms on the flats. Either way, your frontal area is less than being on the drops. The following riders generally are on either the hoods or drops for control, and assume the above position when it's their turn on the front.
Testers...Pah.
Buying faster times.
53ft of climbing 'lumpy'?
well it ain't pan flat!
Other local TT courses are much much quicker. Most of our riders go a 1min quicker on another course north of Bristol
Our 'lumpy' tt course
VC Bristol
[img] 
[/img]
[url= http://app.strava.com/segments/858464 ]Severn RC TT course[/url]
[img] 
[/img]
😀
No scale though is there - that lump at the end of the second one could be 1000 ft 🙂
I really don't think you can call 53ft of climbing anything but flat - that 'climb' at the end can't be more than 15ft!
53ft over 10 miles isn't pan flat? Jeez, I do more climbing in 100 yards of traffic-calming features round here!!
scale and stats are on strava.
Severn road clubs TT is far far quicker than ours that's all i know
What you need is a nice dual carriageway to help you get a faster time.
[url= http://connect.garmin.com/activity/113449867 ]This[/url] is my local sporting 10, just under 500ft of climbing, and if I'm honest I'd call that flat, rolling at best!
Severn road clubs TT is far far quicker than ours that's all i know
Road surface, corners, junctions etc, not just about hills!
25 minutes is the magic number I think.
As already muted. 24-minutes is the magic number as this is 25mph. Likewise 'the hour' for a 25-miler and so forth.
Don't know why 25mph is the magic speed though.
Sounds good!
To put it in perspective, comp record is 17.57 !
This is my local sporting 10, just under 500ft of climbing, and if I'm honest I'd call that flat, rolling at best!
These gps sites are way out of whack. Ridewithgps is reporting [url= http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1003930 ]174ft of climbing for our tt[/url]
and yours njee (notice you have elevation correction turned off) is saying +392: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1003951
Does Connect not take from the GPS unit, which has a barometric altimeter? I'd be more wary of a site that plotted it against a map and worked it out from that.
Either way, it's 400 ft, and I'd still say it was reasonably flat!
10's and 25's are great for getting some top end in your legs. Got my first ten of the season tomorrow, one certain fact its going to hurt and wont bode well for the MTB race at Cannock Chase Sunday. 🙁
its where the men separate from the boys....Don't know why 25mph is the magic speed though.
Poole wheelers 10 was always great for fast times especially the club one midweek evenings really quick with a bit of traffic around and great for sub 21s
'Back in the day' when I used to do testing the P901/10 was the quick course on the south coast
IIRC it was 4miles 'up' over a flyover then 6 miles of gentle downhill
All on a dual carriageway getting a nice tow from everything. About 60s quicker than a normal course.
When I got my first pair of clip on's ~ 1995 it improved my times by about 10s/mile
Sod doing it again now though :p
Specifying a "good" time is pretty subjective given the huge variation in courses and conditions. Doing 10 miles in one direction will make a big difference to your time, because you could be riding into a headwind for 10 miles, or enjoying a tailwind for 10 miles. Formal time trials always start and end more or less in the same place, so you have to do a circuit or out and back.
Instead of aiming for an arbitrary time, it might be a more interesting to ride some informal mid week TTs with your local club, and measure yourself against people of similar ability. You'll find that there are lots of wee races going on between people who do similar times, and they enjoy the weekly challenge of trying to improve their personal best and go faster than other people at the same level.
OP- whats the roadlite like? and which version is it?
6.0 SL. Can't really comment on it as I've not ridden another road bike for any period of time, but I really like it; quick, comfortable and nimble. Love the SRAM shifting too.
IMO it's far more aero to stay on the hoods and drop your elbows, or rest your forearms on the tops, however both are less comfy/controllable than the drops.
Glad you said IMO
OP - do a proper TT and aim for better than 24 minutes at most. Under 20 is good.
I did, but actually its not IMO, thats fact.
You presumably think the drops is more aero? Even though your back is no lower and you've got your arms flailing about opening out your shoulders, rather than tuckig them neatly into your silhouette?
By rising on the tops you replicate as closely as possible the position of a TT bike. When folk are fitting drops for TTs I'll accept that's more aero!
And under 20 is more than 'good'. That would win you virtually all club events and plenty of opens! Of course you can do 18s on any course 🙄
Derwentside club do a 10mile TT on a tuesday from Carterway Heads on the A68. It's not flat, 27 mins would be a good time.
i've often wondered if you're better off running your arms along top at the same line as your bars or tucking in further - i sometimes hold on to the hoods with my pinkies and rest my arms inside the bars.. that probably decreases my lung space a bit, but how is if from an aero point of view? better cos you're narrower at the front or worse cos there's more bits (the bars) involved in hitting air?
kind of a half arsed tt bar arrangement.
Your bars are there regardless, so there's nothing you can do about them. The smaller you can make your frontal area the more aero you are. So bringing your arms inside your torso is more aero, just as you say, youre replicating the position TT bars would offer you. The only reason adding clip ons makes you quicker is that you've got something physical to hold onto in that position.