Any MTB'ers in who also ride a road bike?
I have a very short team time trial this week, and am borrowing a road bike, having not ridden anything but mountain bikes for 20 years, on the road or otherwise!
Any tips?! will i die when trying to turn corners at speed?
Just try and look far ahead so you can avoid any potholes that may be in the road.
Other than that, its straight forward.
Go dead fast aswell
team time trial? good luck... how fast are the other riders
I am looking forward to the speed and lack of rolling resistance!
Is cornering technique any different?
Dont think so, just look where your going
Warton - all on a par really, and it's just for fun - only 4.5k, so stupidly short, will all be over in 7mins.
You will probably have someone right behind you most of the time, so think before braking. When you stand up and start to pedal, you do jerk backward slightly, so try to stand smoothly. Also be aware of the guy in front.
If you following look at riders wheel in front of the rider that is in front of you.
Was advice that worked for me.
J.
you'll be amazed how twitchy a road bike feels so try and get a few km practice in.
Have a massive warm up beforehand.
Leave your baggies and camelbak at home too.
Don't do [b]ANYTHING [/b]suddenly.
Cheers all, it's the twitchiness I fear, i'll try and get some miles in tonight (borrowed bike!).
Following/team riding is fine, happy with that.
Did it last year on my rigid MTB with commuting tyres at 100psi and still managed a respectable time, so fingers crossed.
I don't care too much about winning - just really don't want to fall off!!
Thepurist - I am making a point of wearing baggies, sorry!
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jesus - a team time trial for your first time on a road bike ..... if i was the other riders id be worried/dropping you like a stone ... thats a recipe for a disaster !
dont do anything without thinking how it will affect the guy behind/infront.
trail-rat - it's a fun race, and I raced with the same guys on the same course last year, on my commuting bike (26" wheeled MTB with pace RC31's, flat pedals and Schwalbe Marathons) and kept up fine, in fact I dropped one of them a couple of times - and our team came 7th out of 20 beating plenty of local cycle clubs.
My only real worry is the road bike handling aspect - but i rode in to work this morning, felt ok - if a tad weird!
As others have said, the main worry should be about riding in a group, not how the bike handles. You shouldn't be doing any sudden turns anyway, don't even think about touching the brakes and keep the speed constant, being careful standing up to not drop back suddenly and not surging forward. You obviously feel this isn't a problem though.
Make sure you signal any pot holes and especially cars.
The bike itself will hardly be that different, only quicker.
Should be fun! can't wait! i noticed the additional speed this morning on the flat straights, awesome. Easily averaging 30+ mph on those (still had morons in cars overtaking though - despite the 30mph limit 👿 ).
Do a good 15-20m warm up right to top speed, and get your team mates to do the same.
It's all about communication. You simply can't afford to be dropped and similarly its not cool to drop someone else. If you do all that happens is the person who got dropped, who by definition is already more bolloxed than everyone else, has to work even harder to get back on while everyone else has to slow down so they can. Shout a warning once you are only a yard or so off the next wheel and don't take a turn on the front for a while to recover as you are obviously the weak link and don't want to pop. Similarly hard efforts & accelerations when you first come to the front that spread the team out behind you will mark you out as a newbie and do no one any favours. Do you know which rider stops the clock? If it's the 3rd out of 4 you can afford to drop one towards the end if they are slowing you down.
Finally if there is a strong cross wind the team should come through on the downwind side and not ride line astern but echeloned out slightly downwind, like half of a V formation of swans. If there is heavy traffic my preferred rotation method is for the lead rider to peel off just slightly leaving enough space for the rest of the team to come through between you and the kerb. The other way around with the number 2 rider choosing when to come around means that they will go around you and end up quite wide in the road. And finally finally, when leading the group don't hug the kerb but ride slightly wider than you would normally do. This way the rider behind you can ride very close knowing that if an obstacle comes up suddenly they can veer left or right rather than just right which is a lot more confidence inspiring to get really close (less than an inch).
Good luck.