[Closed] Is time trialing the most horrible form of cycling..

Hill climbs are worse.

ie will i turn up and stand silently on my own whilst folks mentally prepare themselves for punishment, then pack up straight after and go home

thats all some people want

unless you are part of a road club it won't be particularly welcoming or fun.

In reality will it be 25 min of pure misery (probably more)?

unless you are part of a road club it won't be particularly welcoming or fun.

🙄 😆

Yeah, Club hill climbs with ritual humiliation thrown in for a larf...

Can’t beat it.

You are right. You’ll be on the edge of the limited ‘banter’ and then it’ll hurt so much you’ll puke. And then finish 73rd, behind wrinkled old men.

My road club is primarily a TT club. I've done a handful evening club ones on sporting courses, refuse to do A road ones, they're a good way of pushing yourself, definitely not enjoyable whilst doing but get a buzz afterwards. Anyway those who are fully in to the TT scene spend their summer driving to laybys around the region, they seem to enjoy it though and there is a good community.

they might talk to you

... as they overtake

(I've done 2 - actually quite good "fun")

I do love a ride up and down a dual carriageway though..

In reality will it be 25 min of pure misery (probably more)?

Yes. It's brilliant!

Join the club and get to know people. Most of them will be taking the piss out of their mates or trying to avoid being first off, not warming up on rollers. Stay and chat afterwards. Evening 10's can be fun in a way.

It’ll only be 25 minutes of misery if you're fitter than 99% of mountain bikers.

Hill climbs are pretty social. You all hang around for an hour and do 4 minutes of cycling. Plenty of time to chat and cheer others on.

TTs are equally good in my experience. People are soical afterwards, most of ours involve tea nad cake afterwards while the results are calculated and prizes given. Short ones normally have a group riding back to various towns as well.

I did one once (a club 10). It was awful and I hated every single second of it.

Basically got talked into it by one of the guys in the club who picked me up at stupid o clock in the morning and drove me down to a windswept section of wet A-road somewhere in Kent. Weather was shit, I'd got a clip-on set of tri-bars on loan from another club member that were uncomfortable, I had no idea of pacing or anything.

The weather was so bad I raced in my windproof jacket to the absolute horror of everyone else there - they were all in skinsuits.

All I remember of the day was everything being shit - the weather, the course, the Little Chef breakfast afterwards - and me being stone dead last and getting a puncture more or less as I fell across the finishing line a shivering wreck.

That was about 20 years ago and I swore then I'd never do another one. I've stuck with that vow!

Nothing can be as bad as a turbo session.

You forgot the joy of juggernauts passing by you on "fast courses". I've time trialled a bit but I always prefer a road races. Lots of banter, more happening and probably more suited to me anyway.

Hmmm.. Not particularly selling it..

Hill climbs will be avoided at all cost.. The length of suffering is less but the thought of the pain I use to go through when trying to set pbs up my local hill still haunts me..

The most depressing thing is I remember getting a top 10 time on a local hill (kirkgate) a few years ago on Strava and now I'm about 40th.. It took me about 3.40.. The record is now around 2.30. Just shows how much off the pace of even a good club cyclist I was.. Even at my fittest.

Why would anyone choose to do this when there is mountain biking to be had instead? Weirdos.

Conversely, I always liked hill climbs, partly I suppose because I was good at them (club champion one year!).

Nice relaxed ride out there, hang round for a bit, few minutes of pain then it's over. Always a huge turnout too so loads of people clapping and cheering which helped.

Unlike TT where there'd be no-one around!

Rubber_Buccaneer -
I do love a ride up and down a dual carriageway though.

Saw one a few weeks back on a section of the A3(M). How much fun that must be, with cars and lorries flying past at 80+mph. Looked in my mirror after passing a few and some cars weren't even giving them a full lane. Joys.

simondbarnes - Member
Hill climbs are worse

At least they’re over quickly!

Our local summer series is hilly TTs. Around the Elan Valley.

Best of both worlds. A TT. Some proper hills.

First one I did I got overtaken by my minute man.....well....it was a 13 year old lad, and his mum! He was allowed to ride if escorted by a parent. They both passed me!

And the local 60+ age groupers are many minutes quicker than me.

Have I sold it to you yet?

There is tea and cake and banter at the shop afterwards tho.

The mouth puke mid hill climb, combined with the bile throw up at the top FTW.

And falling off because you can’t unclip..

Love em’

If you want wind suck from Artics try the A19 TT ... 😯

A 26 ish minute FTP test in traffic. Done 1,cant see me doing another one any time soon

Are we still taking about biking as a fun activity? 😀

There is actually a bit of sick at the back of my throat just reading some of the above testimonials! 🙁

I've really enjoyed TT-ing this year as threshold prep for CX. Then again, I find MTB-ing boring, so what do I know... 🙂

I enjoy TTs 🙂 plenty of chat at HQ once you get to know people. I prefer the non dual carriageway courses for the most part and this year mainly focussed on a spoco series (came 3rd in the end).

DezB - the A3 one happens EVERY week and the ****s that organise it are some of the biggest and most ignorant arseholes going.
There’s been regular accidents and incidents due to them yet nothing has been done about it.
The odd occasion maybe but when it’s every single Wednesday then it can no longer be considered to not be “an organised event” and as such such have road controls, etc in place for everyone’s safety.

Yes plus you are giving bicycle riders an even worse name by selfishly clogging up dual carriageways.
Yes I'm referring to the A3 also.

Did one over 25 years ago. I was a youth at the time and only had a mountain bike but turned in a mid pack time.

This road club were lucky enough to have their own club house but it turned out that there was this thing of not speaking to anyone with a faster time unless they spoke to you first so the tables became little time based cliques.

Then found that anyone slower than me didn't want to know because I'd beaten them on a mountain bike.

I've never done one since and have no time for any sort of club scene.

Type 2 fun. Horrendous whilst you're doing it. Hilarious once you've crossed the line and seen others in a similar state 😆

I guess all clubs are different but the ones near me have been very friendly and welcoming to potential new members.

Give it a go, a couple of times, you might enjoy it, you might even improve your times 🙂

I've ridden the a3 tt' s ten and twenty fives, good well run events and well signed and marshalled. The organisers a3crg are nice people. I always thought it quite a safe course. Having run a tt when there was a crash with an ambulance attending, two riders touching wheels in a two up tt and one falling off and getting minor cuts the paperwork from that alone was a mare so the idea that nothing happens is imho incorrect. Best stay off all roads to avoid clogging them up eh old talent.

I did one on a normal road bike years ago 25.48 a year later I did another one 25.47...should have kept going I would have been a contender by the time I reached 450 years old!!

A local road club seem obsessed with the A78; TT and TT training on the dualled section all summer, then have their Saturday run on the tightest section of it, to a dreary cafe and back.

They all look [i]really[/i] happy....

Misery, yes. Socialble, generally no.

Any enjoyment is usually retrospective.

I think TiRed has the right idea doing the Hillingdon ones. I can see the enjoyment there.

I chose the wettest evening of the year to try one on the A4. Folk were friendly but generally hiding in their cars from the weather.

If I ever lose enough weight that my body shrinks, I may do some more but as long as my CdA is similar to a small lorry, I'll stick to bunch racing 🙂

If you don't like TTs then I suggest you steer well clear of triathlons then because even a sprint distance is a 25K TT sandwiched between a 750m swim and a 5K run.

Personally I think cyclocross is one of the hardest things I have done on a bike.

Some people are more chatty than others. Its no more or less sociable than any other discipline, where people turn up and get to know people. Those that turn up more often tend to know more people, it's not necessarily clique-y, but everything can seem like that first time you turn up.

Its 25 minutes of pain on your own, but afterwards you know you couldn't have ridden any/much faster - all in your control, rather than say a road race where it often comes down to people hanging on during the race but then winning the sprint.

You will wonder why the f... you're doing it about 5 minutes in, but after half way you'll be focussed on getting to the end and you get a real sense of satisfaction.

Depends if you like competing against yourself

Too late this year, but get yourself along to your local club evening TT series next season. You'll find lots of people ready to offer advice, and you can try out time trialling in a more relaxed atmosphere, without getting involved in riding dual carriageway drag strips.
Sporting courses are a more interesting challenge, and the scenery is better!

A lot of people get hooked on TTs as a personal challenge, even if they are not challenging for the overall positions. You'll also find lots of wee battles going on between regulars who are closely matched, and enjoy trying to beat their mates by a few seconds each week.

Ignore the macho nonsense about suffering and being sick. That's not what it is about. TTing is hard, but when you get flow on a road bike, it's a wonderful state.

The other downside of time trialling is it's probably one discipline where it is about the bike, and the helmet and the skin suit and the overshoes etc, etc.

And looking like an alien cross breed human banana.

Fun though and our local club loves it.

The other downside of time trialling is it's probably one discipline where it is about the bike, and the helmet and the skin suit and the overshoes etc, etc.

If you are starting out, I reckon you can get 95% of the advantages without spending lots of money. You don't need to spend a fortune to get tri bars, an aero helmet and a skinsuit. If you get serious, you can move on to fancy wheels,TT specific frames, etc, but that stuff is really marginal improvements.

If you are starting out, I reckon you can get 95% of the advantages without spending lots of money. You don't need to spend a fortune to get tri bars, an aero helmet and a skinsuit. If you get serious, you can move on to fancy wheels,TT specific frames, etc, but that stuff is really marginal improvements.

I agree but the point I was making is the people of my acquintance that get into purely TT usually reach a performance plateau based on fitness. To go faster you need to resort to technology to reduce wind resistance. Most people I know that are into TT eventually go the whole hog which is why I never really bothered other than triathlon where I use my normal road bike with tri bars.

The other downside of time trialling is it's probably one discipline where it is about the bike, and the helmet and the skin suit and the overshoes etc, etc.

With regards to better equipment making you faster.. Is that any different than what mountain bikers do..?

Or do folks just buy the latest 5k enduro bikes because they look nice..

Actually don't answer that..

Time Trials?

I've been dabbling in them for the past 2 summers (road bike with clip-on bars and DIY positioning by experiment) and they provoke a range of emotions in me.

I "enjoy" (get some satisfaction) from pushing myself for the duration, but find my lack of speed and a lack of improvement this year [b]extremely frustrating[/b] and post-ride I am often disappointed. I look forward to doing them, though.

I'm a reasonably fit & strong 40 year old man, but get beaten by skinny, small boys and old, rotund men.

The people who are best at it appear to tend towards the introverted, have excellent mental focus and are not easily distracted.

I've found the scene to be quite social. The TTs I've done were run by my own club and other local clubs and I got chatting to people before and after the events.

There is some staggeringly expensive kit for TT. I suspect that I would rapidly see diminishing returns from any investment in a properly fitting bike of more than about £1000.

Some people take it very seriously and focus all of their training efforts on the TT season. It doesn't interest my enough to do that.

I'm in two minds about next year: Either buy a used TT-specific bike, having a proper fitting, train and concentrate on it more next year or just sack it off and do 5K, 10K & trail/fell running races instead.....