Any tips for 10 TTs

You broke evens. That’s the main thing.

Did you chant my mantra?

the right intervals will knock a fair bit of time off

Amonst other things yes. How do you remove teeth marks from handlebars?

iDave – for that kind of event I agree – intervals would work wonders.

Never mind the bars – have you looked in your shorts yet?

They went straight in the washing machine without a second look.

Like this?

Something like that.

What bike were you on? Hope it didn’t have Rubber Queens on.

Nice one!

they are a bit addictive but I can’t ever see me going down the aero helmet, TT bike etc.

I like to keep it simple with my road bike and see if i have improved.. Although head winds are demorialising

Bianchi 928 c2c with 25mm tyres.

If the best time was 24 something then that doesnt sound like a particulary fast course so well done for doing less than 30

Stevenh – I did 24:12 on my first go aged 42 😛 – maybe beating it first go is a bit hard – second then (23:48)

if i go abroad to work any time soon and a race is coming up you can have a shot of my stealth.

TT is addictive VERY addictive.

i won a bet with a very senior club mate who told me id never break the hour on a 25tt first try …… 59.27 – uphill finish and i could see the clock ticking down , one benifit/downside to the road bike id borrowed was flightdeck ! – only the ground opening up and swallowing me was going to stop me at that point …. thought i was gonna tear off my muscles ! its all in the head !

trickydisco – Member
Nice one!

they are a bit addictive but I can’t ever see me going down the aero helmet, TT bike etc.

I like to keep it simple with my road bike and see if i have improved.. Although head winds are demorialising

POSTED 15 MINUTES

You say that now…

Someone’s sig on a tt forum read something like,
pointy hat: 100
fluro spandex suit: 60
fluro shoe covers: 30

Looking like an idiot: Priceless

Iain

Trail_rat I’ve got a similar bet on great to know it’s doable 🙂

Crazy legs, I know of a similar (same?) tractor story from a club in Market Harborough years ago. It wasn’t there was it?

I have just come up with a solution fo testers cough – singleton malt 🙂

That was excellent… I loved it.

But sadly not below 24 minutes …. but then the fastest guy on the night got 23:59

28:59 for me and pretty pleased with that. Considering that’s only the second time I’ve ridden a road bike in anger.

Didn’t ride till I puked… aerobically I seemed pretty good (run my first marathon recently and have never been fitter) but lacked power… My legs were giving up before my chest wanted too.

What would you guys advise for power exercises/routines … Hills and HIIT, I presume?

My legs hurt today. Need to get out and do some short sharp rides I think.

Well done mate thats not a bad old starter time, all those folks going on about 24 mins must live down south, there is no such thing as a “flat and windless” course around here !

I highly recommend laps of Arthur’s Seat, sprint like a bastard up the climb for as long as you can (or do 2 mins, 30 secs, mix it up), in as big a gear as you can, then recover on the rest of the lap.

My legs hurt today. Need to get out and do some short sharp rides I think.

You did it properly then 🙂 Just spin easy today.

Pacing a TT takes time – the first mile or two should feel a bit too easy, then build the effort so the second half is harder and the last mile is the hardest when you’re desperate for the finish line to arrive ASAP.

As well as trickydisco’s 3-line mantra I’d suggest adding “Can I pedal any harder?” “Can I change up yet?”

For training try 2 x 20mins at FTP (the pace you could hold for an hour) with 10 mins easy in between, twice a week. @Ro5ey, if you race hills train on hills, if you ride flat courses then train on the flat.

TT is addictive VERY addictive.

^^ that’s the voice of experience.

Once you can do it I’d suggest making one of the sessions above 1×30 then build from there to 3×20 once you fancy trying some 25s

If the top speeds were ~ 24 then both riders did pretty well, it helps to have a look in the back of the comic or at the course record to get a sense of what is doable on your local courses and if Huthinson, M beats you by 10 minutes don’t worry about it

To get your power up it has to be steep hills as there is no hiding. Power intervals on the flat are too easy to back off on. Steep hills on MTB you can granny or may get too technical so it is more about skill than power

Good effort for your first attempt. TT’ing is learning about yourself and how much you can suffer. The next one you do should be a lot quicker and so on till you get to a point were you reach a rough time your constantly keep hitting.

Thats when it starts getting very fooking grim, chipping seconds of your best time !!

TT’ing is almost the same effort as a MTB race, full gas from the start and keep it at 90% till the end and then 100%, if you cross the line in both events not feeling very ill or skull **** you’ve not going hard enough. 😀

Enjoy the “testers cough” afterwards, mmmm the acrid taste of blood.

To get your power up it has to be steep hills as there is no hiding. Power intervals on the flat are too easy to back off on

I find it just as easy to back off on a hill as I do on the flat if I’m not in the mood. Meanwhile if you want the training to really count it has to be on the flat as the physiology is slightly different on hills (also on your TT bike if you have a different position on that – if you don’t have a TT bike with a lower position than on a road bike there is time to be gained there).

I just need to get the miles in and mix in some intervals and hill climbing work. A couple of years ago I managed to do a road century in 5hrs so just need to get back to that level I suppose. Then when I’m as fit as I want to be then I’ll start spending money on stuff.

Think I could have a new addiction though.

Am up for another dig at this one tonight. Will be interesting to see if I can improve on the time.

Good luck George. Trying a TT is on my to do list this summer. Pity I can’t try the ERC ones, ill have to find a weekend one to do instead…or try the one in fife ive been told about. You shoulda joined the her(r)velos though 😉

If you fancy some training, we meet on tuesday night for speedwork and attacks on AS.

the guy who drafted a tractor wasn’t breaking any rules btw ;)….unless he arranged it to be there!!

best thing that worked for me was 7 pints of batemans xxxb the night before, sleep in car on way to event, ride up the road for 5 minutes then just hammer it….that made me go from 22:30 pb to a 20:58….went out that night, did a sporting 50 next day in a sub 2hr time! haha

Claire – the tuesday night training sounds like a good plan. Had I known that there was such a thing as a Herrvelo I probably would have joined them.

What course you doing is the ERC Kirky one ?

Someone recorded that course for the iMagic so I’ve actually ridden it “virtually”. Probably not all that realistic though as I managed sub 30 minutes…

Must go and ride it for real sometime and see just how much slower I am in real life and with a headwind for half of it.

You shoulda joined the her(r)velos though

What sort of stuff do the her(r)velos do? SWMBO is a Hervelo and has mentioned that there appeared to be some kind of associated partners group.

There’s currently three herrvelos…my other half (andy), Druidh and Philip. We generally ride together or meet outwith club rides for faster/specific training rides. A few of the girls other halves show up on an ad hoc basis for the Tuesday sessions and pub nights but aren’t members. Its been a while since we had a good turn out on a tuesday night but three of us last night managed to wreck each others legs 🙂 We are also setting up a road race team too. You should both come along, the Tuesday nights at AS are good fun and hard work.

For my first TT, I downloaded a Garmin TCX plot of the route with a time that I wanted to aim for. I used this as a virtual partner on my Edge 500 and PLF’d to make sure I beat the time. Worked well, it shows you your time ahead/behind etc. I beat the time by 30 seconds.

This gave me a pretty good idea of the intensity I needed to aim for in further events

And I crossed the line feeling both of these:

very ill or skull ****

aracer – Member

To get your power up it has to be steep hills as there is no hiding. Power intervals on the flat are too easy to back off on

I find it just as easy to back off on a hill as I do on the flat if I’m not in the mood.

hills arent steep enough then!

Im talking steep – with 18-20% sections where you have to go in the red just to stay upright

It’d take a lot more than 18-20% before I had to go into the red to stay upright.

the guy who drafted a tractor wasn’t breaking any rules btw ;)….unless he arranged it to be there!!

yes he was; RTTC regulation 21 “competitors must ride entirely alone and unassisted and not ….take shelter (commonly known as drafting) from other riders or vehicles.”

God I’m turning into a testing nerd. if you are enjoying tt’ing this book is quite interesting;

http://www.timetrialling.com/

,his pyramid intervals are a fun workout!

okay now this has tweaked my interest. how does one find out about these tts and then enter them. need to be one of the evening ones for me tho.

yes he was; RTTC regulation 21 “competitors must ride entirely alone and unassisted and not ….take shelter (commonly known as drafting) from other riders or vehicles.”

God I’m turning into a testing nerd. if you are enjoying tt’ing this book is quite interesting;

if he is unable to overtake said vehicle then there isn’t a lot he can do…only the most pedantic organiser would take it as read…

btw i have been a tester since the age of 13…ive seen dangermouse draft cars before! 😯

if he is unable to overtake said vehicle then there isn’t a lot he can do…only the most pedantic organiser would take it as read…

The great Alf Engers was regularly suspended by the RTTC, not only for drafting behind vehicles, but also for overtaking them, as he was faster than some of the cars on the road at the time.

Which is as good an excuse as any for a retro TT picture – ‘King’ Alf in his pomp – note the holes drilled in everything, the huge chainring (57 x 12 top gear) and the aerodynamic, but rather suicidal, head position.

We are also setting up a road race team too. You should both come along, the Tuesday nights at AS are good fun and hard work.

I’ll see if I can persuade SWMBO but I’m not optimistic as she’s currently in the hill-hating stage. She’s not had her road bike long and even with an 11:28 on the bike and a compact chainset she can find the hills a struggle. She’s allegedly in training for the womens triathlon in a few weeks but that traiming seems to involve eating chocolate, cake and biscuits rather than cycling, running or swimming…

SBZ If you can ride up a 20% hill below FTP then I would expect you to be a lot quicker than you are – no offence.

In the red means above 85% MHR.

Exceptions: you might be a slow bicycle race expert, do a mean trackstand, or worst of all, have a triple 👿