I’ve recently come across what looks to be a time trial series of bike races, the first of which is in the Chicago suburbs in September.
I’m a triathlete and not a roadie, and I’m not interested in drafting/pack road racing or crits, but I think racing a 30K - 40K time trial would be good above-threshold training (provided I get a run in afterwards ;^))
Anyone out there do any cycling time trial racing?
What’s the competition like? Hardcore roadies or a mix of triathletes?
Great training. The competition will vary, but a lot of tts post results on the web so you can get an idea there. A monthly 40k all out is a standard benchmark for many people.
Also I think you need to revisit your numbers if you think you can do above threshold for a 40k and add a run afterward.
Congratulations. You have stumbled upon what is perhaps the BEST training option for almost EVERY triathlete. Strange thing is very few triathletes ever get involved with this. They have all the cool aero gear. They want to go fast on the bike. Yet if you go to the weekly TT’s the many cycling clubs and organizations put on you see few if any triathletes. Not sure why this is. If I was coaching/advising people even IM distance athletes, I would have them doing a 15 - 40K ITT at least once a month through the season.
Well, I come from a background of being a roadie, so yeah, I do them. Believe me, you are going to go much harder than you do during a tri, because there is no swim or run. I think they’re great. IN fact, I am doing one next tuesday.
Yep,
Good stuff, more triathletes in my neck of the woods are starting to come out to the weekly club TT’s.
With a 40km ride out to the TT, a 15-20km all out effort, and the 40km back home, I’ve found it a very solid mid-week workout. (Training for mainly 1/2-full IM)
Have fun and if you taste blood about 2km away from the finish you know you’re effort was good!!
TT’ing is fun to do once in awhile. A couple of things though - don’t expect the same sort of atmosphere and friendliness you get at tris and even if you’re a fast bike split triathlete, be expected to likely have your *ss handed to you. Some of those roadie TT’ers are really fast.
Even if you’re only doing a 10 mile TT, you need to measure and dose-out your effort. It will be a much higher effort than you’d put into the bike leg of a triathlon, but pacing is the key all the same. If you go over the red line too early, say goodbye to a decent time.
You’ll probably see a few serious roadie racers out there, though few racers seem to take up time trialing as a favorite discipline vs. road races or crits. You’ll find a lot of strong recreational riders who get into time trialing because they don’t care for the notion of leaving skin in the corners of crits. At some events, you’ll see top-level times turned in by people who are listed as Cat. 4 or Cat. 5 riders because time trialing is about all they do and there’s no chance to “cat. up” racing TTs.
As has been said, few triathletes seem to have discovered the scene. The ones I see don’t generally do too well 'cuz they’re not used to inflicting that much pain on themselves over a short period. Triathletes seem to be into lesser pain dosed out over longer periods.
Time trialing is very much a mental discipline. I can endure this … I can endure this … I can endure this … I can push through this intense pain … I can dig deep and sprint for the line.
I think some triathletes stay away from time trials because they fear the things they hear/read about UCI rules. They don’t want to be made to change their saddles (nose 5cm behind the BB rule) or they ride some frame that isn’t UCI legal (Softride, Kestrel airfoil, Zipp, Lotus). Unless you’re at your state championship or the national championships, nobody’s going to pay any attention to your bike.
Anyone who has raced under UCI rules - have you had to actually change your setup (specifically your saddle) to race?
My FIST setup on my road bike w/clip on aerobars, with some minor tweaks after the fact, may not be much, but it’s the best I’ve got right now and I don’ think I’d want to monkey with it for one training day.
"have you had to actually change your setup (specifically your saddle) to race? "
Yup. It was a large UCI rules points event and i had to to flip my seat post back on my P2K or they weren’t going to let me race. Not a problem at the smaller events or when UCI rules don’t apply. Even at this particular event, they are talking in the future about letting triathletes race steep but not for points under the UCI rules.
Yup, some of the best gains in my raw bike speed were made from a weekly 8-12 mile TT. Competetive? Sure, if you view it that way. The only “real” competition is yourself though.
I have started doing them lately and I absolutely love it. It’s fantastic training.
We have a two-loop course here, and the last time I did it, my second loop was faster than the first because of the adrenalin rush of overtaking and passing several of my minute-men, but all that glory was short-lived when an up-and-coming young stud blew by me at over 24 mph from several spots back.
Not really “unfriendly” (but that’s another thread.) It’s more that nobody goes to a TT “just to finish.” People are there to ride as hard as they can for an hour. Puking is optional.
We just started a Triathlon Club out of a LBS in St. Louis area and we have a Monthly Time Trial as part of the training. It is a 9 mile course in the River Flats outside of Saint Peters. The times are posted and we have been keeping track of the Course Record (around 25.1 MPH last week on a HOT day-not by me I was just a touch under 23 MPH). There is also a weekly Brick workout and the times for the Brick and the TT have been dropping as the year progressed. There is a handful of experienced Triathletes whose times are fairly consistant, but the newcomers and ones with just a couple of Tris have really improved. It was difficult to pace due to the short distance, but still long enough to hurt. The short distance worked in that it didn’t gas me for the workouts left in the week.
On a side note there is a Team Time Trial event being discussed in the St. Charles County Flats for either the fall or (more likely) next year. The LBS also sponsors a Bike Team, but word is that they are going to only use Bike Team members for the Team Time Trial so a couple of us are thinking about putting together a Team of just the Triathletes in the Club to see if we could Punk them out. Could be interesting if the event gets put together.
Every Saturday morning at 7 a.m. on West River Drive (MLK Blvd) there is a low key TT of slightly more then 8 miles on a good road surface with no car traffic in Philadelphia. There’s no money or T shirts involved, but there is a Yahoo web site with the results for each person on a spread sheet for the whole summer that lets a person know where they are in relation to the others out there. This is basiclly the same level of exertion as running in a 5K foot race, a short all out effort. After the TT I take a break and then do something else like run or go for a training swim. I think its a very useful side training tool for the triathlete looking to expand their training options. Tim
My FIST setup on my road bike w/clip on aerobars, with some minor tweaks after the fact, may not be much, but it’s the best I’ve got right now and I don’ think I’d want to monkey with it for one training day.
I have been racing Cycling Club TT’s for years, but I have NEVER had my bike checked and it was definately NOT UCI legal. It’s only at the State/Provincial and National level events that they check this. For the most part you can ride whatever you want in local Cycling Club TT’s.