During the TV coverage for the Tour of Britain Chris Boardman said he use to ride a lot of crits in the build up to a big time trial. Are there added benifits from road racing to Time trial performance that the TT specialists are missing out on?
Britains Time trial specialist struggle to get near the top spots at the world time trial champs against the Pro tour guys. Would they get beaten by more or less time if the Pro tour guys just concentrated on Time trialling?
I believe there is some merit to doing road races. There is nothing like head to head competition to bring out your best effort.
When i do group rides (which are a lot like road races) my heart rate goes much higher than when i ride on my own. It’s very motivating to keep up with cyclists that are trying to drop you.
Are there added benifits from road racing to Time trial performance that the TT specialists are missing out on?
Most top TT racers at that level are also top road racers, with high muscular endurance, think Julich, Botero and M. Rogers. TT racing alone does not pay the bills. Boardman set his world record on the track following a three week race at the TdF.Would they get beaten by more or less time if the Pro tour guys just concentrated on Time trialling?
The Pro tour guys concentrate on stage racing, which includes TT racing. Being the world’s best time trialist does not mean you are the best cyclist, however, being a top GC guy does ensure TT performance in many cases, as Hamilton, Landis, Armstrong and Ullrich have shown. Rogers won TT worlds the past couple of years, and is a very good cyclist, however not a top GC guy in the grand tours.
I was thinking about guys like the top UK Time trialist - Hutchinson and Dangerfield. I know it is not the b all and end all race performance but I read Hutchinsons V02 max is in the 90’s. He trains specifically for Time trialling yet seems to be easly beaten by those that stage race/road race. Is it just that the pro tour guys are better and would be even quicker if they trained for time trialling alone or to compete with the top guys would riders like Hutchinson be better off competeing in stage races etc if they wanted to get to the same level as riders like Rogers (this is who Boardman was reffering to when he said about the benifit for racing crits thinking about the Time trial world champs). Or maybe seeing UK testers race 100mile TT’s and longer perhaps they should be come Ironman bike relay specialists 
Should some of the Ironman Triathletes race a few Road races as part of their training?
It’s a good question, the conclusion that I’ve come to regarding why the best british domestic tt ers don’t do well when they compete against the continental pros is that they are not competeing on a level playing field if you know what I mean. Any inferences you can make about rr being good training for tt can not be made by looking at the pro’s performances.
Comparing British time trialing to pro tour racers is like comparing olympic wrestling to WWF.
Should some of the Ironman Triathletes race a few Road races as part of their training?
Many do.
I focus on TT’s, and masters nationals track pursuit, but race road as well (CAT 3)
improvements in vo2max, LT, bike handling, anaerobic power is the answer I think you were looking for
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My theory is that training and time trialing only limits overall speed, and my ability to hold that speed during an event. I think that I benefit from the fast group rides. It is like motorpacing, drafting in back of a motorcycle at faster speeds. I also see group rides as a time to ride at threshold and above. If I do this regularly, my fitness improves. It works for me.
Some of my best performances in triathlon came after I spent an entire season racing collegiate cycling, in the “A” category. A number of the top guys in that category now race pro (my former UCLA teammate Bernard Van Ulden placed 5th in the USPRO TT a few days ago). Chasing all those guys around in 1-hour crits and 90 mile road races does wonders for your form. Havn’t done as much road riding recently, and I think my performances have suffered, perhaps simply because the group rides/races you do as a roady simply bring out your best and are so enjoyable. Just got back on my road bike a couple days ago after 6+ months of just riding the TT bike…I love it!!
–Marcus
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