"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - 1km time trial anyone?

So tonight begins the Edgar Soto Memorial in Nashville and it is kicked off on the old Nashville Motor Speedway with a 1Km time trial. Anyone ever do such a short TT? Any suggestions for strategy other than go hard until it's over?

I thought that was just called a kilo.

call it what you will....they called it a 1k time trial....should be interesting...fixed gear track bikes are allowed...anyone have a good reason why I should used my fixie instead of my roadie?

Do a really good warm up and hopefully get up to the start line with a pretty high heart rate. Start in a gear that you can easily take off in, and get to a huge gear as soon as possible and do the entire thing like one long sprint. Is it a straight line or a 500x500 out and back?

As for fixie vs non, I say non just for the initial start. As everyone knows, its pretty f-ing hard to accel quick in your 53x11 or whatever.

Do a really good warm up and hopefully get up to the start line with a pretty high heart rate. Start in a gear that you can easily take off in, and get to a huge gear as soon as possible and do the entire thing like one long sprint. Is it a straight line or a 500x500 out and back?

As for fixie vs non, I say non just for the initial start. As everyone knows, its pretty f-ing hard to accel quick in your 53x11 or whatever.

it is on an old racetrack...so it will have 18 degree banked turns and 3 degree banked straight aways. We are doing 1 lap apparently.

call it what you will....they called it a 1k time trial....should be interesting...fixed gear track bikes are allowed...anyone have a good reason why I should used my fixie instead of my roadie?

Never done one as a sanctioned event. Used to do it on the track. A track bike would be lighter and more efficient... I dunno if you're really gonna shift much. Just sprint up to speed and hold it. Really it should be over in about a minute and change.

All-out from the beginning. 100% explosive sprint, then just keep the power on for every pedal stroke until the finish line. See Chris Hoy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXeBiFh3484).

Hard out of the gate, pushing it hard to the line, stand and sprint if possible. Looking at 1:04-1:20 duration probably, so a good warmup is needed.

call it what you will....they called it a 1k time trial....should be interesting...fixed gear track bikes are allowed...anyone have a good reason why I should used my fixie instead of my roadie?

Do you have the right gear on your fixie ?? Have you practiced on it ? It would be a bummer to go 500m and wish you could shift.

Unless you're an experience track racer, I think most people would be faster accelerating in a gear they can get on top of quickly then shifting up, than going in a fixed gear, which will either be too high to accelerate quickly, or too small to produce maximum power at the rpm that would be required.

Thus unless you've raced on the track, and are good at spinning 160rpms, I'd go with a road bike.

Everyone is right about going full-out from the start gate until the end, but you're never goign to get into the 53x11. My Kilo gear on my track bike is a 49x14, so take that into consideration. Don't think of it as a quick sprint, it will be long when you're doing it, and if you're doing it right, it'll hurt A LOT.
Personally, I don't see a reason why you'd need gears in a Kilo; you're going to build all of your momentum from the long sprint at the start and by the end, you shouldn't be able to sprint.

get up to speed as fast as you can then hammer it until you're 10 feet past the line

You ever run track, chris?

I did the 1k in question and apparently was doing it wrong.... didnt feel dead at the end and finished mid pack.


Oh well :)

Personally, I don't see a reason why you'd need gears in a Kilo; you're going to build all of your momentum from the long sprint at the start and by the end, you shouldn't be able to sprint.

I disagree and I ride kilos. Starting in a lower gear and shifting till you end up at 100rpms or so is going to be better than bending the bike in half for two pedal strokes and spinning your legs at 130 for the end.



I did the 1k in question and apparently was doing it wrong.... didnt feel dead at the end and finished mid pack.

Are you at least a road sprinter? I wouldn't expect a more slow twitch/endurance oriented person to do better than mid pack or feel dead at the end just based on physiology/training.

Are you at least a road sprinter? I wouldn't expect a more slow twitch/endurance oriented person to do better than mid pack or feel dead at the end just based on physiology/training.

No way. I think the sprinters are going to do do better than the endurance guys in a 1 minute race. From a standstill, they're going to get to 40mph -- who cares if they get tired and fade from there? The damage to the field is done at that point.

I'm a mediocre time-trialist, but I'd do much better in a 1k race with my upside-down-V/down-sloping-right power profile

No way. I think the sprinters are going to do do better than the endurance guys in a 1 minute race. From a standstill, they're going to get to 40mph -- who cares if they get tired and fade from there? The damage to the field is done at that point.

I'm a mediocre time-trialist, but I'd do much better in a 1k race with my upside-down-V/down-sloping-right power profile

You misread. Sprinters will do better. In fact non-sprinters won't even be able to expend enough energy in a minute to exhaust themselves to the point that kilo riders often describe.

You misread. Sprinters will do better. In fact non-sprinters won't even be able to expend enough energy in a minute to exhaust themselves to the point that kilo riders often describe.

Which makes me wonder why USAC put the kilo riders with the endurance track squad rather than the sprint team.

Ah, yes, I missed the "n't" up there :o

Well i raced....

1 minute plus of pain.

By the end I could not see!!! I was slow but that is to be expected considering my current fitness level...but it was fun.