"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Please assess my "time trial"

So the other day, me an 5 of my friends for the hell of it, ran a 24 mile time trial on a .6 mile circuit. Here is a link to the "course" (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2627035)

I finished my 24 miles at exactly 1 hour 6 minutes and 4 seconds with an average speed of 22.6 mph. The distance was cross referenced between 3 computers.

I was able to maintain 25-26 mph on the slightly downgrade section for the 40 laps, and my average on the slightly upgrade part started at 23 and dropped 1 mph every 10 laps, although the final 10 laps, i was able to kick it back up to 21.

i know pros average high 24s with nice aero bikes and all, but i understand the 160 90 degree turns i made also has to affect my speed.

i have several crits lined up for the season, starting with my first one coming up in 3 weeks. can any experienced riders give me some sort of assessment based on this?

I weigh in at 74.8 kg and my bike is 19 lb. the wind that night was calm, nothing noticeable when i wasn't riding. the wind tends to blow east and west in that section of the valley, and the long stretches were north and south.

only way to tell is find some racers to ride that course too.

yeah i actually did best of my 5 friends, the others whom ride faster in group rides, mainly because of stop and go, came in a few minutes behind me up to 1 hr and 14 min. the other benefit was the no drafting rule we enforced, because they usually tend to sit and mash, sit and mash.

there aren't too many 24 mile straightaways in los angeles to run on, but i found this circular block that is about a quarter mile round. i'm going to attempt this again on sunday, and hope that i don't get too dizzy.

i can sit in and pull comfortably in fast group rides, i guess this is more for personal assessment.

anybody in LA area want to try this out?

Pros average a lot more than that...

Here is a link to the best British times for a 25, please note, a lot of these aren't actually pros.

The British record is held by some bloke called Chris at 45 mins and 57 seconds. About 33mph.



http://www.rttc.org.uk/Default.aspx?&gv637__gvac=2&tabid=210&gv637__gvff0=M25_TT&gv637__gvfl0=0

so im guessing the average TT speed accounts for hills and all that

out of curiousity, what kind of course do they run for that route?

is it inside a velodrome?

i know pros average high 24s

Correct. When they are climbing.

Try 30+ mph for the Pro Tour.

i guess it all comes down to how is a 22.6 mph average over an hour with 160 90 degree turns.

No, it's the circuit time trials so they just use a road route which is usually involves several junctions. In the Velodrome Chris Boardman has completed, on a standard track bike (32 spoke wheels with box section rims, no aero bars or helmet), 49.441 km (30.7 miles).

i guess it all comes down to how is a 22.6 mph average over an hour with 160 90 degree turns.

Not bad! Keep at it...

So the other day, me an 5 of my friends for the hell of it, ran a 24 mile time trial on a .6 mile circuit. Here is a link to the "course" (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2627035)

I finished my 24 miles at exactly 1 hour 6 minutes and 4 seconds with an average speed of 22.6 mph. The distance was cross referenced between 3 computers.

I was able to maintain 25-26 mph on the slightly downgrade section for the 40 laps, and my average on the slightly upgrade part started at 23 and dropped 1 mph every 10 laps, although the final 10 laps, i was able to kick it back up to 21.

i know pros average high 24s with nice aero bikes and all, but i understand the 160 90 degree turns i made also has to affect my speed.

i have several crits lined up for the season, starting with my first one coming up in 3 weeks. can any experienced riders give me some sort of assessment based on this?

I weigh in at 74.8 kg and my bike is 19 lb. the wind that night was calm, nothing noticeable when i wasn't riding. the wind tends to blow east and west in that section of the valley, and the long stretches were north and south.

OK, I'll give you a straight answer. That's pretty good, and plenty good enough to race Cat 5 with if your bike handling skills are up to the task.

Since you were going in circles, wind, elevation and bike weight should tend to cancel out. Ya, pros go faster...blah, blah, blah.

Averaging over 22 mph for an hour isn't too damn bad. That pace is a 68 minute 40k time trial pace. Anything under an hour for 40k is good. Probably the biggest thing you're missing to see that type of time is a TT bike with aero-bars and a slick helmet.

Go and race. Good luck and use your head.

Correct. When they are climbing.

Try 30+ mph for the Pro Tour.

+1...I know cat 5s that can average 24 mph in a time trial no problem. Pros depending on course and length will definitley do 30+mph

http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/48081_189949_2007.html

according to that link, the CAT 5 winner avg 23.8 and with my average, should conditions have been stellar my way, i would've done fairly well.

this was supposed to be a flat course anyways and maybe fewer turns.

i was just glad i was able to kick it up to 26-27 on the final lap and i knew i had put in my best effort when i ALMOST threw up.

a bit of whatever came up though.


(http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/48081_189949_2007.html)

More to the point, your initial post mentioned that you want to do some crits. Your 1 hour time trial pace has pretty much jack all to do with whether you can race a crit well. It's about accelerating over and over again, cornering comfortably, and riding well in a pack.

Go out and try it; good luck!

btw...the first time i read the title I thought it said "Please Asses (ass-es), my time trial!"

according to that link, the CAT 5 winner avg 23.8

Winning Cat 5's in MI average 25+. You're well into the mix, but don't kid yourself, either. If the winner did 23.8 it was either hilly or there wasn't anyone good there.

The easiest way to compare is if you go and do some TTs where licensed roadies show up. there are a lot of them in SoCal, but mostly in the fall. Keep an eye on http://socalcycling.com/Schedule/2005/racesched05.asp for the Toms Farm TTs and Piru, and they may have categories for stock road bikes (I'm not into TTs, so I couldn't tell you for sure). I have a schedule for the year that shows the first Tom's Farm TT as being in sept.

There are also track TTs periodically at ADT where you don't have to have a track bike or be certified (although you can't warm up on the track if you don't have both-- you'd have to use a trainer). Encino also has "low key TTs" where they require track experience, but their intro class is cheaper than at ADT. The longest regular TT distances on the track are 4 km, though there are also things like the hour record. For TTs there are only one or two people on the track at a time, so if they were any longer it would take forever to run an event.


But like kendallf said, if you want to do crits, your TT won't be much of an indicator. For crits you have to be able to ride close to other people, corner without losing spots, and accelerate to really high speeds for short periods while the strong guys at the front try to pop you out the back. Doing some club rides would help more with that. If you can ride comfortably in a club ride you can probably do ok in a crit.

In the Velodrome Chris Boardman has completed, on a standard track bike (32 spoke wheels with box section rims, no aero bars or helmet), 49.441 km (30.7 miles).

you left off the "in an hour" part...

which was 10 m better than Eddy's record.

Correct. When they are climbing.

Try 30+ mph for the Pro Tour.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Sock_Puppet_Star.gif

wow i think i can hold a 25 pace for 30 maybe 40 minutes given that i had a fairly good straightaway to run it on. it was the last 20 minutes that was painful. yeah i've ridden in several club rides, and have many friends in cat3. though im running mainly crits this season, i hope to be more of a road racer next season, covering longer distances. will post race reports after im done!

you're ready to race when you toe the line. I'd say your fitness is there, just get out an do it. Also, realize that a crit is a lot different from a TT. Have fun, and don't crash anybody out.

looking forward to the race reports...good luck and have fun...when you approach the starting line, forget about your training and your fitness...just focus on the race as that's what you'll be doing at that time...

Hi, we recently had a two day collegiate race weekend, with a TT followed by a RR. Some of our beginners were a bit bummed that they were nearly 4 minutes slower over the course of 12 miles than the guys that won their class. But the next day, they were able to hang on to the pack for the 20 odd mile RR. That pleased them no end. If you are capable of coping with changes in pace, the pack enables you to ride and finish with people who are stronger. So, my advice to you would be to try a road race after you've got some practice in group rides. If you get dropped in the group ride, try and work and why, then try and avoid that error the next week.

Fwiw, I always get dropped in local group rides, but don't always get dropped when I'm racing my category.

Hell, I can't even keep a 20mph avg on a flat surface, but I race in cat suck anyway. It's all fun until you hit the deck, heh.

you left off the "in an hour" part...

which was 10 m better than Eddy's record.

Ooops.

(Merckx did his at altitude though)