Road Bike Racing - Training advice - Very short tt

I'm pretty new to cycling. I started riding last July to get ready for the MS 150 here in Missouri. Took me 10 hours to do the century on my Trek antelope but now I'm hooked. Bought my first road bike in October and now on June 1st I'm going to be riding in a 2.1 mile time trial.

My questions are these. What kind of training will best prepare me for this short of a race? What approach would you take for this race? Big gear? High cadence? I love this forum. Thanks for any advice.

Practice some time trials just slightly longer than 2.1 miles. Try some three milers leading up to the race on the type of terrain the race is on (what is it?).

You need to learn what cadence/gear you're comfortable pushing/spinning in a time trial. I would suggest, since it's such a short time trial, to push the largest gear that keeps your cadence between 85-100rpms (or feels comfortable).

These things are all things to experiment with before the race. So go out and time trial! :D

even though you're a beginner, i will assume that since you're racing your goal is to do well rather than just complete the race... i haven't actually done any races this short, but here's my best guess::

2.1 miles is a short race - 3-8 minutes (4:12 at 30mph to to 8:24 at 15mph) - so it's pretty much anaerobic so i would say you need to build:
* leg strength
* spin technique - pedalling circles, optimal gears/cadence
* position on bike to minimize wind profile/drag (TT aero bars?)

for leg strength doing intervals is probably the best: start with a warm up cycle and then do multiple sets of a sprint/rest cycle with something between 20 seconds and 2 minutes hard riding or up a hill and then 1-4 minutes recovery.

also important is before the race you should be really warm and have already 'primed' your body for race coniditions. ride minimum 15 minutes and get your heart rate up and your body systems going - just don't waste all your energy!

for this short of a race, i would say training is 20+ minute warm-up, then intervals or simulated race at distance so your total training ride will be significantly longer than 2.1 miles - you still need to do some mileage for a base and technique

for gear cadence... you will sprint the first minute or so and then in the middle try and maintain your speed and then sprint again for the finish - i would say medium to big gear for sprinting and then a good solid spin with high cadence in the middle - but this is all individual - some guys sprint better sitting, some standing (despite wind resistance) and various high/low cadence -- something in the 65-100rpm range but you have to find for yourself...

for something this short leg strength is very important, so weight lifting would probably help - but probably only if you're really serious/competitive will it make much difference - also hard leg lifting while riding is hard to schedule to prevent injury/overtraining

Thanks very much for your responses. I definitely want to try and do well and not just finish. I've been riding on rollers over the winter trying to improve my spin. These last few weeks, I've been training very much like you Nathank suggests. On my "test races" I've gone from about 7 1/2 minutes down to about 6 1/2. I'm definitely a beginner! Mostly this progress has been from learning how to pace myself for the distance.

I probably don't have enough time before the race for weight lifting to be beneficial so I'm trying to ride some hills and work on intervals as suggested. I may ride in another local 10k tt. Now that I've decided to try this, I'm really more focused on my riding than before and I'm pretty excited about the up coming rides.

After that, I may have to give the local beginner crit a try!

Thanks again for the advice!