Tonight is my first time trial that I have ever done. I just started riding at the beginning of the year and I have not participated in any official cycling events until tonight.

It is a flat 12 mile course, I am curious what people would consider great times, good times, and not so good times.

I am not expecting to win the race, but I want to see how I compare to others. Any advice?

Thanks!

Did my first TT last month. The pointer I was given by a seasoned TT'er is to follow 3 essential rules:
1) Don't start too fast;
2) Don't start too fast; and
3) At the beginning of the TT, refer to Rules 1 and 2.

As to times: You should use this first one as a benchmark. Try to manage your energy well and make notes as to warmup time, gear (bike, clothes, helmet, which gears, average rpm, etc.) and weather conditions. Do more TTs and compare notes.

No advice here, but good luck on your race.

Make sure you post results too!

I am sure the results will be embarrassing


I am still excited to get out there and see how I do! Thanks for the tips.

What would a decent 12 mile time be? Obviously there are always variables, but in perfect conditions, flat surface.

if you have the time, pre-ride the course, and try to get some data on it. That way your first time trial will be your 'second' time trial.

Is this a series? Have they run the event in past years? If so, you may be able to look up past results to get a sense of what kinds of times people are putting in on that course.

I would say a "good" time would be 36 minutes, aka 20 mph average. That won't be a winning time but it is a good time that is attainable.

Of course this is assuming it is flat and no wind.

Some simple math would give you a good estimate and on a flat course (assuming no wind) you wouldn't have huge variations in speed to consider. I don't know what a "good" speed is on flat ground (most of my rides are always at least a little up and a little down) but in my less than ideal shape I can do 20 mph or better on flat-ish roads. Never tried to hold that for 12 miles because I always hit a hill (so don't start out at top speed would be the point). I'm guessing I could do it in around 36 minutes which would probably qualify as a "not so good time". 30 minutes would be an average of 24mph over the course which is probably a decent time.

I think 20 mph is attainable, we will see tonight!

This is the first of the series so I do not have any results to go off of yet! Thanks for all the feedback

24 minutes would be an average of 30 mph, you are getting close to the pro times with that one. I would say that is a little better than decent.

A local club was doing TTs on one of my favorite courses. It's about 9 miles with 4 steep climbs and ends at the top of the 4th climb (technically 5th given the small drop and climb again). I asked what times people were posting and they said around 25 minutes was the high end with plenty of people in the 40-45 minute range and even some around 50 mins. My time over the same course was just under 33 mins.

Just to give you something to compare to not to brag about my awesome speed

I said 30 minutes and 24 mph average not the reverse.

DOH, back to school to work on my reading comprehension.

Sorry about that.

I've also been training for a TT. 12 miles is slightly less than a 20k (12.43 miles). My 20k time is typically just under 34 minutes with an easy start on a flat couse with two turnarounds and multiple roundabouts. If memory serves, the last local 20k TT winner was ~35 minutes (Cat5) on a proper out and back course.

HTH.

I've tried 3 time trials over the last 2 years, and the one solid fact that I've learned from the experience is that if you don't feel like puking after you're done, you didn't go hard enough.

5 years ago I did the same course 5 different times over a 3 month period. My slowest was 20.15mph (the first time), my fastest was 20.67 (the second time, three months later). Gosh that was frustrating.

I'm guessing the winner will average 25-28mph with a sub 30min time.

A slow time would be something like 19mph with a high 30's time.

How'd ya do?