[douglas]

I may be doing my 1st ever road race saturday, and its a TT

http://www.cbrc.us/nystt05.pdf

any advice? suggestions? rules?

no drafting & go fast is my plan so far

 

[bikeguy100k]

Pick a pace you can maintain that's just below your limit. What distance are you riding? That'll help determine the pace...

 

[douglas]

The Cat 5 is pretty short - just 20K

 

[axlvid23]

I may be doing my 1st ever road race saturday, and its a TT

http://www.cbrc.us/nystt05.pdf

any advice? suggestions? rules?

no drafting & go fast is my plan so far

Probably the most valuabe and obvious bit of advice anyone can give you is: BUY A TT BAR!!!!!!! (that is assuming you don't have a TT bike/bar anyway)...It helps way more than you could ever imagine, if you don't know already.

Otherwise, bring your HR monitor and keep it aerobic, yo.

 

[douglas]

I need(ok, want) to buy a HID for a 24 hour race I'm doing, so no cash for a TT bar right now.......heck I only spent $350 on my bike


I was wondering if I should use my HRM or not

 

[axlvid23]

I need(ok, want) to buy a HID for a 24 hour race I'm doing, so no cash for a TT bar right now.......heck I only spent $350 on my bike


I was wondering if I should use my HRM or not

yea use it, It'll help you keep your pace.

Well, attempt to tuck into a psuedo tt'er ball without one and with any luck you'll do just fine,

good luck!

 

[DRB]

I need(ok, want) to buy a HID for a 24 hour race I'm doing, so no cash for a TT bar right now.......heck I only spent $350 on my bike


I was wondering if I should use my HRM or not

http://www.canecreek.com/110.html Not too much for a decent aero tuck.

I would definately use the heart rate monitor. It will make it easier to gauge your effort.

 

[Heidi]

I didn't have aero bars, you'll be fine. If this was going to be a regular thing I'd definitely recommend them, but if you've done any amount of riding on the road and this is a one time thing, you can cope. Can you set your bike up on a trainer and look in the mirror to see what your body position looks like? You want to be nice and flat - just look at all the tt pictures on Velonews or Cyclingnews.com.

Advise? If you can, preride the course just like you would a mountain bike course. You'll know what to expect that way. Don't go off in an all out sprint and try to maintain that the whole course. This is a difficult event, you need to pace yourself, yet not finish feeling fresh. It's you and the clock so stick in there mentally. I find my mind wandering if I don't focus focus focus.

Breathe!

have fun.

 

[Wumpus]

If you plan on doing more, I would wear the HR monitior. Your average should be close to your threshold thing and you can guage the next TT off of that number.

 

[douglas]

good stuff - yeah I was thinking of doing a preride (if I can figure out the course)

 

[splat]

in warm up ride HARD! for about 10-15 minutes before the start ! really be warmed up. as tempting as it may be Don't look back ! just assume ther eis some one on your butt trying to pass. ! even omn the down hills Don't coast always Pedal !

drink alot of water before hand, and take a couple of large gulps of water before you start.

and remeber every second counts !!

And yeah, Tighest clothes you've got! get out the plumb smugglers!

and don't forget to shave your legs

 

[axlvid23]

in warm up ride HARD! for about 10-15 minutes before the start ! really be warmed up. as tempting as it may be Don't look back ! just assume ther eis some one on your butt trying to pass. ! even omn the down hills Don't coast always Pedal !

drink alot of water before hand, and take a couple of large gulps of water before you start.

and remeber every second counts !!

And yeah, Tighest clothes you've got! get out the plumb smugglers!

and don't forget to shave your legs

Also, drink something ultra sugary beforehand too....like flattened out coke.

 

[Serial Midget]

The Cat 5 is pretty short - just 20K

12.4 miles? Balls to wall, stay tucked in and let us know how it goes. TT are not as exciting as a road race but having some people to chase is motivating.

 

[Serial Midget]

I need(ok, want) to buy a HID for a 24 hour race I'm doing, so no cash for a TT bar right now.......heck I only spent $350 on my bike


I was wondering if I should use my HRM or not

No. If its like I remember from my TT experience you will be in the 30 to 34 minute range.

EDIT: I did all my TTs in the early 80s in Colorado - flat, flat, flat.

As for the down hills - depending on your ratios, there is certain speed at which you do more harm than good with regards to pedaling and wind resistance. If you feel as though you are spinning out then its probaly better just duck and tuck. For me this happens around 42 MPH, at that speed I can pedal for all I'm worth and simply maintain my speed or I can hunker down, flatten the back and pull my knees and get a boost from gravity.

 

[jaydee]

I find it's also helpful to keep your cadence steady and quick. If you start to drop RPMs, drop a gear and get it back up. It's not even a bad idea to stand a little and push over any short hills to keep your speed up, as long as you don't go into the red. The last thing is, don't leave anything in the tank. You should be raging and right on empty when you hit the finish.

 

[douglas]

and don't forget to shave your legs

 

[splat]

So did you do it ? how did it go ? We want a Race report!

 

[douglas]

So I was kinda nervous driving up, but I parked behind a buddy of mine I know from XC racing, which was cool being he was racing in my group.

I was pretty amazed at some of the bikes there, a lot of very cool looking TT bikes!

We went out on a warmup on the course, it was a little drizzly and sorta chilly, course was rolling but all the hills were pretty wimpy, it was an out n back with a head wind on the way out. We timed the warm up perfect, came back, quick stop at the porta potty, headed back to the start & they were calling our numbers.

My friend was right before me, he's off!
They offered to hold the bike, me: "sure", 60 sec intervals, I wait til 30, to get up on the bike, the starter says 'you've done this before", me:"nope"

Off I go, the drizzling stoped which was good - my idea was to always stay above 20mph and keep my HR above 160, the 160 was easy but above 20 was tough, the out part had a overall elevation gain and a good head wind, I see someone up ahead, and I am slowly catching them, getting close to the the turn around, and there goes my bud the other way, I have been catching the dude that left 2 min. before me....at the turn my avg was 20.0, I took another mile to finally catch that dude, my speed is definitely faster on the way back, my HR has been stayig close to 163 -higher at the climbs, I stood up on a couple
At 2 miles to go I push harder, now around 170, and I basically keep pushing hard and when I see the finish I sprint thru and then felt like I could puke, but that went away quickly.....my cyclometer time was close to 34 minutes.

I have never been able to get my HR rate way up unless I am on a big climb, so I thought maintaining 160-170 was good for me.

My friend who I always beat at XC races, beat me by 30 sec's or so - I waited around for a while watching others finish but cruised before results were posted

I did get an email w/results - My friend got 3rd, His 1st ever podium!!
The dude that won was rocking aero bars and a rear disc wheel (I had neither) I wonder how much that stuff helps. and I didnt finish last so I guess thats not bad for my 1st ever road race. I'll do more!

1 894 Mitchell 31:59.9 23.30
2 893 Philip 32:57.2 22.63
3 414 Jason 33:25.4 22.31
4 411 Jeff 33:30.3 22.26
5 415 Douglas 34:03.3 21.89
6 892 Steve 34:30.3 21.61
7 413 Brian 36:59.9 20.15

 

[douglas]

oh, and today I went out to do 50 miles and I had nothing - I did the 50 but it was a slow 50 (maybe I was dehydrated from having a few at the bar last night)

 

[splat]

Sweet !!! Nice Job !

Different experiance isn't it ? How close was the person behind you ?

 

[Serial Midget]

The dude that won was rocking aero bars and a rear disc wheel (I had neither) I wonder how much that stuff helps.

1 to 2 MPH on average... in my experience anyway.

1 894 Mitchell 31:59.9 23.30
2 893 Philip 32:57.2 22.63
3 414 Jason 33:25.4 22.31
4 411 Jeff 33:30.3 22.26
5 415 Douglas 34:03.3 21.89
6 892 Steve 34:30.3

Hmmmmm... just like I remember.

 

[douglas]

they also had a ton of masters catagories, could I have entered one of those (even thou it was my 1st race?) Most of those groups did 40K

I think I could have got 2nd (out of 3)

 

[douglas]

Sweet !!! Nice Job !

Different experiance isn't it ? How close was the person behind you ?

thanks

not sure - The only time I saw them was on the turn around