Time Trial or Road Race?

[Sam Kennedy]

How would I know if I would be better suited to Time Trials or Road Races?

I guess I could try both, but I don't want to wait until June to find out I trained for the wrong thing

 

[Young Un]

How would I know if I would be better suited to Time Trials or Road Races?

I guess I could try both, but I don't want to wait until June to find out I trained for the wrong thing

Just do general training - there wont be much difference between the two anyway - And also you don't have to wait until June, I did some road races in March this year, and my first TT in April.

Hope this helps

Steve

 

[I am Spartacus]

How would I know if I would be better suited to Time Trials or Road Races?

I guess I could try both, but I don't want to wait until June to find out I trained for the wrong thing

I would start subscribing to the BikeRadar training and racing forums.
I 'm afraid to have to say it but this CycleChat forum is not really suited for gaining much insight into what you are seeking... it is indeed merely chat.. there are a few pro coaches and pretty adequate racers who use Bikeradar.
Heed their advice.

 

[Bill Gates]

I would start subscribing to the BikeRadar training and racing forums.
I 'm afraid to have to say it but this CycleChat forum is not really suited for gaining much insight into what you are seeking... it is indeed merely chat.. there are a few pro coaches and pretty adequate racers who use Bikeradar.
Heed their advice.

Depends on the coach and the pretty adequate racer. There are some that believe that you don't need any more leg strength than your granny to ride a bike and by implication that muscle hypertrophy does not occur during training, and there is no need to train your upper body or do any off the bike training.

All this is in direct contrast to what the offiicial british cycling website says and the top riders do. Anything the top riders say they do is supposed to be to mislead their rivals so that they train incorrectly. You really couldn't make it up. For them it's all about aerobic fitness don't you know.

IOW there's good and not so good advice on all forums. Certainly Bike Radar has more contributors to the training section but IMO it's no better than here for advice. This forum is much more healthy as any debate is not subject to heavyhanded moderating and influenced by pathetic posters (big girl blouses) who whine to admin when they don't get their own way. Nah this forum is much better.

Back to the OP. Time Trialling is about maintaining a high cruising speed between 90-95% MHR. This is hard to do as to do this you need to have the ability to suffer. You can train yourself to do this.

Road racing need more bottle and bike handling skills.Which one you choose depends on your physical and psychological make up. Try both as the training for both is the same although you will need to ride with groups to learn how to follow a wheel.

 

[Bill Gates]

Just seen your post on bike radar. See that no reply has mentioned the pyschological element of road racing. Can you race down a hill in a bunch? ....and the coach I was refering to just says.... Race both!!

See what I mean?

 

[jimboalee]

Depends on the coach and the pretty adequate racer. There are some that believe that you don't need any more leg strength than your granny to ride a bike and by implication that muscle hypertrophy does not occur during training, and there is no need to train your upper body or do any off the bike training.

All this is in direct contrast to what the offiicial british cycling website says and the top riders do. Anything the top riders say they do is supposed to be to mislead their rivals so that they train incorrectly. You really couldn't make it up. For them it's all about aerobic fitness don't you know.

IOW there's good and not so good advice on all forums. Certainly Bike Radar has more contributors to the training section but IMO it's no better than here for advice. This forum is much more healthy as any debate is not subject to heavyhanded moderating and influenced by pathetic posters (big girl blouses) who whine to admin when they don't get their own way. Nah this forum is much better.

Back to the OP. Time Trialling is about maintaining a high cruising speed between 90-95% MHR. This is hard to do as to do this you need to have the ability to suffer. You can train yourself to do this.

Road racing need more bottle and bike handling skills.Which one you choose depends on your physical and psychological make up. Try both as the training for both is the same although you will need to ride with groups to learn how to follow a wheel.

Amen to that.

 

[jimboalee]

Depends on the coach and the pretty adequate racer. There are some that believe that you don't need any more leg strength than your granny to ride a bike and by implication that muscle hypertrophy does not occur during training, and there is no need to train your upper body or do any off the bike training.

All this is in direct contrast to what the offiicial british cycling website says and the top riders do. Anything the top riders say they do is supposed to be to mislead their rivals so that they train incorrectly. You really couldn't make it up. For them it's all about aerobic fitness don't you know.

IOW there's good and not so good advice on all forums. Certainly Bike Radar has more contributors to the training section but IMO it's no better than here for advice. This forum is much more healthy as any debate is not subject to heavyhanded moderating and influenced by pathetic posters (big girl blouses) who whine to admin when they don't get their own way. Nah this forum is much better.

Back to the OP. Time Trialling is about maintaining a high cruising speed between 90-95% MHR. This is hard to do as to do this you need to have the ability to suffer. You can train yourself to do this.

Road racing need more bottle and bike handling skills.Which one you choose depends on your physical and psychological make up. Try both as the training for both is the same although you will need to ride with groups to learn how to follow a wheel.

I could.

Try 'climbing Mt Teide on Tenerife every day for a week'..., two weeks before a major tour.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

I can suffer, not like it and want to die to stop the pain, but keep going. Whether I can do it for 10 miles or not I don't know, I'll find out on Christmas Day
I managed to keep 185bpm (theoretical MHR is 203, so 90% effort) for about 2 miles, and to be honest I could have kept going even though I was dying inside.

I used to go out with a club every Saturday (stopped now since its getting wintery and there's already been an accident with black ice, my club is well known for crashes )
so I'm used to following a wheel, down hill we give each other a bit more space, since some people descend faster than others.

I find training sort of confusing, everywhere has different workouts and rules and different plans. I have managed to simplify a typical week down to: 3 intense sessions, 1 long base miles day, 1 recovery ride or rest day, then the rest of the days for rest.

Or am I way off?

 

[Bill Gates]

I can suffer, not like it and want to die to stop the pain, but keep going. Whether I can do it for 10 miles or not I don't know, I'll find out on Christmas Day
I managed to keep 185bpm (theoretical MHR is 203, so 90% effort) for about 2 miles, and to be honest I could have kept going even though I was dying inside.

I used to go out with a club every Saturday (stopped now since its getting wintery and there's already been an accident with black ice, my club is well known for crashes )
so I'm used to following a wheel, down hill we give each other a bit more space, since some people descend faster than others.

I find training sort of confusing, everywhere has different workouts and rules and different plans. I have managed to simplify a typical week down to: 3 intense sessions, 1 long base miles day, 1 recovery ride or rest day, then the rest of the days for rest.

Or am I way off?

No you are not way off.


You have to be fit to train hard and/or do lots of base miles. Initially I would recommend a newbie to train no more than every other day so the body gets used to the training load. On the road start off by going out for an hour, then an hour and a half, then 2 hours gradually working up to 3 hours at a pace of no more 70% effort or 75% MHR. This can be done a couple of times a week in the base building stage and no more than once a week during the race season.

If doing a harder faster session then make it short. You will more than likely lose the benefit of any VO2max training you do now, so I would leave the short interval stuff until you've done 100/120 hours on the road.

On the other hand LT training is good all year round. Give it some welly on the drags and climbs on the road and/or 2 x 20 on the turbo. Once or a maximum of twice a week interval training is enough. The other rides can be either recovery after a hard ride or base miles at 75%.

Once you've done the base miles you can then do tempo training which is a steady pace but harder than base mileage rides. The sort of rides that most folk on here are doing when they talk about their average speeds. Then bring in VO2max intervals 4-6 weeks before your first race. Bit of a short summary here but hopefully you catch my drift. You cannot be at your best all year round so expect to work towards a peak around June when the weather is pretty good.

 

[Will1985]

Do both. A lot of the good road racers round here also time trial as it is effectively their way of training for a breakaway. In fact, the guys who regularly win the road races (often from a long breakaway) are the only road racers who time trial....

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Thank you for your help BG!

The only input so far I've got from the Bikeradar forum is to man up :S
I don't see the point risking an injury, just to 'man up'.

Oh, Bill Gates, one thing you said is sort of confusing me. You said Time Trials should be done at 90-95% MHR. What if my lactate threshold is at 85% MHR, should I first increase my LT before trying to keep that sort of pace over 10 miles?

 

[I am Spartacus]

Some of your questions have been addressed already on Training re LT etc etc ... just take a little time and read thru the various threads.
Yes, the forum does have its own style... cycling sport is hard and sometimes lacks the niceties of life .. we'll say no more.
and you have had the definitive answer on both sides ..

do both

 

[Bill Gates]

Thank you for your help BG!

The only input so far I've got from the Bikeradar forum is to man up :S
I don't see the point risking an injury, just to 'man up'.

Oh, Bill Gates, one thing you said is sort of confusing me. You said Time Trials should be done at 90-95% MHR. What if my lactate threshold is at 85% MHR, should I first increase my LT before trying to keep that sort of pace over 10 miles?

Good point. As a % of MHR a rider's LT is unique to them. On the other hand for training purposes your level of effort doesn't have to be spot on your LT to gain the benefits. Training in the LT zone is what you need to do and that is a range 85%-95% MHR. You will get cardiac drift and this will be apparent if you have some mechanism to measure your rear wheel speed and can monitor that your effort is the same.

92/95% MHR is the sort of level that top riders can maintain for their TT pace in an actual race. But there is a higher motivation to ride hard in a race plus you will have that extra kick from the adrenaline. In fact the hardest thing is to keep your pace in check over the first few miles in a TT.

When you start training LT for the first time then keep it at 85% MHR or even a touch lower. The test of whether or not this is too hard is if you can maintain the 2 x20 minute efforts. BTW give yourself a 10 minute break or a minimum of 5 minutes between sets. Chances are that you will find it tough to finish the 2 sets. No problem. You will have still have done your fitness levels a heap of good. Next time start off at a lower level.

TT's are probably better than RR's as an entry level into racing and in this country TT's are well run. Once you get three or four TT's under your belt then that experience will be useful for when entering a RR.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

I will definitely have to keep my pace in check for any type of event, in my clubs hill climb I went too hard at the beginning and was redlining even at the first 50ft of the hill, (it was 1.1 miles).

Once I have an idea of what sort of pace I can keep over 10 miles, I will have a better idea of what pace to keep in races.

 

[palinurus]

Do both if you want. It'll take a few seasons to get up to speed and work out what you are good at/ enjoy doing anyway.