Entries Tagged 'timetrials' ↓

Today, I won my first race of the year. It was a 10 mile TT. My time was 22.37. Second place was Peter Weir 22.43 and Ian Greenstreet of Newbury RC came third in 22.45

The course H10/3 is fairly  new and this was the first open event, so maybe I can claim a course record

Next year, the 2009 10 mile TT  Championship will be held on this course. It is not quick, becuase it is undulating, with one sharp climb in the middle. It’s not really a proper climb, but, when your timetrialling it definitely knocks you out of your rhythmn.

Apart from the slowness of the course, it is actually quite good course. Traffic is light, road is wide, surface is smooth, there is only one roundabout at the turn. I will enter next year’s national 10 mile TT championship and see how I get on.

Anyway, it’s just nice to be cycling with great weather we are having here in the UK.

This brings to an end the time trial season. Now, it is just the hill climb season!

10 Mile Time Trials

Yesterday, I rode a 10 mile TT on the fast p613 course near Andover. I set a new pb of 20.19, (average speed 29.5mph). It took 40 seconds off my pb, set in 2006, so I was pleased.To the turn I was averaging over 30mph, but, had to stop at the turn for a car, and then the return leg was a little harder. I don’t know what position I was, but, I saw quite a few riders inside 20 minutes, such as Richard Prebble.

It was certainly a fast course. The start is a little higher than the finish, and it is mostly smooth dual carriageway apart from the start and turn.

Next year, I really want to try and break the 30mph barrier.

Today, is the Andover Wheelers CC 25 mile Time trial, but, I will just be training for hill climbs.

Alf Engers - set a competition record of 49 minutes 24 seconds for 25 mile TT (before tribars)

Readers Question how can u cycle fast under 1hour in 40km?

There was a time when breaking the hour for 25 miles / 40Km was a very prestigious target for time triallists.

The first person to break the hour for 25 miles was Alo Donegan  in 1934. Modern technology - tri bars, aero frames, aero hats e.t.c. has helped bring the goal within the reach of more club cyclists. But, nevertheless, the one hour barrier remains an important goal for many. Breaking the hour for the first time is definitely a good feeling.

Training for A Sub One Hour 25 Miles.

Base Level.

There needs to be a base level of fitness. For a couple of months over winter, I advise riding at a steady tempo and not worry about any interval training. To race 25 miles, you don’t need a huge mileage; you can probably get away with 100 miles a week - sometimes less. Doing 300 slow miles a week, won’t do a huge amount to improve your speed in a 25 mile / 40Km race. Even during the race season, you want to set aside one or two days for steady recovery rides. It is in these recovery rides that  you give you muscles chance to recuperate after being damaged. Even if you train on a turbo in winter, make sure you have a couple of months off doing intervals - it is not something you want to be doing for 12 months a year…

Intervals.

With a base level of fitness, you can begin to work on speed work. Early season, I advise intervals of 5 minutes at race pace, with 5 minutes break in between. You need to get used to riding at race intensity. The recovery time will enable you to have more quality training in the higher thresholds. When you become confident with intervals, you want to try and ride these intervals at a pace which would be uncomfortable to maintain for one hour. It means you’re stretching your capacity and forcing yourself to increase your lactic tolerance, and general speed. If you have a power meter you can train at those power levels necessary to break the hour. If you like training on a turbo, you can do these 5 minute intervals on a turbo during late winter/ spring.

Ride 10 Mile Time (16Km) Trials

If you can ride 10 miles in 23 minutes (av speed 26mph), you should be able to break the hour at 25 miles. Often my average speed for a 25 mile TT is about 0.5mph slower than for a 10 mile time trial. The basic principle is to be able to ride fast for relatively short distances; once  you have this basic principle, it becomes easier to keep this speed for longer rides. You don’t train for a fast marathon by racing lots of marathons - you get a fast time by being able to run fast 10km and fast half marathons.

If you can’t ride 10 miles at 25mph +. Try riding for 5 or even 3 miles at 25mph+ av speed. This will give you the confidence to ride fast.

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Danny Axford

Away from the glamour of the Olympics and British track cycling Golds, I was racing in the only slightly less prestigious Clive Pugh Memorial 25 Mile TT on the famous A4 Bath Road near Aldermarston, organised by Reading CC.

The event was won by Danny Axford, Arctic Shorter in 52 mins. I did another 56. I also finished with some knee pain, which always raises alarm bells for any cyclist.

Early Morning Races and Low Blood Sugar Levels.

I never like morning races, I don’t seem to able to get heart rate high and really go hard. On average in early morning races I am about 2 minutes slower. I was speaking to someone about this before the race. He said he also had this difficulty, he reckoned the problem was low blood sugar levels in the morning. He got over the problem by waking up at 3am to have a bowl of cereal, going back to sleep and having second breakfast at 6am. He said this made a huge difference and enabled him to go much quicker and harder in early morning races. I will definitely be trying this next time.

• Food and cycling
• 25 Mile Time Trials

Weston on the Green

14 miles from Oxford, there is an airfield used mainly for paragliding and parachuting drops. There is an outer road around the airfield of about 2.5 miles. Fortunately, we are able to use the airfield track for racing on Tuesday and sometimes other evening. Bicester Milennium CC do an excellent job in organising races; it’s great to be able to race on car free roads.

Even though you get no drag from passing cars, it is actually a quicker course than some 10 mile time trial course on roads. At Weston the road surface is good, and you never have to brake to go round corners.

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Alf Engers finishes to a large crowd.

These 30+ photos come from a collection by the late Bernard Thompson. The photos are taken mostly in the period 1960-1985. You can buy a CD of these photos from Peter Whitfield. Details at the bottom.

Eddie Adkins Phil Griffiths in a 2 up Time Trial in the Rain

5 young spectators line the road.

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At the weekend, I was racing on both Saturday and Sunday

• Saturday 10 miles 21:12 average speed 28.5mph 3rd / 70
• Sunday 25 miles 56:57. average speed 26.2 mph (6th /60)

Saturday felt good. On Sunday I was quite a bit slower probably because:

• Tiredness from previous day
• Body not as responsive early in morning
• Less traffic in morning.

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Beryl Burton was a remarkable athlete, gaining perhaps one of the most impressive list of national championships acquired in any sport. Over a period spanning more than a quarter of a century, Beryl Burton won 74 National Championships, 50 Competition Records and 25 consecutive BBAR (Best British allrounder - 50, 100 miles and 12 hour). Beryl was also world champion on 7 occasions. (she would undoubtedly have won more titles if the women had a time trial championship. She won in the road race and pursuit title.)

12 Hour Time Trial Record

In 1967, Beryl Burton was in great form and she entered the Otley CC 12 Hour Time trial. In those days, men and women weren’t allowed to race together. So to separate them, Beryl Burton started two minutes (as opposed to one minute) behind the fastest man - Mike Mcnamara. It was a ridiculous set up - a 1 minute gap between the mens and womens race provided the legal distinction; but, it gave Beryl a real carrot to chase - a realistic chance to overtake the fastest male time triallist For Mike it was hardly a good situation; he had everything to lose and not much to gain. If he lost to a women, it would do him no favours. On the other hand, if Beryl failed to beat Mike, no harm, after all she was a women and who could expect a women to beat a man?

Anyway, the race began and after 156 miles, the 2 minute gap was the same. But on 236 miles, Beryl had finally caught up with Mike, as she passed him she casually asked Mike,

‘would you like a liquorice allsort?

Mike, in gentelmanly, fashion replied ‘Ta, love’ and promptly ate the sweet as the great female cyclist Beryl Burton swept past.

At the end of the 12 hour race Mike Mcnamara had beaten the 9 year old 12 hour record, finishing with 276.52 miles. However, his record beating ride, was completely overshadowed by Beryl’s ride which left her with a total of 277.52 miles, the first time any male road cycling record had been held by a women.

By the way, Beryl was not a full time cyclists, she gained little in the way of sponsorship and had to work full time as well as bringing up a daughter Denise. At one time Beryl worked as a rhubarb picker for a club mate of Morley CC.

Berly Burton died aged 58 in a cycling accident. There is a memorial garden to her in her home town of Morley, near Leeds.

I completed my first race of the year today. It was a 25 mile time trial based on the A4 around Marlow (H25/2). Looking at the results board I think I came about 6 or 7th out of 68. My time was 54.24, which I was pleased with (I think average speed about 27.5mph)

It’s a fast course, because the start is quite a bit higher than the finish. The rules of UK time trials is that the finish has to be within 1 mile from the start. But, it doesn’t matter if they have different heights. Therefore, there are a quite a few courses, which start at the top of a hill and manage to finish at the bottom! - Needless to say these courses are quite popular. Personally I prefer races, which have lots of climbing

The first two miles of the race were all downhill; I was spinning a 54*11 for about 3 minutes (max speed about 66 kmph) I could have used a 55.

Next week, I will be entering my first 25 mile time trial of the year. My fastest time for a 25 mile time trial is 52.57 set 2 years ago on the A4 Aldermarston course (H25/1). Though, I would be pleased to get anywhere near that time next week.

The fastest every 25 mile time trials were set by

1. Chris Boardman - 45.57 on 29th May 1993 - Course: H25/13  Average Speed = 32.644mph
2. Michael Hutchinson - 46.21……7 July 2002………..H25/13
3. Sean Yates - 46.57……28 Sept 1997……H25/13

Also worth mentioning Alf Engers who set a time of - 49 minutes and 24 seconds in 1978, averaging 30.364 (this was before modern technology like low pro and tribars)

That is really fast; you have to admire anyone who can average over 31mph for a distance of 25 miles.

In many ways a 25 mile time trial is considered the blue ribband event of time trialling. It is closest in proximity to the ‘cycling world hour record’ For a new cyclist, there is a real challenge of seeking to break the hour - riding at over 25mph for an hour. There was a time when breaking the hour was a real achievement. However, modern technology such as low profile time trial bikes, discwheels and tribars have made it relatively easier.

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