time trial bike.....attempt 1

[Faith]

So after everybody was helpful with my TT comments i thought id put a few of my training sessions on here for people to perhaps help me with......feel free to say your piece and im happy for constructive criticism.


So Saturday (after turbo and a track session Friday) i do a swim and a ride.

Yesterday the swim was short but pretty intense with 2 100m TT's immediately followed by 4 50's flat out....

The ride was as follows
20mins building HR to 160
1 hard/1easy
2hard/2 easy
3hard/3 easy
4 hard/ 4easy

15 mins on....5easy x4 with a 'race pace mentality)....i just assumed that meant hard!!

So off i go on the new war horse. For the reps going in one direction i sat in the small chain ring and span my legs at 98-105. Average speed for the 15mins was 24.9 with a HR of 162

One the way back down (slight decline). I sat in the big chain ring and stats were 168HR speed 26.1 and cadence 90-92

I felt better spinning my legs than pushing the big gear.....is that me just not wanting to 'push'?

Much happier on the TT stayed on the drops throughout all the reps

feel free to add comments


So i find a road which is 8.5 stretch slightly uphill in one direction

[Bendy Ben]

Great stuff Faith

Have you found yor HR has risen ever so slightly when your on the bars ?

How have you found the braking anticipation .... And the gear changes ?

Turning in in the areo position takes some getting used too. Can't wait to see you race on her... Have you given her or him a name ?

[md6]

That all sounds good, and i wish i could ride at that kind of pace.

re not wanting to push, how stable did you find the bike when you were pushing? Could it be that you didn't want to push as it made you less stable? What was the difference in gearing on the back (just out of interest) and could you have changed up one gear at teh back to speed your cadence a bit and up the pace?

[Faith]

Cheers guys

Ben - no I didnt find my HR was higher than I would have thought. It was sat in the 160-162 zone.
Yes has a name, given the steel one was called carthorse I felt this one shoud be War Horse
Braking - Im still over egging but hopefully the more I ride her and the more familar I become with routes the better that will get

RE: Gearing. I dont like my legs turning slow and just felt that my cadence suited the small chain ring at the front than the back. As for being stable - Im much better than I was when I first got her her. The turning out my road initially - everybody turned left and I wobbled....turned right and was too scared to turn in the road so travelled about a mile before I felt brave enough to peform a U-tunrn.....this however is improving.

[Jack Hughes]

You need a power meter

[SickBoy]

I am just starting to get to grips with my TT bike, though I've had it a few months opportunities to ride it out doors have been minimal. Initially I was pretty scared but a few rides in and a bit of MTFU and I am descending on the aero bars quite happily - (though still not managed to put out a full power down hill sprint just yet).

I also found that I am just now getting used to the change in position - more effort is coming from my quads - I can feel it during/after rides and now I've put in some harder sessions both on and off road I think the adaptation is getting there. I was slower than my road bike to begin with but now I'm faster and pushing a bigger gear more comfortably.

I also prefer to have a higher cadence but in my instance high cadence is 95-100rpm and it drops off as I get into the bigger gears, but I need to push them faster if I want to go faster

Have you done a fairer test between the bigger/smaller gearing - without the incline affecting things? If you're used to spinning then you're not going to feel as comfortable at a slower cadence in a bigger gear but it's probably more what your used to than anything else? The no.s look a little weird to me, for increased effort going downhill I'd expect you to have picked up more speed - perhaps you're putting out roughly the same amount of power either way and just getting the speed increase from gravity!

I agree with Jack - you need a power meter!

[Faith]

Thanks for these comments - they are really helpful

Done a few sessions now that have been at race pace and Im pretty comfortable on her now. At speed Im happier in the big chain ring and I can feel the ease at which I can get to the higher watts etc.

I race her this weekend so we will see

[Jimba]

Hope it's not the same race as me!