Real world weightlifting experience, did it help? Ric?

I guess it could have been the endurance weightlifting. Either that, or the 3.5 months of riding 4-5 times a week. Hard to be sure. 😉

Sounds like you're at the point where it's worth giving racing a try. I'd encourage you to look into your local riding clubs and race teams to see if they have training rides where anyone can join in. If you enjoy it, then by all means pursue it. 🙂

[quote="bighead_9901"] I'm not sure what the others would say but I think your 1hr TT has to be up to say 23/24 mph to start racing seriously?

dazman said:

I'm not sure what the others would say but I think your 1hr TT has to be up to say 23/24 mph to start racing seriously?

I guess I should start to proof read my posts because my time is wrong. I did 23.1 miles for my 1 hr TT. I think I'm going to do another one in a couple weeks because my speed increased throughout the hour. I ran a split clock at the 1/2 hour and for the first 1/2 hour I averaged 22.3 mph and for the second 1/2 hour I averaged 24.0 mph. After I was done I felt like I could have ridden a little harder and I think I conserved to much energy in the beginning.
Is it common to hold back to much when you do your first couple TT's? I was really worried about gassing around 40-45 minutes so I held back a little to much. I'm guessing I could probably get another 1/2 to 1 mile one my next one now that I know what to expect.

frenchyge said:

I guess it could have been the endurance weightlifting. Either that, or the 3.5 months of riding 4-5 times a week. Hard to be sure.

Is my time about right then for someone who has been riding 3 1/2 months?

bighead_9901 said:

Is my time about right then for someone who has been riding 3 1/2 months?

It would be silly to expect that all beginners would have similar times for a 1hr TT. I also wouldn't expect all beginners to start by riding 4-5 times per week at 120-140 miles per week. That's certainly closer to a racer's training program than a beginner's (well, that's actually quite a bit *more* than I've been training over the same time frame, and my racing season started last weekend).

It sounds like you're riding pretty well, and that you're at the right level to get into racing, as I said before. Where do you live? If you'd like to see how your TT time would match up, then do a search for time trial results from your area and see where you'd fit. For example, here are the Kansas state TT results from last year, and here are the Missouri results. Assuming you did your ride as an out-and-back with similar wind conditions, it looks like you would have been solidly in the Cat 5 (beginner) field. Now, most of those riders don't weigh 200 lbs, but as long as you live in a fairly flat area, I'm sure you'd be able to hold your own. Good luck.

Frenchyge thanks for the links they definately answered the time question and if I would be able to start riding at a lower level. Right now I live in in Alabama and I will start looking for TT results here.

As far as the amount of riding I know it's high for a beginner but I just have such a love and passion for it that I have to force myself to not ride. I really probably need to start an actual training program. Right now I just go out and ride. I alternate hard and easy days but I don't really do much more on my hard days than 2 or 3 10-20 minute intervals as hard as I can ride mixed in with an hour or so of a moderate pace. These usually feel like my lungs and heart are about to explode.

frenchyge said:

Now, most of those riders don't weigh 200 lbs, but as long as you live in a fairly flat area, I'm sure you'd be able to hold your own.

You definately identified my weak area. I am getting better at hills but man do they kick my butt. I recently started a slow diet to lose some weight. It isn't going to be easy as I am going to be losing some muscle to do this and I don't want to do it to quickly because I want to conserve as much strength as possible.
This does bring up another question about competitive riders weight. It seems like the few competitive riders I have met are carrying a lot less weight than I do and I'm curious how much of a difference losing 10-15 pounds will make.

bighead_9901 said:

Frenchyge thanks for the links they definately answered the time question and if I would be able to start riding at a lower level. Right now I live in in Alabama and I will start looking for TT results here.

As far as the amount of riding I know it's high for a beginner but I just have such a love and passion for it that I have to force myself to not ride. I really probably need to start an actual training program. Right now I just go out and ride. I alternate hard and easy days but I don't really do much more on my hard days than 2 or 3 10-20 minute intervals as hard as I can ride mixed in with an hour or so of a moderate pace. These usually feel like my lungs and heart are about to explode.

You definately identified my weak area. I am getting better at hills but man do they kick my butt. I recently started a slow diet to lose some weight. It isn't going to be easy as I am going to be losing some muscle to do this and I don't want to do it to quickly because I want to conserve as much strength as possible.
This does bring up another question about competitive riders weight. It seems like the few competitive riders I have met are carrying a lot less weight than I do and I'm curious how much of a difference losing 10-15 pounds will make.

Bighead, are you in north AL? In Huntsville, our club race training series starts this weekend. You're definately ready for that. I can send you the details or a link if you want to email me.

Losing 10-15 lbs will make a difference in your hill climbing of ~5%, since uphill speed on steep grades is proportional to total weight. The best climbers here seem to be skinny guys with small upper bodies and arms.

I wouldn't worry about any of that now, the key is get out this season and have some fun racing. You might be at the back of the pack the first couple times out, but I bet you'll move up fast.

dhk2 said:

Bighead, are you in north AL? In Huntsville, our club race training series starts this weekend. You're definately ready for that. I can send you the details or a link if you want to email me.

Unfortunately I am down south by Dothan. If you saw all the news about Enterprise and the tornado that is actually where I live. I'm definately very interested in trying a couple races this summer/fall along with a few centuries. I just found a site for a club out of Montgomery that is only 70 miles away so I'm thinking I will head that direction.
As far as the weight loss I'm taking it really slow. I am only losing one or two pounds a week so it will be a little while before I lose the 10 to 15 lbs.

Hey Bighead-

You haven't said whether you are using aero bars or not. You can get a pretty good speed boost just by using a set of clip-on aero bars. I tend to go 1-2 mph faster at typical tt effort using aero bars.

-Chris

bighead_9901 said:

Unfortunately I am down south by Dothan. If you saw all the news about Enterprise and the tornado that is actually where I live. I'm definately very interested in trying a couple races this summer/fall along with a few centuries. I just found a site for a club out of Montgomery that is only 70 miles away so I'm thinking I will head that direction.
As far as the weight loss I'm taking it really slow. I am only losing one or two pounds a week so it will be a little while before I lose the 10 to 15 lbs.

Yes, sad to see Enterprise HS taking that direct tornado hit. I trust the Boll Weavil statue downtown made it through fine. Used to make some trips down to the Wiregrass to visit Ft Rucker; it's about 285 miles from here.

Believe riding/training with a club is the best way to get into the sport. You'll make rapid progress if you just jump in and don't worry about where you finish.

cclarke said:

Hey Bighead-

You haven't said whether you are using aero bars or not. You can get a pretty good speed boost just by using a set of clip-on aero bars. I tend to go 1-2 mph faster at typical tt effort using aero bars.

I currently don't have aero bars. I probably spent about 40 minutes on the drops and the rest on the hoods. I just found a set online that work with my bars (ITM Wing) and I think I will get them.

dhk2 said:

Yes, sad to see Enterprise HS taking that direct tornado hit. I trust the Boll Weavil statue downtown made it through fine. Used to make some trips down to the Wiregrass to visit Ft Rucker; it's about 285 miles from here.

The tornado was really bad and the news really hasn't done it justice. There were hundreds of homes destroyed including a rather poor section of Enterprise. The one good thing is there have been tons of people from all across the southeast here helping repair the damage.