TT Times



jeo

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Aug 4, 2003
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After a nine year break from amateur (road bike) racing, I want to get back into it. I've been commuting to work since that time so I'm in decent shape, but I'd like to get competitive and start racing next season. I'm having trouble finding both finishing times and course lengths.

Can anyone direct me to some good road race and TT times I can use to judge my training against and serve as goals to be reached? How fast do I need to be in road races and TTs to be competitive in Cat 4/5? How much faster are winners in Cat 1/2 than cat 4/5?
 
jeo said:
Can anyone direct me to some good road race and TT times I can use to judge my training against and serve as goals to be reached? How fast do I need to be in road races and TTs to be competitive in Cat 4/5? How much faster are winners in Cat 1/2 than cat 4/5?
Welcome back. Here is a website where they post the race results from races in the Kansas City area. http://www.slimenundgrossen.com/racingnews.htm

I have to warn you, though. We KC racers are pretty fast, so you may need to adjust those times a little to get a feel for the Little Rock racing scene. :p
 
I just finished my first Cat 5 RR. It was a 30 mile flat course and my avg speed was 24.3. On the turns there would be surges of 28+, then everyone would settle back in to around 23-25. I did fine and made it all the way with the main pack, was way to far off the back to try and place, but I finished strong and my personal TT speeds are around 22mph. Hope that helps ya.
 
So it sounds like I need to be doing around 25 mph for Cat 5 to keep up. Does that sound about right? That sounds pretty fast. A lot of the average TdF stage speeds were around 30-35. Is there really that little difference between Cat 5 and Pro? Mountains factor into there too, but that's not a huge difference. What am I missing?

From the Slimenundgrossen site, I see that Todd Campbell (KC, MO) won first in the road race. He and I used to ride together when he was around 11-13 and I 13-15, but we've since lost track. Does anyone have an email address for him?
 
Na, not 25. I can't hold 25 for more than a couple of minutes. If you ran ride around 19-20 solo comfortably, and 22 or so at 85% of your mHR, I think you could stay with the main field.
 
jeo said:
From the Slimenundgrossen site, I see that Todd Campbell (KC, MO) won first in the road race. He and I used to ride together when he was around 11-13 and I 13-15, but we've since lost track. Does anyone have an email address for him?
I don't know him by name, but if the race results list his team affiliation then I would suggest Googling that team name to find their site, and either looking for his address on the team site or sending an e-mail to the team's webmaster asking Todd to contact you at your e-mail address.
 
I tried that but I am still waiting to hear back from the contact person.

Thanks! :)
 
I concur with HHHRider's comment. You should be able to hold an average speed of at least 19.0 mph over the length of the race you plan to compete in before attempting to race. Riding in the peleton (pack), you will nearly always have a higher average speed than riding solo (time trialing). All cat 5 races I've done this year have an average speed in the 22.5 - 24 mph pace. This is my first year racing, and I started the season TTing 43 km route at about 19.5 mph early in the season. Currently am up to 21.4 mph over the same course. Have yet to win a race, but am placing in the top 10 in most races and have not been dropped off the lead peleton in any race.

Good luck and ride safe.


jeo said:
So it sounds like I need to be doing around 25 mph for Cat 5 to keep up. Does that sound about right? That sounds pretty fast. A lot of the average TdF stage speeds were around 30-35. Is there really that little difference between Cat 5 and Pro? Mountains factor into there too, but that's not a huge difference. What am I missing?

From the Slimenundgrossen site, I see that Todd Campbell (KC, MO) won first in the road race. He and I used to ride together when he was around 11-13 and I 13-15, but we've since lost track. Does anyone have an email address for him?
 

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