Time to cover 40km...

Arddon

Wasnt sure whether to post this in cylcing or triathlon section...as it is cycling with a view to triathlon!!

Anyways...I dont cycle competitvely or with a club...just a leisurely kinda guy who is reasonably fit through other sports and have the aim of doing a triathlon next year...

My question is what kinda times should one cover the 40km cycle course?
I appreciate courses will vary through gradient etc but is there a rule of thumb - 30km/h on the flat....20km'h uphill etc?

Thanks

DirkVoodoo

Try and dig up some club league results, it helps if you know the course or plan on riding it, and see what sort of times the top 10 or top 20 get. Work out what you think is an "acceptable" time and base your initial test run on hitting this.

Then just keep refining position (balancing comfort with power) and see how much time you can shave off through repeated testing.

If you know someone in a club who is a similar build rider to yourself, see what time they did 40km in. Try and find someone who is already handy at TTs so you have something to aim for that will require work but is still realistic. Don't necessarily go for the fastest times you see, some of these guys are animals and turn out just for TTs.

mloc123

Top end of a tri field will cover 40km in less than 60mins, the bottom end could be anything up to 2 hours...

Lumen

2009 TriAthy results here (PDF).

niceonetom

The only way to really find out is to go and do one. 40km is along oul way to go at full effort though so maintaining the motivation to stay fast could be tough without a competition there.

Whereabouts are you based? There are a few 40k TT routes marked on roads in Meath and North County Dublin where you could go and give it a lash and then compare your time to the leagues that run over those courses. Different days are never really comparable of course, but it'll give you a general idea where you stand.

Should this thread be in the main cycling forum?

DirkVoodoo

niceonetom wrote: »

Should this thread be in the main cycling forum?

There does seem to be a great deal of confusion as to what exactly a "training log" or an "advert" is amongst cyclists. I would have thought they were self explanatory but there you have it...

Gavin

moved into main forum, thanks for headsup

ednwireland

depends how fast you ride it

Highway_To_Hell

if triathlons are your goal remember if you overcook the bike section you will have a miserable 10k run

tunney

Lumen wrote: »

2009 TriAthy results here (PDF).

generally thought triathlon bike legs are 40km and are non-drafting.