Racer Ex 

You're blonde, aren't you?

aaronmcd

What the fk is that supposed to mean?

Oh... are you saying it is "dumb" to pedal heels down more and adjust the cockpit to match? Or "blonde" to make an observation on something one hasnt personally tried? Either way, lol.

Racer Ex 

I just hope you don't hang out at teaching hospitals.

shovelhd

I'd let him fix my shoulder. Nobody else is interested.

hyperlitenerd

Check out this app for bike fitting. It has been very helpful getting my fit setup! If you use it, I would recommended putting tape, sticky dots or something on your measurement points to give you repeatable measurements.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/10/a...nt-review.html

hyperlitenerd

I have a technical question regarding saddle setback. I know that a normal sized rider should have a saddle setback of 5cm behind the bottom bracket. My question is as a cat 4, moving to 3's this year, to what extent should I attempt to achieve this? The same question would be for my girlfriend who will be a cat 2 this year.

waterrockets 

Don't go for any of the "should have" guidelines out there. If you're making a fit change, you need to have a reason to make the fit change. Some here might be able to help if you post a video of you on a trainer, but you'd be best off paying for a real fit if needed.

This has nothing to do with TTs though.

echappist

you are exempt from any of that nonsense until you are doing Nat's or a very prominent UCI race. Some local stage races may check your bike, but most won't.

Even for UCI races, so many people apply for morphological exemptions, that you are automatically exempt on either the saddle or the aerobar position (not both)

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-...rial-positions

hyperlitenerd

Thank you! I had a good powerful position from my triathlon days. My bike is too big for a good tt position with the uci constraints. So with this knowledge I can use it for this season until I can save some money and buy a proper tt frame next winter. Unless I really have a break through season, I can not imagine going to nationals. Even then, no...

echappist

That said, if you were to show up at a race with a distinctively "Tri" bike, you should be get riffed for it. You know, monstrosities such as the Shiv TT, etc.

hyperlitenerd

Oh yes of course. I have a 06/07 giant trinity A0. Nothing fancy by any means, but it worked through college, and hopefully next winter I can afford a TT bike that fits!

misterwaterfall

Question on bike fits: I am pretty close(or so I think) on my new to me TT bike. I can be comfortable on it, but making power seems harder than I would like. Do you guys go to a regular bite fitter for your TT bikes? I'm pretty inexperienced in this area and want to get it right ahead of the early season stage races.

shovelhd

Fit is part of it, but so is adaptation. Don't give up on your fit too soon.

LandyachtzDH 

This.

If I've been off the TT bike for a few months, it takes several weeks to get back to normal power in my TT position (which is still 15-20 watts less than my road bike). Leading into important races I like to be on it at least twice a week, if not three times.

misterwaterfall

This is a good subject. How close can I expect to see on my TT bike. I am totally new to this thing. Should I expect to be able to see within 95% of my usualy power over a 20 minute effort? 90%? I know everyone is different, but I'm kind of looking for a marker to know that Im on the right track

LandyachtzDH 

I'd say, if you're in a good-to-excellent position, you're doing good to be within 10%. I know some people who claim to hit the same wattage on the TT bike as they do on their road bike, but I think they are the minority.

shovelhd

Plan on at least 20 hours of riding for initial adaptation.

Ygduf

woohoo. I have about 1 in and 19 to go!

misterwaterfall

I've been using it a bunch on the trainer so hopefully that helps a bit

shovelhd

Doesn't matter. It's time on task.

I don't own a TT bike but every base and build season I spend time training in the drops to adapt for the racing season. Same principle.

hyperlitenerd

Been putting my miles in on foothill! If you see a guy in a delta velo kit thats me, say hi!

oespinoza83

Read through this thread and didn't really see a specific answer to my question, so wanted to shoot then.

I plan on doing most of the Texas stage races this year which all have TT's that are mainly <7-8 miles. Last year I rode them on road bike with some clip-on aerobars, team skinsuit, and a used aero helmet I was able to get for cheap from an old teammate. I finished top 1/3 in most of them. This year I started training with power. With that being said, it seems that for a typical 40k TT, one would aim for their FTP (in general, probably +/- a few %). Without numerous test rides of actual TT race distances, is there a standard guideline to how to scale that number to shorter TTs? i.e. for just a 10k TT, should I am for 135%? 150%? etc.

Ygduf

Do a 20-minute test on the TT setup. If you aim for your road-bike FTP or 105% of it for 20min, and you haven't trained on the TT bike enough to adapt, you're in for a cold shower.

Source: my current situation.

misterwaterfall

Good advice, but pacing is a tricky ***** to get right anyway. I have my first 20'ish TT on 3/1 that I'm using as a power test/dry run before getting to the early season stage races.

"If you know you're going to make it to the end, you're going too easy. If you know you can't, you're going too hard. If you're unsure but think there's a chance, you're doing the right effort."

oespinoza83

Well it will still be on my road bike, so I wouldn't necessarily be starting over from scratch (as related to riding a TT bike for the first time). I would just have to put some hours in on the aerobars, which I have always done in the past. Was mainly just looking for some general guidelines, but I think a 20-min test would be a start. I might actually push that down to a 15-min test and set a baseline from there seeing as all of my times from last year were below 15' (and distances likely aren't changing this year from what I have seen on current flyers).