I've been wanting to do a time trial on the bike to gauge where I was at. No intersections, no stop signs, etc. There is a stretch of the White Oak Bike Trail, which lets you go about 3.1 miles without interruption. It's a nice trail, complete with its own "hills" (underpasses) Originally I was planning to do four lengths, but I didn't want to push myself since I just started feeling better, so I did only two... so 6.2 miles which is about what my super sprint length will be.
I got a boost from a tailwind on the way out (miles 1 - 3) and faced a strong headwind along with tiring muscles on the way back. I definitely felt the lactic acid build up in my legs. Overall, I averaged 16.2 mph. Based on last years results, that would put me in the 50th percentile of males in the super sprint in March, but below the 90th percentile in my age group of the CB&I triathlon in May, not to mention the latter is 15 miles.
mile 1 - 17.1 mph
mile 2 - 17.7 mph
mile 3 - 18.5 mph
mile 4 - 15.7 mph
mile 5. - 16.1 mph
mile 6.2 - 13.7 mph
Bikecalculator.com says that overall I was generating about 138 watts, after adjusting for the hills (underpasses) and switching between the hoods and an ugly looking aero-tuck position. There are 6 underpasses in a the roundtrip.
I don't have clipless pedals or cycling shoes yet (I just have platform pedals and running shoes), so I wonder what the difference would be. Posts on cycling web boards offer somewhere between 0 - 1.5 mph. I do plan on getting these in the next several weeks.
Bottom line:
- I'm glad to have a benchmark
- I have a lot of work to do
- I need to increase my miles/per week.
- I am interested to see what improvements happen over the next month
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