Is this goal reachable?

SLG said:

Basically, I want to be able to ride under an hour for a 25 mile time trial for the club championships in June. At the moment I can do about 70 mins, is losing 2 minutes a month possible and if so, are doing 2x20 intervals enough, or should i be doing something else? My best performance last year was around 66 mins.
Any help would be appreciated.

many thanks

Hard to say, it depends on a lot of things including how much you've trained previously vs how much you'll be able to train in the next 6 months. What sort of aero kit you're riding and what you'll ride during your event etc.

But on the surface of it dropping from 66 minutes to sub 60 doesn't seem impossible in 6 months unless you're already as aero as you're gonna be and you're already highly trained and don't have a lot of room for improvement.

2x20's are a good start, but it's hard to do those many days a week or on back to back days. You might think about a 2x20 day at 90-95% of your FTP followed by a day of longer easier efforts like 2x30 @ 85% or so perhaps followed by a single 45 to 60 minute effort at 80% to finish out a three day block. IOW, you can focus on your best power numbers on some days but focus on extending time of submaximal efforts other days. You'll get more time in level with an approach like this and help train your mind and body for the sustained effort required for a 40k TT.

You should also spend some time working on our aero setup whether that's just clip on aero bars or a full TT machine. You want to find out how aero you can get while still being able to safely ride the distance in that position and still deliver power from that position. That means training time in your aero position prior to your key races.

Other keys are working on pacing, especially the start to make sure you go out at a sustainable pace and don't blow early in the excitement. That's harder than it might sound and one thing I still struggle with.

Anyway, I'd say your goal isn't too lofty assuming you can work a more dedicated training program and pay attention to the stuff above. I don't know anything about how big you are or your CdA but I rode a 58:30 40k TT last summer at ~290 watts average power. That was on a stock road bike with clip on bars with an aero helmet at altitude (~5500 feet above sea level) but on a stormy day with crazy crosswinds. So as a swag you're going to want somewhere near 300 watts for a full hour plus or minus a bit depending on aerodynamics and air density.

Good luck,
Dave

SLG said:

Basically, I want to be able to ride under an hour for a 25 mile time trial for the club championships in June. At the moment I can do about 70 mins, is losing 2 minutes a month possible and if so, are doing 2x20 intervals enough, or should i be doing something else? My best performance last year was around 66 mins.
Any help would be appreciated.

many thanks

Yes and No.

IOW - we really don't have enough knowledge of you and your abilities to answer the question.

Yes, if you have the ability to generate the power required (whatever that may be) by June. That means improving sustainable power output and reducing aerodynamic drag (& rolling resistance).

No if you can't.

If your aero status stays the same, you'll need roughly 30% more power than your current best hour power. That's quite a lot to improve in one season.

Thanks for the replies guys, I will work on my aero position and maybe aim to beat an hour within two years, 30% more power seems to much to overcome in one year!

Thanks again

Alex Simmons said:

Yes and No.

IOW - we really don't have enough knowledge of you and your abilities to answer the question.

Yes, if you have the ability to generate the power required (whatever that may be) by June. That means improving sustainable power output and reducing aerodynamic drag (& rolling resistance).

No if you can't.

If your aero status stays the same, you'll need roughly 30% more power than your current best hour power. That's quite a lot to improve in one season.

Hey Alex, where did the 30% come from? Not being combative, just curious.

Oh, and since we're talking improvement and percentages, I've got my own lofty goals for this season. Right now, my estimated FTP is 285 and I'm at 69kg. In September, I want FTP to be at 335 and my weight to be 67kg, which will get me to the magic (for me, anyway) 5w/kg mark for FTP. That's a 17.5% improvement in FTP, and a 21% improvement in power/weight.

I've taken a good couple of months off serious riding to hit the gym, so I'm somewhat detrained. I"ve been riding for 16 years, though, and I ain't in my late 20s anymore, so my basic cycling adaptations are already there, and I'm not at my physical prime anymore.

What's the consensus? You think this is doable? I know it's a pretty tall order, and I partly post this for motivation's sake - to announce my goals and get a little encouragement.

Hey! That'd make a pretty good thread topic!! Make a thread where folks are talking about this year's goals and posting monthly or quarterly updates on their progress.

bbrauer said:

...Hey! That'd make a pretty good thread topic!! Make a thread where folks are talking about this year's goals and posting monthly or quarterly updates on their progress.

Sort of like this thread: cyclingforums.comt431775.htmlOpen ↗

I had to wade through 8 pages of spam to find that one 🙁

BTW, I don't think your goals are unreasonable, but it sort of depends on how efficiently you've trained during those 16 years. I've ridden since the mid '80s and raced for a lot of those years but my fitness improved dramatically once I started working with a PM and switched to a foundation of SST work. I topped out a bit under 300 watts for a full hour last summer after coming up a long way the previous winter and spring. My power goals are very similar to yours, I'll post the results hit or miss on that thread when summer rolls around.

-Dave

bbrauer said:

Hey Alex, where did the 30% come from? Not being combative, just curious.

analyticcycling.comanalyticcycling.comOpen ↗

I just went with some reasonable assumptions like a flat TT on a road, no wind and the speeds quoted by OP. Can't remember what CdA I went with, prob something like 0.26 which would be fairly average I'd say for a not too aggressive TT position. 0.2 would be pretty slick, 0.3 would be poor.

Hello!

Hello again!