While bikes and other riding accessories play a significant role in their success or failure, individual abilities are essential. In this article, you’ll learn five simple but effective tips that will help you smash your next TT.

Get Fit For TT

Regular bikers are always fit, but TT requires specific body fitness and conditioning. If you hope to beat a TT, you’ll need more endurance, explosiveness, and mental toughness. There are many aspects to TT-specific fitness, as many call it.

You’ll need to perform exercises that improve your body system’s handling of lactic acid, the leading cause of muscle fatigue. An improved lactic acid endurance means increased muscular performance and more extended performance. You should also perform endurance and stretching exercises for core muscles, lower back, and hamstrings, as they take the most hit during cycling.

You could hire a fitness coach at your local gym or subscribe to any tested online fitness coach. There are also loads of online resources that you can take advantage of to get TT-fit. Heart rate (HR) is an essential consideration for cycling. If you hope to ride your fastest TT, you’ll do well to consider your HR and how it impacts your riding. Speed is not an indication of exercise intensity, but HR is one vital indicator. To maximize exercise impact and avoid overtraining your body, you should measure your HR using a suitable HR meter and work out how best it impacts your cycling.

Take out a form of Insurance

Taking bicycle insurance such as Super73 bike insurance is often overlooked. However, doing so can help you perform better at your TT. How? How would you perform if you knew that you had nothing to worry about in the event of a mishap? You’d probably give your all and let your inner beast out, right? That’s what insurance gives you -the fuel to push yourself knowing that you are covered. If you use a super73 bike for the TT, you should consider taking Super73 bike insurance for instance. You can then focus on getting fit and riding your fastest TT on a bike.

Use Lean But Aerodynamic Gear

Biking gear is necessary to help prevent or minimize injuries, but it can be counterproductive if not used right. You do need biking gear, but for TT, it is best to go lean. Cut out the elbow and shin guards or use lightweight materials; keep your helmet, but go as lean as safety permits. It is also essential that you use aerodynamic biking gear. If your equipment is not aerodynamic, you could have significant air resistance to reduce your speed effectively. Remember, the goal is to go lean and be aerodynamic.

Keep your bike lean; remove the unnecessary parts, and use rear-wheel discs that improve the aerodynamics. You don’t need it if it doesn’t perform a crucial function.

Practice Aerodynamics, Pacing, And Braking Techniques

Your biking/riding skills are just as essential as your fitness. Beating your TT isn’t about being the best or strongest but maximizing your strengths. You should practice aerodynamics, i.e., hiding from the wind. You must get the right pose to keep the wind’s opposition at bay, and you don’t get that right during the race but by practicing. You should also practice pacing. As you train to increase endurance, know that pace you can sustain for a long time and still leave some energy for that last push.

Many cyclers mistake burning their power to get an early lead which they relinquish and lose the race. Practice pacing for varied distances until you get a consistent pace. You should also practice braking techniques. Braking is crucial to speed because it could help you gain or lose speed. Any speed you lose when braking must be compensated later. If possible, learn the route and map out the areas you need to brake. Braking techniques involve acceleration after braking and going through some rough regions without braking.

Perform Warm-Up Exercises

As with other sports, warm-up exercises play vital roles in getting athletes ready. You should perform light exercises before heavier exercises or your TT. Plan your warm-up carefully to avoid straining any muscle. Warm-ups activate muscle groups for performance by increasing blood flow and energy delivery. Warm-up exercises could be stretches, squats, and light running.

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It is also a great way to commute as it is a clean method of transportation. Some people enjoy going for hikes on their bikes, however, it is hard for the standard options to perform well in different environments.

That’s why you should consider upgrading your bicycle by adding a few extras to it. 

1. Power-Meter

Each one of us needs something to tell us how good or bad we are doing while performing a certain exercise. A power-meter will analyze your performance by measuring your power output by using a gauge that reacts to any applied force. It should be fitted to the bike so you can pace yourself and determine the areas where you need to improve. Moreover, it will alert you if you are exerting too much effort at the beginning, so you can slow down to not burn yourself out by the end of the ride. 

If you add a monitor to it, you will be able to keep track of your speed, distance, and elapsed time as well. It also has a GPS to give you direction without having to hold your phone or miss a turn because you don’t know the exact location. 

2. Carbon Wheels

Nowadays, bikes come with carbon wheels because they offer high performance and durability, and that’s why they are being used in major races. They are also lightweight, which allows the biker to speed up even more. Fortunately, manufacturers are becoming more familiar with it and have figured out how to make them for a much lower price than before. Carbon wheels are gaining popularity among cyclists that want to tackle steeper grades to up their game. 

3. Seats for Seniors

Since cycling is a great form of exercise, it’s extremely convenient for people of all ages. This applies to seniors in particular. It will help them slow down the aging process and protect their muscles from atrophy. Staying active is crucial in old age, but most exercises are uncomfortable, including cycling. That’s why getting bicycle seats for seniors is necessary to keep them comfortable and pain-free as they ride. They should be adjustable so they won’t have to struggle to pedal or bend too much, which results in backaches. Don’t forget to purchase the right saddle for the height and weight of the person riding the bike. 

4. Supple Tires

Resistance is one of the factors that slows you down and makes you exert extra effort to pedal and speed up. Rigid tires are of no help as they get obstructed by the ground and don’t roll smoothly. In case you are looking for a way to decrease the resistance, supple tires are a great option to reduce energy loss, and accordingly, less drag. 

5. Lights

Drivers mostly don’t see bicycles behind them because they are too small for the mirrors to reflect. Bikes don’t come with built-in lights, and that’s why cyclists are not safe on the road and are always at risk of being hit or tripping over a bump on the road. That being said, it is necessary to attach lights to your bicycle to illuminate the way and alert the drivers of your existence. 

Lights are needed at night and in the morning too, because statistics showed that 80% of accidents happen during the day. Luminescent lights are the ones being used during the day to shine brighter than the sunlight. They will guarantee that you arrive safely at your destination. 

6. Electronic Shifting

Shifting during the ride is one of the setbacks of cycling, which causes the cables to wear leading to mechanical inefficiency. However, installing an electronic shifting system will increase the quality and precision of your shifts and will keep your cables smooth. On the other hand, their batteries may run low, so always remember to charge them before you ride. 

7. Brake and Gear Cables

One of the most underestimated upgrades is replacing the brake and gear cables. They wear out from regular use and stretching. Accordingly, they become less reliable which may put you in danger when you attempt to stop the bike suddenly. You should change them once a year to make sure that you always have a great set of gears. 

Treating your bike to some upgrades every now and then will prove quite beneficial for you, as well as performing regular services. You will be able to cycle safely without having to worry about things like tripping, or being unable to stop. There will also be a great improvement in your performance and speed as you lower the resistance around you. 

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1. Extend Your Mileage

The first thing you can do to get more of a workout from your commute is to simply extend the miles you ride each day between home and work. Where you used to go straight, make a turn and go explore some new road.

The result is that you can turn what would have been a 20-minute ride – just enough time to get warmed up – into something much bigger. You can go for long, slower rides to recover and build endurance, or just add in enough mileage to practice some intervals. If you’re headed out for a ride longer than about 15 miles, just make sure you bring some snacks and liquids, to stay hydrated, along with you.

Depending on where you live, you may also be able to find some less busy roads than the ones you normally ride to work. That’s a major advantage, since you don’t want to be worrying about cars passing at high speed while you’re focusing on the workouts we’re about to cover.

2. Increase Your Cadence

One of the simplest ways you can build both bike fitness and endurance is to simply increase your cadence – your rate of pedaling. Moving your feet faster teaches your legs to move more quickly, which works on a very different set of muscle fibers compared to mashing down on the pedals. Even better, pedaling quickly at a lighter resistance will help you ride for more miles without wearing down your leg muscles.

What constitutes high cadence? Generally, riding above 90 RPM is considered high. But, if you’re going to practice high cadence intervals, aim for a pedaling rate of more than 105 RPM. You can monitor your cadence with a simple device that attaches to your pedal. High cadence intervals are a great way to cap off a warmup before you get into some more difficult riding.

3. Add Resistance

Adding resistance is like the opposite of riding at high cadence. Rather than take gears off, you’ll put them on so that you really are mashing down on the pedals with each stroke. This type of riding works out your glutes and quads, with an emphasis on building strength more than endurance. Make sure that you focus both on pushing down on the pedals and pulling them back up to get the most out of this workout.

It’s still important to think about cadence when riding with high resistance, too. If your pedaling speed drops below 60 RPM, you can actually damage your knee joints by putting too much pressure on them. This is especially important for older cyclists. If you find that you can’t sustain at least a pedaling rate of 60 RPM, ease up on the gears a little bit.

4. Head for the Hills

If you live in an area with hills, it’s easy to add a workout into your bike commute. In the simplest sense, you can increase your overall riding fitness, lose weight, and build muscle mass simply by tacking hilly miles onto your commute rather than flat miles. The hillier the route you can create, the better.

If you’ve only got one hill within a reasonable distance of your home or office, don’t worry. Adding hill sprint repeats into your workout is a great way to build strength. The idea is simple – just ride up the hill as hard as you can, glide back down, and then do it all again. Start out with just a few repeats when you’re first adding hills into your bike commute, and gradually add additional laps up the hill as you get stronger.

5. Add Tempo Intervals

Tempo intervals are the bread and butter of bike training. They demand endurance, strength, and mental persistence. “Tempo” could mean different things to different people, but in general it’s the fastest pace you could keep up for 30 minutes when going all-out on the bike. Since there’s a 30-minute cap on how long you can ride like this, it’s not very time consuming to add these intervals into your bike commute.

In general, you’ll want to find an open stretch of relatively flat road for this type of interval workout. Make sure you give yourself plenty of rest between reps as well – as much as half the time of each interval should be spent biking easy. If you’re really tight on time, you can also turn tempo intervals into fartleks. With fartleks, simply ride as hard as you can for as far as you feel, then rest and do it again.

In the end

Bike commuting to work or school provides ample opportunity for getting in a good workout. With the right commuter bike, you can carry your stuff, sprint up hills, and practice riding at tempo pace for extended periods. Best of all, these workouts don’t add much time to your commute and take advantage of the fact that you’re already on your bike. So, try out these add-on workouts the next time you’re riding to work to transform your bike commute into training, just be sure that you have access to a shower at work!

Author bio:

Daniel Atlas is the editor at Rydoze. He loves the great outdoors and wilderness. You’ll find him writing about biking, environment and outdoor world all the time.

Photo credits:

• Danil Sorokin
• Victor Xok
• Max Bender
• Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

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