Next year I'll be focusing a bit more on timetrialing since I like it, and now have got a dedicated TT bike. My racing will still be something like 80-85% road races, and 15-20% timetrialling. So the majority will be spent on regular racing. My question is how often I should train on the TT bike. It'll be my first season on this bike, and I know that I will need to adjust to the different position. My thoughts were 3 weeks on the roadbike, and then 1 week on the TT bike.

During the off-season I'll see if I can do 2 weeks on the TT bike and 2 weeks on the roadbike.

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My first tt of the year usually falls in May. I start training on my tt bike in March. I train on it twice a week and those are my only structured workouts that I do.

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Here we have the '3 on, 1 off' rearing its head again.

Oh dear...


It's your first time on a TT bike (similar to me this year) so I from what I have found, ease in to it however if it's what you want to excel in you'll need; a great deal of time on it to get used to the fit, how to get the power down (my biggest issue) and how it handles in various weather conditions (a smaller issue for me, but I did still come off...).

If it's going to be your main focus, then train as such.

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How similar is your time trial position to your road position? I read about how guys like Wiggins and Froome were doing most of their training on the time trial bike; the thought is that if you can hold power in the more aggressive TT position, then you can do so on the road bike. However if you have vastly different positions this most likely would not be effective. I can't find the article but they were saying that alot of Skys training was based around long tempo on the time trial bike.

Also if you do active recovery, try it on the TT bike. It is kind of miserable but can really help your handling and "positional form" (a saying I have just made up). I kind of like to think of it like a form run, since you don't have to focus on creating power just really focus on being aero and breathing. Might sound silly but holding aero at 120 watts can be considerably harder than doing so at 300.

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It will depend on how often you plan to race the TT bike during the season. I find my strength is in TT's, so I usually end up training about 2x a week on it. One ride is usually a motorpacing/tempo ride, while the other is usually some kind of threshold ride. Never more than an hour.


During the off season I am 90% of the time on the road bike, but I start to introduce the TT bike around mid-jan/start of feb. Usually the intervals are fairly short, but at threshold (4-8min @ FTP). I find it extremely difficult to ride the trainer on the TT bike due to the aggressive position leading to poor cooling. Once April hits I start doing longer intervals/motorpacing outdoors. Motorpacing I try to ride behind a Vespa at 5km/h higher than I could solo TT - usually we ride at 50-52km/h for an hour.

You would hope not really close, given how aero you are looking to be on the TT bike.

I have found though more time on TT bike has meant I'm a significantly more flexible on the road bike - which almost feels like riding a mountain bike it's that much higher than the TT.

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I do about 20 TTs a season and train 3-4x a week on the TT bike. Climbing intervals, jumps/sprints and team rides (where TT bikes do not belong) on the road bike.

Adaptation to the TT bike is key to making power in the aero position and riding it a lot will also make you faster on technical courses.

Often overlooked because everyone is focused on power are the technical aspects of riding a TT:

Practice starts, getting off the line and settling into TT pace very quickly. If you go too hard too early you can blow the whole race.

Pacing - if you don't do a lot of TT efforts on the TT bike it won't happen on race day.

Practice making quick turn-arounds and getting back to speed. Riders lose a ton of time on out and back TTs making bad turns. Don't wait to race day to learn how to turn your TT machine.

Great advice guys! Im going through a similar experience as I only started using a TT specific bike this year. During the few TT races I did this year my power was seemingly about 20% lower compared to numbers I achieve on a road bike. Not being used to the lower position is obviously an issue for me.

I've been perhaps too obsessed about the power numbers and consequently only ridden the TT bike when Im on peak form. Next spring I'll try to take the TT bike for easy spins as well

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I have a similar situation with my TT bike - however it is well worth it overall.

I drop about 20% of my FTP going to the TT bike, however, I am riding at 4-5km/h faster as a result of the position. It is a worthy trade off.


Part of getting a TT bike is experimenting what position works best for you to maximize your speed. You will sometimes lose power, but if it is the fastest position for you, it is worth it. The only negative is when you have to ride uphill for longer durations (rare for most TT)

Based on?

My mate, who easily kicks my backside and is probably one of the fastest in Australia, doesn't lose power.

Just because you (and I also) drop power doesn't make it fact.


It does just take a long time to settle in to using a TT bike.

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

+1 Adaptation is key but sometimes slow.
I do about 50-60TTs a year, as my stock in trade of racing. I ride it about 60% of my training time winter and summer (although more indoors in the winter!) My power is within 1-2% for less than an hour on the TT bike ( worse at 2hours+). 20% drop sounds rather dramatic! I'd try more flexibility training or raising the bars and progressively lowering them over the next 6months as you adapt to a more aggressive position. It should always be a trade off between power output and drag.

I've had the opportunity to chat with a lot of the top echelon of UK TTers this year (and trained with a few) as I moved to an area which happened to contain the fastest course in the south of the UK. Almost all of them have comparable or higher outputs on the TT bike compared to the roadie, adaptation to the point of sacrifice to road riding.

The biggest areas which impair power outputs are hamstring/gluteal tightness, the constriction of hip abductors, and breathing restriction.
Mine power drops like a stone if my torso angle is lower than 5degrees. I've tried 0degrees and drag reduction was barely noticeable.

I rode this for a 4 hour TT a few moths ago and felt pretty good throughout. (I have no idea why i was barefoot!)

I think the solution is to do your 2x20 rides on the TT bike every week or better a 10 mile time trial or similar, then also a flat tempo ride on the TT bike. I used to find 2-3 hours on the TT bike was really nice training. Position was comfy, it felt fast and I would choose a flat route and zip along at 2-3mph more than on the road bike, allowing what felt like significantly longer rides.

Why not? Don't you want to be aero in your road position as well? Though there will always be a difference, why not make it as little as possible? That way any training stimulus and gains come to both positions.

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Colnago Mapei
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I'm aero on my road bike yet that position still is not close to what I run on my TT.

Given the geometry and required handling of both are vastly different, I stand by what I said.

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

Your time trial position is more aggressive right? That is why I am advocating riding in that position frequently, because it will benefit the less aggressive road position.

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"But when you hit that asphalt down below nothing else matters, your pulse is skyrocketing toward 200"
Speed Concept
Colnago Mapei
S-5 VWD