Do I have a chance in this cycle race i've been forced into?

Any knowledgeable cyclists out there who may be able to have some input onto this cycle race I’ve been roped into ?

Basically at work some Jonny big balls has been giving it the big ‘un showing off and also trying to belittle my cycling abilities based on the fact that he’s an ex pro cyclist (allegedly) and the fact that he has all the latest and greatest Specialized cycling gear (colour co-ordinated jacket,helmet,shoes,gloves etc etc)
The fact that I ride a hybrid for my daily commute not a road bike, and that I do it in ordinary sports gear obviously proves i’m not a fast, or competant cyclist.

What started as a bit of banter escalated a little bit and resulted in this bloke bragging that he’s so much a better cyclist than me, we can do a 10mile race and even if he gives me a 5 minute head start, he can still beat me.
I called his bluff, so the race is on.

Now I’m not stupid, I wont be doing it on a Hybrid, someone is lending me a pretty good road bike for the race (he’s obviously using his road bike), but i’ve NEVER ridden a road bike before, and may only get a few miles practice on the day before the race.

The opponent is 41yrs old and has been a member of a various local road cycling teams for 20years, but not anymore. He still rides regulary and does some pretty long rides regularly (50-100miles) but im pretty sure he’s past his best.
He bragged about doing 10miles in 24mins, but apparently he’s admitted privately to another colleague he’s realistically looking at 27-28mins these days.

Myself, well I’m no cycling novice. I’m 35yrs and pretty fit, even of my main hobbies is off road Mountain biking and has been since I was a teenager (he doesn’t know this hahaha) i'm regulary out on the trails at the weekend and every day I commute to work on a Hybrid bike which is 4.8miles each way, and have been doing so for 12years – so I can ride when i need to !!!!!

I have done some ‘Time trials’ on my Hybrid the last few days and over 8-10mile routes that I have done, I can easily average 17mph, and last night I did 10.2miles and averaged 18.1mph. This is on a pretty heavy Hybrid (GT Transeo Disc 2.0) with front suspension (locked out but still some bob), and 700x32c tyres that are designed for mix of city and trail riding, certainly not slicks.

Basically those that have them, how much faster do you think I will be on a road bike vs the hybrid that i have above ?

Will it be easy to adjust to riding a road bike ? As i've never ridden one yet. Or should I be looking to get more time on the bike I’ll be using. (note size should be ok the bloke i’m borrowing it off is my height and weight roughly)

The race was meant to be on Sunday 10th, but he’s already rescheduled it until the following week 17th (I think so he can practice more)

Alot is riding (no pun intended) on this, and many from work are turning up on the day to watch, no doubt relishing the fact that someone is going to lose and get some stick.
Loser, as well as having the shame of losing also has to do kitchen duties when on duty (cooking and cleaning) at work for the whole station, for a month. Which on a busy fire station is a real bum job I can tell you, once a week is bad enough !!!!!!!!

 

You're telling us you do 10 miles in about 33 minutes. Is that your best?

 

I hate overly competitive people. They're usually sore losers and only challenge people that they are pretty confident about beating.

 

Yeah its not really me, but i've called the bluff so we shall see.

@Heavyhemi, yes on a pretty heavy, front suspension Hybrid with trail tyres.

I want to try to guestimate how much quicker I will be on a proper road bike for those that may have used both.

 

Road bikes take a lot less effort to do the same distance compared to hybrid, id certainly say 5mins shaved off is easily done.

 

Too be honest, good luck, you've obviously been taunted

 

First and foremost he sounds like a bit of a douche!

You'll be a lot faster on a road bike due to the lack of weight compared to your hardtail hybrid, but you know that already. Shouldn't take much time to adjust to.

I generally find a lot of those guys like your work colleague have all the gear but no idea, and I thoroughly enjoy overtaking them.

 

I can do 10 miles in probably 33 hours.

You can always deal with him like this.

 

I ride a hybrid. Hopefully there will be some hills on your route.

On the downhills and flat where wind and rolling resistance are the limiting factors, they are quick but I always overtake the lycra brigade on the hills where muscle power is the most important.

You should easily gain 5mph, probably more from moving to a road bike.

 

Cheers for the replies guys.

If I can gain 5mph more average id be over the moon, but to be honest 2-3mph should be enough for me not to lose !!

If I can get 10 miles in 30mins on the road bike, thats ave speed of 20mph, hes going to need to do it in sub 25mins to win which
is quick.
Dont get me wrong i will take my hat off to the bloke if he wins but I really need to win this for many reasons

 

There is only one question for you.
Do you work pedals for entire/most of your 10 miles tests on hybrid?
If yes, he is done for, because road biking is mostly about ability to keep it up.

Now, there is other thing like strategy, but that really does not apply on 10mile race, because trained people can do 80+ miles a day without being unable to move for a week afterwards.
Profi cyclers do 200+ miles a day and can do it again day after and after.

Google for RAAM race, there are real pros.
So do not worry about someone challenging you to 10 miles. Especially if he gives you 5 minutes advantage, because that is a lot of time for 10 miles race.

You may get another preparation, like checking traffic along that path, if it is safe to use earplugs with boosting music. Since people time to time give up from boredom, but with good music one listens to 4~5 songs and such race is already over.

Keep properly hydrated for days before, but do not drink river just before race. Feeling thirsty? Just drink few ml of water, no more.

Last thing is, do not over-train, it takes some time to replenish sugars in muscles and to remove lactic acid from muscles which slows them.
For that there is dextrose/grape sugar (simple easy to burn sugar) + vitamin-C.
If you are not using occasionally Vit-C and want to use it, then do not take more than 500mg at morning and preferably use slow absorption one (high Vit-C dosage = diarrhea risk).

You probably know most of this, but people sometimes forget. I would wish you best of luck, but considering what you wrote, you'll not need it.

 

Fox yeah i can pedal for the whole 10miles non stop for sure.

Thanks for the other info though, especially about over training.
The challenge was laid down 5 days ago and i have done x3 10mile best efforts now in those days, aswell as x4 commutes to work at 4.8miles, but those ive just coasted.

My legs do feel a bit shot tonight tbh, but aerobic wise its no problem for me.

I will take onboard your advice. I'm not really upto speed on sports science, never needed to be, but I do now so thank you!!!!

 

If you've been mountain biking for so much of your life, any uphill climbs should be pretty easy for you. Definitely check out the route before hand, if for no other reason than for personal safety.

 

LOL something that should be healthy, fun and relaxing turned into another source of stress. (i hate that overused word; boohoo living is stress)

But that guy is trolling you pretty hard

 

10 miles would take me about 30 mins ish several years ago. Now... dunno, probably at least 15 mins extra. That was on a route with a lot of stretches alowing me to do 40 kph though.

Oh and a decent bike will allow you to do 40 kph much much easier.

 

If you give it your best, you're already the winner.

 

Oh dear I think I may be screwed, either my hybrid is very fast or I need more practice on the road bike.

Borrowed the road bike i'll be racing on last night and took it for a spin this morning.
Over the same 10mile course I averaged 18.1mph on the hybrid, I did 18.7mph on the road bike

Its much lighter, thinner slick tyres, and I found that its easier to cruise at higher speeds on a nice flat road, but hills and corners etc etc and i'm basically doing the same speeds.

Bit more practice required methinks !!

 

Make sure the tyres are pumped up, that makes a big difference. Those tyres probably need 60psi+

 

^^^ atm I think that only naked cheerleaders all the way near the track can help OP to boost some speed and achieve better time

Joking aside, Fox2232 gave you some nice advices, use them. If I was on your place I would train day and night on that road bike to beat that dude. Geting used to that bike is main key to win that race.

Do you have someone more advanced in cycling to prepare you a bit more for the race? It's much better to train with someone more advanced into pro or semi-pro cycling on same track you're going to race other than ride that bike alone. Like in other sports it's much easier to achieve better score and push your body to its limits when you have someone near you to compete with. So find someone more advanced in cycling to train/race against on that track and I'm sure after few days of training you'll be surprised after looking at stopwatch. Worked for me every time in all kinds od sports/activities so far.

It'll be nice to record that race with something like GoPro Hero and post it here. Even if you loose it's not the and of the world. Keeping my fingers crossed for you on May 17th.

 

cheers for that.
Yeah i'm going to have to get more miles done on this bike for sure.
As you noted ive not really got too much idea how to prepare for this, but Fox gave some good advice to be going with.

I was thinking to do 10miles everyday now on the bike inc of course a few times on the actual circuit.
Dont know if this is too little or too much though with 9days to go to race day !?!?!

I know my opponent is training on a turbo trainer, but i dont have access to one

Best hope I think for me is to try and get my average speed up another ~1mph to nearer 20, and aim as near as I can to 30mins for the 10mile race and hope its enough with my 5min headstart