Mad Dog wrote:
says...

Hey, Joe, where ya goin' with yer eyes closed?

The best guys in our club 10km TT are all just under 14 minutes. There
are a bunch under 14:30. They all have full-on TT bikes. How good are
these guys? What USCF cat-level is that, sort of?

14 minutes ~ 26.6 mph

14.5 minutes ~ 25.7 mph

15.75 minutes ~ 23.6 mph

Sorry, I still have to think in mph for TTs. Top tour riders do well over 30
mph in much longer TTs, so 14 minutes for 10K is nowhere near world class. I've
seen cat 3 riders go faster on a 10 mile TT that was reasonably flat. I
personally have done just a handful of TTs shorter than 10 miles. For sure
fitness is key on the short races but to me, attitude on the day of the race was
always a huge factor on the many 10 milers I've done. If you can get mentally
ready to suffer and then not blow it by going out too fast or too slow, then at
least you will get to suffer even if you have a slow day.

23.6 is nothing to laugh at. If you stick with it, you'll probably beat that
time. The advice given you here is solid, although unlike Tom, I recommend you
to absolutely, positively get yourself a full-on TT bike. ****, if I went out
and laid down the big bucks for a new ride, I'm damn sure I'd kick the ****
outta my PR. Go do it and if you puke all over those snazz aero bars, you can
curse me at will.

We have a local TT that we do which is about 20 km and has 600 feet of
climbing in it with several sections of approximately 6% for more than
100 yards both going up and coming down. My best time is around 35
minutes for an average of 20.5 mph.

I've done this on a TT bike and on a normal bike and SURPISE! a normal
bike is faster. At speeds below 25 mph a TT bike adds almost nothing to
your speed. The difference in drag is almost indetectable and TT bikes
are generally heavier and accelerate slower.

Moreover, unless you spend countless hours on a TT bike the position is
foreign enough that you put out less power in that position.