Bavarian Individual Time Trial Championship Training Plan & Preparation

Course & Elevation

The Bavarian individual time trial championship is hosted by RC Herpersdorf 1919 on a 19.6 km loop around Leerstetten in the municipality of Schwanstetten, Middle Franconia. This is a pure flatland time trial: just 67 metres of climbing are spread across the entire course, and there is no climb worth naming. More than 80 percent of the distance is effectively flat, the remainder gentle rollers, with steep ramps entirely absent. Start and finish sit at the same spot, and riders cover a single loop through the surrounding countryside.

The organising club bills the course as flat and fast, and that is exactly how it rides. Nothing about the terrain will separate the field; what decides the result is the ability to hold a high, even power output from the start ramp to the line. The championship is run together with the German paracycling championship, and alongside the elite and amateur fields there are junior and masters categories. Depending on the class, riders compete with or without time trial equipment, with aero bars and disc wheels barred in the non-TT categories. The field is small but sharp, as befits a championship event.

Pacing Strategy

A flat loop with no climbs calls for a nearly even output just under threshold — not saving, but metering. There are no recovery points: 81 percent flat, the rest only gentle metre-high rolls you carry through in the same rhythm without losing speed.

The race is decided by aerodynamic consistency across the full 19.6 kilometres, not by any single surge. The classic trap is the start: fresh legs and adrenaline push the power slightly too high, and an overcooked opening costs more time in the final third than it gained.

As a loop the course turns through changing wind — stay low into a headwind and push a bigger gear with a tailwind rather than pedalling evenly.

12-Week Preparation

On a flat 19.6 km course, most committed age-group riders will race for roughly 25 to 35 minutes, with the fastest going under that. That places the effort almost entirely at functional threshold: one continuous, evenly distributed, high-intensity aerobic effort with no recovery sections. Anaerobic surges barely feature, because nothing in the profile ever forces a change of pace.

That is precisely what makes the course demanding. With no climbs or descents there are no natural breathers, and every irregularity in pacing costs time. The decisive phase is less a section of road than the opening minutes: go out too hard off the ramp and the final third will collect the debt.

Training should centre on threshold work, for example two to three repetitions of 10 to 20 minutes just below and at threshold, building toward holding race-duration power. A meaningful share of those intervals belongs in the time trial position, because the aero tuck changes breathing mechanics and muscle recruitment and needs weeks of adaptation. Riders starting in a category without TT equipment should rehearse a low position in the drops instead. Add steady-state pacing sessions against a fixed power target to sharpen the feel for even output, and keep short openers in the days before the race. What this course does not require is climbing strength: leave the hill blocks for another goal and invest the time in sustained aero power.