Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT

Most long-course bikes look ugly so I agree for the most part

This is all I'm saying. What I mean when I say the fuel cell isn't integrated, I mean it's an add on to the frame....you could say panniers are integrated too. It just LOOKs a bit rough to me, although I'm sure I'd appreciate it's value in the circumstances it's designed for.

what the consensus on % of FTP for a 50

Yes, it's an add-on, but it's optional and it's designed specifically for the frame in question, hence 'integrated' as opposed to panniers which are nothing of the sort. Bike-packing kit though..

I'm actually thinking about one of those Fuel Cells, because according to Cote it's not aerodynamically worse (might even be marginally better) and it would mean I could carry a bunch of gels and not have to get hand-ups from my team as often.

I would ride it at 105% FTP and then be happy with my PB and subsequent WKO parameter adjustment.

You're my hero @hippy .

@Sainsburys_Ed it's going to be massively individual. How long can you currently ride at SS?

IIRC tester's rule of thumb was to double your 25mile time and then add 5 minutes.

Obviously this doesn't give you any info on power but it worked out almost perfectly for me. I think there was a thread on TTF about this recently.

***Not sure if this is the thread I read before but some suggestions in here: http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/?showtopic=68527
Also more here: http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/?showtopic=68527 Is the Lynne mentioned in the second link Lynne Taylor/Biddulph? If so then I'm blown away by her values of 98% for a 50 and 90% for a 100!!

I'm only half joking.

There's lots of 50s in the year, so you can and SHOULD blow up racing one or more of them. Ignore the meter and smash the fuck out of it. It's not like the 24hr, where you get one shot at it and if you blow up you have a LONG way to go before you can get back into it.

Personally, because I don't care so much about the shorter stuff, I'm generally just trying to beat my PB which means I'm often looking at my speed/time rather than power.

Is that really an issue once I've got it to fit me?

It's OK as long as you don't change to a different set-up later. I only mention it because somebody mentioned on the TT Forum that one of my slam-that-stems had saved them from having to buy a new fork after ditching the Sigma.

Is that a Flo disc? Didn't realise they did discs.

Their disc is basically a Flo90 with covers glued onto it, similar to the way Hed make discs.

the front is inline with the head tube so won't make much difference.

Sure? Even something as thin as a hydraulic line can seriously fuck up the flow onto the head tube.

IIRC tester's rule of thumb was to double your 25mile time and then add 5 minutes.

Good use of lower case there, as it's a very old generic testers' rule of thumb. It works pretty well if you're somewhere between 55:00 and 1:05:00 for a 25, outside that you might want to use a proportion rather than just a straight 5 minutes. At the pointy end, it's pretty obvious that people who are translating 48m 25s into 1:36 50s are basically riding the longer race at the same power, but they can do that because they're below the ~100 minute limit of energy storage.

There's lots of 50s in the year, so you can and SHOULD blow up racing one or more of them.

My dad always entered two 50s per season, rode the first one and raced the second one. That was on the basis of having to finish at least one for the club vets BAR, so he played safe and got a time on the board and then tried to improve it. If you're only after a PB and nothing else is contingent on your 50 time, you can attack the first one and use what you learned to do better in the second one.

That's why it's called testing. :)

True. Not sure what else is out there that's faster though. That's why this all sucks without ages to test parts.

Maybe I could get a disc? But then I'd also need a crank powermeter.

Yeah. That's what TriRig said when testing their Omegas.

Maybe I could get a disc? But then I'd also need a crank powermeter.

Or a disc with a Powertap built in

FFWD PT discs aren't warrantied by Powertap or something though and the old Zipp ones were £3k+ so I dismissed both options. HED do theirs like you say as carbon covers over a normal wheel which I don't mind but figure I could just use covers for the same effect which also allows repair of the underlying wheel.

Do you think there would be much advantage to a disc over an 808 with wheel cover? If they're a similar shape, weight is about all I can think of.

Acoustics?

"However, Saris, the maker of PowerTap and the ‘official’ PowerTap/Zipp disc wheel, isn’t too happy with the FFWD PowerDisc.

Saris claims that FFWD has modified its hubs and is worried that this will have an effect on their accuracy. So you can’t expect any support from Saris if things go wrong with the hub. On the other hand, FFWD says it will warranty the PowerDisc, so this shouldn’t be an issue. "

This is for the old Powertap style disc though. Any idea if they've sorted out a deal with Saris with the G3?

How many miles will that add to my 12hr?

The psychological boost has to be worth 10 watts at least.

http://www.wheelbuilder.com/zipp-powertap-wheel.html

808FC on G3 is about £1300 + whatever RalTech wheel covers cost = a more serviceable wheel but heavier and I have no idea about the aeros?

I never rode my HED disc so I don't know what it's like. How do they handle compared to spoked wheels? Big guy, much power, many potholes, much mileage.