Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT

Ha, you obviously never seen me swimming.

in other news, I've got a number ending in a zero for the first time tomorrow. Must be a slow field

With the relaxation of field placement rules, you may find that you're among the fastest of the slow half. Or they may just be messing with people by not even using 10 minute steps in the layout, my dad's on a 1 tomorrow so all bets are off.

Ahh all this first-time fixed TT chat is taking me back! Obviously the advice to just go out and do a 10 is dead right; then you get all the fun of "what gear do I need to put on to do x speed at the same cadence" etc. ad infinitum. -- If I could gear up from 49x15 to 49x14 but keep the same cadence I'd make 25mph -- doesn't just happen that easily unfortunately! I personally like the idea of trying to get as far as I can on a 'non-aero' set-up then hopefully get free gains further down the line.

Also I totally second the comment about being surprised at how fast you go in a TT compared to your usual average speed -- if you're happy doing 18mph in general road riding I reckon you'll have no problem beating 20mph.

I do struggle to comprehend the >30mph stuff! Chris Boardman did a 17:54 fixed so there are no excuses!

Swimming? That's the one where you float along a river, slowly emptying an esky full of tinnies while throwing a tennis ball to a dog, yeah?

Chris Boardman did a 17:54 fixed so there are no excuses!

Apart from not having the genetics of an Olympic and World Champ, yellow jersey wearer, yeah.

To be honest, he could've ridden a fucking Brompton with a flat tyre around a 10mi faster than many of us.

No, swimming is the one where one of your mates gets so drunk that he thinks it would be funny to shoot the inner tube out from under you with his air rifle

Ah, yes, that's similar to another slightly more risky riverside activity, which is shooting a floating oxy/acetaline tank with a .303 to see how many fish you can kill in one billabong.

Swimming? That's the one where you float along a river, slowly emptying an esky full of tinnies while throwing a tennis ball to a dog, yeah?

In my case, it's where I get into a body of water, thrash my arms and legs around very vigorously, nearly drown, and then get out a couple of feet from where I started, trying to cough up all the water I've breathed in. No dogs involved.

Weather is looking pretty interesting for the ECCA 25 on the e2 tomorrow. Wind, thunderstorms. Hopefully it’s one of those freak good days!

Q10/1 Hamstreet.

just been and driven it.
Assuming they push you off at the Junction. Head towards Ashford.
Just under 4 miles to second roundabout. No hard shoulder as such but about 0.75m from white line to actual road edge, this of course is not where you want to be as covered in gravel and bit's of car, 1x dead badger and 1xhouse brick.
Round the roundabout and back to start point, only 1x dead badger no house bricks.
This is regarded as one of the best roads in the area, maybe the county the A2070. Good smooth tarmac.
So just under 8 miles and passing start point.
Road now undulates, maybe over 1/2 mile then levels and drops again with another rise/climb out roughly equal to the drop in.
Cross over the Royal Millitary canal, maybe 1/2 mile and turn off at Johnsons corner (left) towards Hamstreet.
Road surface from this junction is much rougher.
Used the car odometer, and was looking for road markings around 9.8 miles, second layby pretty much bang on 10 miles is a white line across carriage way.
Might have a go early on a Sunday morning.

Fixed is out of the question for me, around 8.3 miles the road drops, could coast faster than i can spin here and have a little rest so SS wins :) and the same again about 3/4 mile further on, road dips down, so tuck in and coast until bike slows down enough for me to try and spin up and get my 2 pawl freewheel to pick up with out pitching myself over the bars :) (Halo clickster in near future methinks)

Can do a baseline run with no aero thinking towards Biek setup. will remove Krypto D-lock though.
Shoulda kept the Dolan carbon roadfork...... :)

Twenty hours later on.....

Found start line, about 100m from junction. Set speedo to zero.
According to my speedo i did 10.26 miles in 31.47
And was nearly sick on my car roof when i wombled back to it.
Having a little lie down now.

I did drag my leggings over boot tops for aeros.
That was about it for streamlining.
42x16 SS
Took me 25.50 to get from start point, up to the roundabout and back to start point, seemed to be cruising between 18-20mph.
Knew at this point a "30" was not happening.

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Road was fairly busy for 7am sunday morning and as it happens another cycle event is on today but the marshalls ignored me as I sailed past them not following there little signs.

Managed to peak at 24mph on flat with no wind.
Topped out at 30mph just after the 8 mile mark as road drops down, coasted and rested until bike slowed down to 20mph so I could spin up and catch up with pawl engagement.
Stayed seated for the gentle uphill.
Second downhill coasted around 28mph, clock ticked over to 30mins, pulled off main road to rough surface side road.
Stopped as I crossed line ( I know in real thing keep going)

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Haven't worked out average speed yet.
Bike in current form is 10.3kg some room to loose weight there, but didn't over think it for first attempt.
Did consume around 350ml of fluid while riding, didn't prepare other than only having 1xlarge Mexican beer night before.
Just got up early, drove to start, warm up was riding from car to start line then just thrashed one out :)

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NDS shot for extra non aero things.....

Seatpost and saddle can be swapped out, shed weight.
Saddle pack can go, add aeros.
Bottle+cage+pump can go/move, add aeros.
Loose the cotton cap under helmet......may or may not add aeros. Maybe ditch gloves
Already dug out old drop bars and aero clip on's so while weight won't change much, aeros should improve.
do have 2xfreewheels on at the moment so ditch one, maybe put a sprocket back on in case freewheel fails, but weight to loose there.

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I wouldn't be too concerned with aero of you've got risers! At least not for your first TT, got to have options for your second one.

According to my speedo i did 10.26 miles in 31.47

You're already ahead. First time out this year on a similar gear (46/18), steel road bike, drops, no skinsuit, tractor tyres etc. I did 10 miles in 32:34

Fit drops, don't drink during the race (whatever your state of hydration at the start, drinking during a 10 isn't going to help during the race), gear up a bit, wear shorts and shave your legs. If you do all that and pin a number on, I'm predicting a 28

You lost me at shave legs :)

The fella that came last the other night did it in 31.59 the week before 34.34

So i wouldn't be *DFL :) if i actually get to a night race.

http://ashfordwheelers.org.uk/clubresults.php

(*DFL unsure if this term is used in road/TT, Dead Fucking Last, a sort of prized position in MTB SS events)

DFL unsure if this term is used in road/TT, Dead Fucking Last, a sort of prized position in MTB SS events

The proper road term is LR for lanterne rouge

I prefer DFL because I'm a filthy SS rider and don't speak French.

My first thought was you win a lady of the night.
Second thought, that's a user name on here.

Then i read the link :)
Win monies for being last ! nice bit of history.

Anyone got a Power2Max Type-S battery cover O-ring spare?

Take your serious question elsewhere, I'm reading a brilliant account of a guys first foray into tt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzIN3EgBIHg