Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT

After losing 35 minutes in an Ironman last weekend it id a tough one to answer.. if you do puncture in a 25 you may as well give up.. but you still need to be able to get home!

Is that a massive faux pas/bad idea?

It's a long walk home. Usually somebody will volunteer to go and find a missing rider, but depending on your start time that might be more than two hours after you start walking.

I've only punctured once in a TT, luckily it was a 1min walk in my socks to the nearest marshall who thankfully had driven there, so could give me a lift back to HQ...

It's why I'll probably only enter road bike events going forward - I'll be on my normal wheels on normal decent tyres I ride for the majority of the year, not paper-thin TT tyres.

Pacing is the key thing with TTs, and knowing what you can hold consistently is crucial. That knowledge will come with time though, the more TT events (at the same distance) you do, the better attuned to your ability/numbers you'll become.

Power meters are obviously king, then Heart Rate monitors. They'll give you objective numbers (assuming you've done a test to calculate your FTP or worked out your HR zones from you Max HR). After that, you can use Rate of Perceived Exertion to score how hard you're working.

One really basic and easy method to gauge effort is to be constantly asking yourself 'Can I hold this pace for another X miles to the finish?'

• If your answer is 'no', then you're going too fast.
  
• If your answer is 'yes', then you're not going quick enough.
  
• If your answer is 'Oh god, I don't know, this hurts, stop asking questions', then you're probably going just about right.
  
  
  

This

I've gone way into the weeds of racing with power and now full circle using primarily RPE and limiting/pushing effort using speed.

The power is useful post-ride to help analyse performance but in the moment it was reducing my ability to read the course/weather/initial effort level. Maybe still good to have to keep an eye on towards the end of a race to gauge if there's a bit more to squeeze but am really enjoying racing without it.

At the end of a race I'm going full gas anyway.

I use PMs the opposite way - keeping power in check at the beginning.

I used to cover the numbers up when doing intervals sometimes just to try and train my sense of RPE better by seeing how close to x watts I could hold an interval. I don't know if it was effective but it's something different to try.

Ha, I’ll be on tubed 25mm gp 4 seasons. Not exactly TT tyres…

This is what I struggle with tbh, because when I’m pedalling hard on the power, it’s my legs that give out, where as when I’m running it’s heart/lungs/generally blowing hard that is what gives out.
But I’ll find out either way. Will likely try a 25 mile effort this weekend if I can - but race day and a dry run are very different.

I don’t have a power meter, no clue of my FTP etc. I’m just on wrist based HRM, had a chest strap that’s died, maybe worth buying another then? My one positive is that I’m fairly familiar with perceived effort from fell racing so I do have a sense of what an hours max effort should feel like.

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I better not fuck it up now.

@Aldosterone has even sorted us a LFGSS CC skin suit, just hope my belly fits in.

I think trying to keep an eye on speed is about all I can do. Lap speed is particularly useful as I’ll give me my average for the current lap, rather than keeping track of current speed. And we all know how impossible maths becomes once you’re trying hard!

If you're using a cycle computer, you may be able to pair your watch to it. Not something I've tried personally, but feels like something one should be able to do. (I think Garmin does this via 'Extend Display' mode)

I wouldn't recommend constantly looking down at a wrist watch while doing a TT.

Garmin watches can broadcast HR to a computer. I've found wearing my watch on the inside of my wrist gives me a pretty good view of it in TT position though. Certainly not any harder than looking at a normal computer screen.

Power meters are obviously king, then Heart Rate monitors.

A power meter might help to avoid rookie pacing errors if you've used it a lot in training and know what output you can sustain for a given time on any day. The trouble with riding to a power you already know you can do is that you'll fail to exploit your good days.

HR is even less reliable. I still put on the chest strap as a matter of 30 year ritual, but I don't look at it while riding and don't even bother to look at the data afterwards these days. HR is also a lagging indicator, so by the time you get the alarm, the fire has already taken hold.

I think trying to keep an eye on speed is about all I can do

I barely even look at that these days, and approaching my 300th competitive outing on the H10/2 I know what numbers where translate to as a finish time. If you don't know the course, looking at your current lap average gives only the broadest brush stroke picture. Also, what are you even going to do about it? If you could try harder, you'd already be doing so 🙂

They're not just rookie pacing errors - the best riders still make pacing errors because the best riders are still trying to push past what they've done before or done in training or done in their recce. Power is a tool that can be used very effectively for pacing if you understand how to best use it.

Pacing 10s is easy, whack it up to 30 mph and hold it there. That's a bit more difficult in a 25, although @skinny did it, so not impossible.

Maybe whack it up to 27 mph and hold it there for your first one.

Stick a big gear on and get on top of it.

Go out harder than you think you can hold and cling on for dear life, increasing the amount of swearing with every km that passes.

The only way I’m hanging on to 30mph is if I’m holding onto a moving support vehicle.

Pacing 10s is easy

Yeah, but what about after ten seconds?

Agree it's useful for beginners to keep an eye on power (or even more experienced racers). Thankfully I'm past that having got it wrong so many times.

I think a decent initial spike in power to get quickly up to speed is a good thing. Just once there keep an eye on average speed as RPE may not be a good indicator, either positively negatively. Number of times I've felt crap in the opening 25% of a short TT only for it to turnaround second half.

The positive split is underrated! Even if power is down second half you can always get a bit more aero.

My mantra is just "keep your head down keep your head down keep your head down BUT LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING!!"

My 10mi PB was done after racing TCR. So, unless you've done 4000km and not slept for the month before your 10mi I wouldn't even bother entering.

Not comparable but mine done at the same time as looking after two small children - am expecting to go considerably faster when I start sleeping properly 😐

Managed to drive out to the course this morning. Was short on time so was straight onto the bike, with no warm up not exactly ideal. Think my start and finish points were slightly wrong but got a good idea of course. Found it pretty hard tbh, but should have gone out faster. Slightly disappointed in my time - 1:11:58 (ish, a smidge over 25 miles).

Room for improvement anyway.

Slightly disappointed in my time

Get used to that. It is 100% of the sport.