Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT

Cool, def up for that hippy,
it looks like the first on is 15th April at 7.15, you able to do that one?
think i'll do it fixed too if that's allowed?!
How long would it take to ride there from westminster?

There were a few fixers last year (was it last year I did them?)
Some guys take it seriously and then there's people like me. :)

It's about 20min from Ealing I guess.

Ealing is about 45-55min from EC2 depending on traffic.
Basically it's doable but I'd need to leave work early.

I am going down to the Thanet Club TTs this year. 10 course is FLAT and the guys are super nice ... even though they all have super hot carbon bikes.

Canterbury? Bit of a hike for a 10mi :)

http://www.thanetrc.org.uk/node/36

Thanet club is the spiritual home of my TT bike. It was owned by Betty Woodruff..
(she was 63 when she quit doing the 10mi at 27 min) have a scroll at the club records.

Canterbury? Bit of a hike for a 10mi :)

not if you have a car/van and know how to get there.

but what do I know, I drive for two to three hours just to ride in circles!

:)

I don't have a car/van nor could I navigate there so nyer circleboy

loser, a car is the most useful item in the racing cyclist's kit

Lucky i'm not a racing cyclist.

yeah, lucky you're a rotten-bottomed chipmunk fluffing blancmange burglar then!

it had to pay off sooner or later

he put the training in, and deserves some recognition for that

I'll go up to Navestock again to do some Becontree Wheelers/East London Velo 10s.

http://www.becontreewheelers.com/results/2009/2009.htm

I'll probably do some of those once I finish working evenings at the end of June. I've ridden quite a bit with a few of those East London Velo people.

See you there/then then.

only £2.5k

Is it weird to wish there is such a thing as a subtle TT bike? Or am I missing the point?

Imagine how good that would look without all the garish logos...

id love a nice hi-tech TT bike, seeing as i ride personal TTs most days. but apart from the aero bars i cant see it would affect my riding much at all, as im probably not fast enough to use any of that fancy aero frame/components. i may get/make some cheap clip on bars for my fuji track.
are TT bikes a bit heavier than normal road bikes to aid momentum?

i train over various diffrent circuits in my area ranging from 30-60miles, i feel pretty good inside knowing my own improvment, but i have no idea how fast i am in relation to other people. depending on the course i can normally do 25mi in a hour give or take 10 mintues.

i might start competing next year when ive had another full year of riding behind me. i dont really feel confident enough to compete against veteran cyclists.

i concur, id have those logos off as soon as i could. i dont mind the frame logos on that planet-x, but all that mess on such deep section wheels looks too garish and cluttered. great looking bike though. i saw a trek TT bike in my LBS that i absolutly fell in love with, unfortunatly i dont have the £4500 to buy it.

A bit closer than Canterbury the Bexley CC run their Wednesday Evening 10's at West Kingsdown on the Q10/26 course, should start around April/ May.
Course record is 20.30 set by Gary Birch from VC Elan on August 6th 2008, same night as my personal best 25.10 on an 88" gear
http://www.cycleclub-bexley.org.uk/evening_10s.html

previous pics;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kent-guy/sets/72157606727518642/

[quote=The Seldom Killer;530049]When does it start becoming worth investing in aero kit?/quote]

This is up to the individual to decide; it's not a matter of cast iron fact.

I suggest the main cost of aero kit may be in embarrassment rather than money.
Just consider the nightmare situation where after the finish of a 25 which you have ridden on the drugged machine posted by Hippy, wearing a pointy hat, you find that you have just scraped inside 1 hour 15 minutes (20mph), but your club mates, on old fixed wheel bikes have all done personals under the hour.

Perhaps you are beginning to see the attraction of the antique steel frame with clip on bars as the only concession to modernity. One tip: conventional wheels with fewer spokes than normal (try to find oval spokes) give an advantage without being too obvious !

A bit closer than Canterbury the Bexley CC run their Wednesday Evening 10's at West Kingsdown on the Q10/26 course, should start around April/ May.
Course record is 20.30 set by Gary Birch from VC Elan on August 6th 2008, same night as my personal best 25.10 on an 88" gear
http://www.cycleclub-bexley.org.uk/evening_10s.html

previous pics;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kent-guy/sets/72157606727518642/

Good pics, you got my Dad in there, some of my club mates, Reg Smith and even me from last years Hilly.....

Not my pics that is someone from VC Elan's pics, there are two of me in there too.

mine are here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fixedwheelnut/

Here is an example of the sort of TT bike I've been talking about earlier in this thread
Based on a '70's 531 road frame about 2" smaller than I used to consider my correct size. My back is flat when holding the clip on bars. I think all the equipment, except the rims, spokes and the clip ons came from cycle jumbles.

I would say that the geometry of this frame is a bit shallower that a typical track frame, and I believe this is an advantage for TT use. I find the most difficult part of riding TT's on fixed is descending, especially with a tail wind, when it's necessary to be doing at least 35 mph. Anything that makes for stability must be an advantage.

I can't claim to have done any fantastic times on this machine, but that's me, not the bike. My results have been as good as I could reasonably have hoped for, and actually better than I've managed on gears recently.

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Thats a nice machine

Dulwich Paragon have a low-key, friendly TT series through the summer

Last year it was on a Thurs eve every other week. About 10-15 riders meet in Cudham, Kent, and do a 10 mile lap.

Details of last year's here: http://www.dulwichparagon.com/acidcat/default.asp?itemID=227

Expect something similar this year

saw a guy out today with drops and clip on aero bars on some cannondale. he had brakes on the aero bars as well as the drops. it looked mad busy with all that stuff going on at the front and seemed a bit silly really. i dont imagine aero bars are all that great for anything but TTing.

Some people have clip on aeros for Audax riding. Whilst a lot of the routes aren't too well suited to it, some do end up with some long straight stretches where it's good to get tucked in and pick up a bit more time.

But hey, audaxes are like TT's for slow people with mandatory pie.