Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT

Thanks for the chainring advice everyone... I think the Fibre-Lyte one looks like the favourite. They make them up to 65T, wonder what you'd use that for?

Thanks for the chainring advice everyone... I think the Fibre-Lyte one looks like the favourite. They make them up to 65T, wonder what you'd use that for?

They list them up to 65; they made Nik Bowdler's 77 and I expect he used it to put nearly 9 minutes into the second place man in the Hounslow 100 on Sunday

He must take delight in Bowdlerising TTs.

I went to watch (some of) the 100 mile time trial at Farnham on Sunday.

It looked quite good.

Of the 80 or so riders, there were a couple of people riding fixed. Most people had aero bars, and a good deal of people had disk wheels. There was clearly a fairly high contingent of triathlon riders, judging by the number of behind-the-saddle water bottles.

The winning time was some three hours and 43 minutes, by the man with the 77 tooth chainring above. The bike looks quite home made with a bizarre saddle and stem.

Most of the field looked pretty strong, but there were a few people looking absolutely wrecked about three-quarters of the way in and I felt quite sorry for them. Plenty of food and drink would be required for such a ride I think, and having a support car to dish it out to you would make it easier. Clubman and I watched a guy grabbing a musette tour-de-france style, which didn't look ideal.

The course was more up and down than I expected, and there was a reasonable (but consistent) wind so it certainly wasn't plain sailing. I'd certainly be interested in having a bash some time, but I think it'd be wise to build up to it.

Chatting to some of the people afterwards, it seems that 90-odd gear inches would be the sort of gear you'd want to be pushing to get a decent time on a fixed wheel bike.

Hounslow & District Wheelers 100 mile Time Trial (31.5.09)

Nik Bowdler (Farnborough & Camberley CC) showed himself to be a worthy British Best All Rounder champion when he won the Hounslow & District Wheelers 100 by a margin of almost nine minutes last Sunday.

 His time of 3 hours 43 minutes 23 seconds was achieved in a strong north east wind which caused most of the field to suffer and record times well below their best.

Bowdler’s ride was not without its difficulties.  His chain came off (“It’s never happened before.” he said.) and he was forced to dismount because it was jammed against the frame. He also had a problem with his bottle cage and dropped two bottles on the road. Luckily he had an ultra experienced minder – Dick Poole, a former Land’s End to John O’Groats recordman, and so potential disaster was averted. The photograph shows the unorthodox drink carrier that was used.
 Nik Bowdler had been unsure of his form and this was his first long distance event of the year. Last Sunday’s ride must have given him the confidence that was lacking.

With Bowdler so far ahead the main competition was for the second place, with three contenders finishing within 1 minute 21 seconds of each other. These were: Aran Stanton (VC St Raphael) with 3.52.13, Hounslow’s own Paul Holdsworth who was third with 3.52.46, and last year’s winner Paul Dring (Echelon -Spiuk) fourth with 3.53.34.
Holdsworth said after the finish that he had not been given any time checks and regretted not knowing how close the race was for second place.

Stanton was clearly having a good day since he was one of the very few established riders to produce a personal best, achieving an improvement of just over 3 minutes.

“I tried to restrict myself to moderate gears to start with, but after the first lap my top gear (56 x 11, or 135”) seemed comfortable except on the climbs”. Amazingly he had spent the previous twelve hours at work on a night shift, so for him this was perhaps the equivalent of an evening event. Aran Stanton is a relative newcomer to long distance time trialling having only a couple of seasons behind him. There is clearly potential for further improvement.

Another notable ride came from the Ladies winner, Lou Collins (TFN Tri Club) who recorded 4.23.04 for her very first attempt at the distance. Her qualifying time was 2.10.43 in a ‘50’, so she rode twice the distance with almost no drop in speed!

Congratulations should also go to Trevor Gilbert for his excellent work as event promoter.

It is sometimes said that today there is no enthusiasm for longer distance time trials. With 95 entrants and excellent results there was no sign of this loss of keenness last Sunday.

Result:

1. Nik Bowdler (Farnborough & Camberley CC) 3.43.23
   
2. Aran Stanton (VC St. Raphael) 3.52.13
   
3. Paul Holdsworth (Hounslow & District) 3.52.46.
   
4. Paul Dring (Echelon Spiuk) 3.53.34.
   
5. Colin Mc Dermott (Festival RC) 3.59.51.
   
6. KeithGarbutt (South Western RC) 4.00.47
   
7. David Shepherd (Liphook CRT) 4.01.43.
   
8. Dave Pickering (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) 4.02.54.
   
9. Simon Donne (Epsom CC) 4.03.44
   10.Phil Ember (Kingston Wheelers) 4.06.00.
   
   

Ladies:

1. Lou Collins (TFN Tri Club) 4.23.04
   
2. Michelle Ayres (South Bucks RC) 4.31.19.
   
   

Team Prize:

Reading CC:

Stephen Bale 4.16.18
Paul Elcock 4.18.28
Stephen Millward 4.21.54.

This is the text of my 'press release' report on the 100. I am posting it now before it becomes stale news. A special fixed wheel report will follow, but I've run out of time to write it tonight. There are some pictures, but I'm having trouble loading these at the moment, the reference in the report to the 'unorthodox' bottle carrier relates to the picture which shows Bowdler carrying a bottle in the neck of his skin suit.

Nik Bowdler powers up a climb with 80 miles already covered.

1 Attachment

The Bowdler machine and the Fixed Wheel prize winner's bike.

2 Attachments

The Bowdler machine and the Fixed Wheel prize winner's bike.

I'm guessing the inner chainring sandwiched between the 77t ring and the outer ring mount is there as a spacer to stop the 77 from hitting the chainstay. Maybe we could club together and buy Nik a longer BB spindle? :-)

Looks like he's broken a few spokes in that front wheel too..

http://static.londonfgss.com/attachments/10719d1244047072-dsc_4367-developed-ufraw-.jpg

Shouldn't that say 'Planet Fix'?

Not sure of the timekeepers accuracy last night so probably not an improvement on last week. However, the pusher did make my day by turning to some of the younger club riders while holding me up and saying, OK lads, pay attention, this is a real mans bike.

HDW 100 – Fixed Wheel Report.

Andrew Phipps (Royal Navy & Royal Marines CA) took the £25 Best on Fixed prize with a time of 4.18.51. Probably more significant to him was that the ride also gave hive the Navy 100 championship.

Andrew told me that this was his first attempt on fixed at any time trial longer than 10 miles (p.b. 21.36), and that the offer of a prize did influence his choice of machines to some extent.
 His current best time for a 100 is 4.14.38, but this was done on the U47 course (Cirencester) which is generally thought to have a better speed potential than Farnham – Alton. Apart from the course he thought the weather conditions were better that day, and this seems likely as everyone found the wind difficult in the Hounslow event.

So he thought that a future 100 personal best on fixed was a distinct possibility.

Phipps told me he used a 97” gear. I did not check what the sprockets were used, and comparing the photo (above) with the gear table I’d say they are probably 48 x 13 giving 98.1”. I picked up the machine to judge its weight and it struck me as being quite heavy – heavier than my own Ancient British fixed TT bike.

There was at least one other fixed wheel rider: Peter Harridge (Icknield RC) who recorded a creditable 4.28. In addition David Eccles (Redmon CC) got round using a Sturmey Archer. At the time it didn’t occur to me to ask David if his gear was fixed but, knowing him, it could well have been. Mr. Eccles did not have a great day on Sunday, so instead of reporting his time I’ll just mention that he has, in recent years, managed a 59 minute twenty five on fixed, without the benefit of clip on bars.

Just as a footnote, Aran Stanton (2nd overall, see above) told me he often rides fixed, both for hack work and for racing. His fixed TT bike is geared to 128 inches…..

Hounslow & District Wheelers 100 mile Time Trial (31.5.09)
Result:

1. Nik Bowdler (Farnborough & Camberley CC) 3.43.23
   
2. Aran Stanton (VC St. Raphael) 3.52.13
   
3. Paul Holdsworth (Hounslow & District) 3.52.46.
   
   
   

I saw P.Holdsworth (great cycling name) this afternoon, as he caught me for a minute just inside 9 miles in the Maidenhead Sunday afternoon 25, looking stylish on 86" fixed. Possibly slightly undergeared, as he romped past on an upslope but had been chasing me all the way up the fast part of the Drift Road while I made hay on my 93" gearing. We ended up first and second with 1:2:03 and 1:4:24 on the slightly sporting HCC001 course, with the host club's Andrew Payne 40 seconds behind me in third on his fancy pants carbon fibre multi-geared modern wonder. Full result at http://www.maidenheadcc.org.uk/results/tt090607.htm

Just as a footnote, Aran Stanton (2nd overall, see above) told me he often rides fixed, both for hack work and for racing. His fixed TT bike is geared to 128 inches…..

128" fekkin 'ell is that for the TT from the top of Mount Ventoux to the bottom? :)

I'd fall over as soon as the starter let go of my bike with a gear that big.

Yes bars, stem and saddle are custom/modified parts.

I went to watch (some of) the 100 mile time trial at Farnham on
The winning time was some three hours and 43 minutes, by the man with the 77 tooth chainring above. The bike looks quite home made with a bizarre saddle and stem.

Goes with post above - haven't got used to the controls yet

I'm guessing the inner chainring sandwiched between the 77t ring and the outer ring mount is there as a spacer to stop the 77 from hitting the chainstay. Maybe we could club together and buy Nik a longer BB spindle? :-)

Correct. I already fitted a long B/B but still rubs when I put the power down so spaced out a bit more with the inner ring. Not ideal as the chainline is a bit out. Unfortunately the Felt chainstay flares out right from the B/B area.

Mr Bowdler joins the forum? Respect.

You can't blame him for getting bored over on timetriallingforum. There's only so many times he can answer the same fucking questions about 'how to train most effectively to increase power at lower cadences'.

Anyway, you're on 165s aren't you, Nick? Much more at home with the other pseudo trackies on londonfgss ;)

Nah.. 165s 170s 172.5s FTW!
Be an indecisive fucker!

Cool stuff, Nik, welcome to the forum. Where will you next be in action?

Finally my new chainring has arrived. I took the decision to jump up from a 46 to a 50 giving me an increase of 6.5GI (75.5 - 82). In theory, if I spin at the same speed as I've been doing, I should knock 2 whole minutes off my time.

Anyone care to predict whether that will happen?

Finally my new chainring has arrived. I took the decision to jump up from a 46 to a 50 giving me an increase of 6.5GI (75.5 - 82). In theory, if I spin at the same speed as I've been doing, I should knock 2 whole minutes off my time.

Anyone care to predict whether that will happen?

If it was that easy, I'd put 150" on my race bike and take the competition record

58 seconds off in the end giving me a new PB of 26.11. I am now this season's fastest person on fixed* and have started picking up the people who ride on aero kit. They spend 700+ on a bike and add things to it, I spend less than 300 and take things off. Ha ha ha. I now reckon that I am on track for a very low 25 by the end of the season.

*closely followed by a man twice my age.

have started picking up the people who ride on aero kit. They spend 700+ on a bike and add things to it, I spend less than 300 and take things off. Ha ha ha.

Yes, it's sometimes fun to see how much money people spend to go slower. On Sunday, I caught about £5000 worth of Cervelo P3/Zipp Disc for a minute in exactly 1 mile!