Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT

^ I'm now imagining a naked Evans on bike having a shit in a windtunnel. shudders Sounds messy.

Updated:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmiFZ3L-H5pRdDZXMTVkcXJaZ2VyOEpHSjlsemdvZFE#gid=0
Still can't catch a break with the weather

That was horrible. How'd you do Hippy? I suffered for 4:51something
Horrific head winds from Brecon to Carmarthen combined with a fair bit of draggy ascent. 20 mins slower than last year but that was on the flat and faster R100/8 course at Abergavenny.

http://app.strava.com/rides/12200930

Is time trialling as hideous as I imagine it to be? Clubman was trying to convince me to look consider doing a 25, 50, 100 and 12 hour TT this year. It sounds ghastly but strangely interesting.

Not really looking to train too much (work etc taking a lot of time) so would be wondering how bad this would be. I know I can ride 25 - 100 miles, the 12 hour TT is probably the one that fills me with most dread.

You've left it.too late this year.
There's only you and the clock, so if you like that zone it.might.be good, dosent appeal to me much after having.done a few.club tts, I like adrenaline too much, but the satisfied seem to be those who keep shaving seconds off times, even after years doing.it.
Reckon if.you do.something put everything into it, there's lots of dabbling these days gets on my Tits.

Thanet RC 25 today on the Q25/10
A windy day on my geared Planet X and did 1:03:50 thirty seconds slower than last years ride on fixed but then with the weather OK
The wind didn't stop Kevin Tye smashing the course record again with 51:58 though :(

http://app.strava.com/rides/12171646

You've left it.too late this year.

Why do you say that? OK, sure, you've missed entering the National 100 mile champs next weekend, but any other event is within your grasp. Just enter something and have a go.

Is time trialling as hideous as I imagine it to be?

Well, if you're enjoying it you're doing it wrong, so I suppose some people might regard that as hideous.

That was horrible. How'd you do Hippy? I suffered for 4:51something
Horrific head winds from Brecon to Carmarthen combined with a fair bit of draggy ascent. 20 mins slower than last year but that was on the flat and faster R100/8 course at Abergavenny.
http://app.strava.com/rides/12200930

Good, ish. The 100 is still a cursed distance! 200m from the start line I had to dismount and align my wheel which I'd pulled skewiff. Got stuck behind a tractor on one descent as well but I finished pretty strongly (think 25 power for the last 30min).

Took about 9min off my previous PB. Didn't have to stop in agony which was nice (adaptation to new positions is a good idea!) but did have to piss off the bike at one stage.

http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=70152

The last 100 I did I was almost an hour behind the winner. This one I'm only 15 min behind the winner. Not too shabby.

Maybe I should wait until they do the R100/8 again and try for a sub-4hr..

Is time trialling as hideous as I imagine it to be?

It's exactly as painful as you want it to be.

Well, if you're enjoying it you're doing it wrong, so I suppose some people might regard that as hideous.

Unless you're a masochist.. which, let's face it, any competitive cyclist is to some extent.

Is time trialling as hideous as I imagine it to be?

You're not going to know the answer until you try it.

I did my 1st 25 on Thursday. It's 'interesting'. I learnt some things and hurt some things.

The last 100 I did I was almost an hour behind the winner. This one I'm only 15 min behind the winner. Not too shabby.

I bet you were cheating and wearing cycling shoes, though.

I bet you were cheating and wearing cycling shoes, though.

They were the first thing I put in the car, a whole night before leaving.

Until WADA rule on the use of performance enhancing footwear, I'll be taking them at all my races...

I went and did a test 10 mile run round Herne Hill, took a minute off my Bexley 10 time.
Hit 195 bpm early on, then settled to ~170, averaged 171.
Average power was 278 with a max of 740.
Average speed 23.6, cadence 96.

So to get a decent time I need to put out a lot more power than I currently do.

Golden Cheetah pegs my FTP at 268, so I should be able to put out more than the 278 I averaged for 10 miles- I need to try harder.

I know HR data is all blah blah blah ymmv, but the only ten I have HR data for gives me an average of 181 rising to a max of 187 over the last .5 of a mile - In all my time of HR watching I haven't broken 195. Maybe you just need to learn to love the burn?

You're starting too fast and then recovering from the effort. You'll get better at controlling this once you stop paying so much attention to bathroom scales and more attention to what you body feels like at a given time. ;)

Tom- I think you are correct- it wasn't an all out effort, mainly due to my own stupidity.

The way I had my SRM setup it didn't show distance, so I had to rely on my Garmin 410 watch which beeps every mile- so I had no idea of distance remaining until "beep!"

I think I can average around the 180 mark if I get my pacing right, i.e. have nothing left as I hit 10 miles.

Hippy- you are probably also correct, second time I've done this and I'm sure I'm hitting all the standard n00b errors one after another, including going out too hard.

It's quite hard to start easy on the Brands 10, just try not to worry about your lack of speed as you let your HR rise steadily. It's not as if you're going to be passed by your minute man after a mile or two.

Give it all you've got over the final two rises, catch a breather on the downhill after the turn, light the afterburners for the section through West Kingsdown, grab another quick breather on the two steep downhill sections, then give it everything to the finish once you've taken it easy on the left hand turn.

I'll follow that advice tomorrow if it's not raining.

If I can replicate todays time I'll be happy.

Maybe you just need to learn to love the bum?

???

It's a pain tolerance technique.

It's not as if you're going to be passed by your minute man after a mile or two.

I once caught my minute man in a mile, tubby* bloke on the 25 mile version of Fifield which just goes straight up Hawthorn Hill from the start.

My dad routinely gets caught in the first mile, as he's usually on a 9 doing 20mph average and followed by a fast man on a 0 doing 30mph.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, you should not be concerned either with who you're catching or who is catching you - "ride your own race" is right at the top of the curriculum of Testing 1.01

*even tubbier, in b4 fat comments