Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT

Was meaning to ask before, but does that mean you do most of your training on your TT bike?

During the season, yes.

I still commute on the road bike and if the weather is shite or it's during winter when the weather is always shite I will take out the road bike instead.

Cheers hippy. As for drafting there was no danger of that - I was a solid 20m behind him, although from the noise of his disc womming right in my ear hole I'm fairly sure he drafted me up the last mile or so to the turn then backed off so the marshals didn't see him. Sneaky sneaky.

The caught rider is the one that has to back off. And there's something about taking pace in the rules so I'm not sure what that means regarding distance. I only mentioned it because I was reading the rules recently and the 'not allowed to take pace' bit stuck in my head as a bit hard to police. I mean, what if they are a kilometre down the road but you stay the same distance apart for 12 hours? It's not drafting but Is that taking pace still?

Yeah it is an odd one as many of the rules are. Thing is if you're 90% sure there is someone right behind you do you lose focus to take a look behind then concede a few seconds letting them pass or should they make a move to pass you, then you drop back?

If someone is behind me I let them worry about it. They should be passing you but you can't expect everyone to go past like you've stopped. if you're almost evenly paced then the pass could take a while.

ie. I was riding wide to pass a guy yesterday and we got to a hill. He stood up and put an effort in so I would've had to put a huge dig in in order to continue the passing move. I moved in behind him briefly because I didn't like hanging around in the middle of the road for that amount of time and once he'd sat down again went past at my normal rate. My pace didn't change, his did.

Competitors must ride entirely alone and unassisted and not ride in company or take shelter (commonly known as drafting) from other riders or vehicles. A competitor overtaking another must pass without receiving or giving shelter. The onus of avoiding company riding shall be upon the rider overtaken.

Footnote:

Competitors must ride entirely alone and unassisted and not ride in company or take shelter (commonly known as drafting) from another rider or vehicles.

If you should catch up another rider you should try to pass as quickly as possible and must not in any other circumstances ride close behind so that you take shelter from the wind.

You must set your own pace and not use another rider as a pace maker. The onus on avoiding company riding shall be on the rider overtaken.

Nor is it in order to ride alongside and even to ride a few metres behind for any appreciable distance. In the spirit of the sport, caught riders should not disturb the performance of the rider catching them by repassing and/or riding closely behind them, except when they can sustain that move. This is generally considered to mean that the caught rider should allow a reasonable gap to develop of some 30 to 50 yards/metres.

I think it's almost impossible to do this. Who passes another rider and then doesn't move back over out of the middle of the road? That's technically helping them but is against the rules.

Just how long am I supposed to ride in the middle of the A1 before moving back to the left I wonder? Ha!

Makes sense. It's all good experience none the less. He was still faster than me by over a minute, harumph!

Probably that 30s he spent sitting on your wheel.

#jokes

ie. I was riding wide to pass a guy yesterday and we got to a hill. He stood up and put an effort in so I would've had to put a huge dig in in order to continue the passing move. I moved in behind him briefly because I didn't like hanging around in the middle of the road for that amount of time and once he'd sat down again went past at my normal rate. My pace didn't change, his did.

This used to happen to me a lot on sporting courses. Being light I'd invariably smash time out of bigger guys in front on the climbs but be the same speed or slower on the flats. It's frustrating to take someone on the hills only to be re-passed on the flats. I'm damned if I'm going to sit up and let a gap open up just because some fatty can't climb :-).

I guess a lot of these rules can be hard to interpret, especially by a marshal stood on the side of the road. I guess the key for most of us (those of us who aren't shooting for records) is just to do our best to be true to the spirit of the rules.

I'm one of those fatties. I remember a ding dong battle (as us Brits would say, lolage) during the Welsh 100 Champs last year. Obviously I won that battle because moar powah is moar powahful.

Fatties going fast on the flat provide more "draft bonus" than whippets going up hill.. just remember that :)

Lea Valley CC @ Hog Hill Tomorrow

The weather is looking good , so if you fancy a 10 @ Hog Hill/ the Redbridge Cycle Circuit then the first rider is off @ 7 pm. You should get a ride if you sign on after 7.

In the spirit of the sport, caught riders should not disturb the performance of the rider catching them by re-passing

Really?!
The guy behind me caught me on last weeks ten for 1minute. He then reached a drag and blew, so I overtook him and left him for 30sec in the last 2miles. Was I meant to sit 20m behind him to the finish and post a shit time "in the spirit of the sport"?

Also the idiot was swerving out behind vehicles taking any draft that he could scaring the shite out of other drivers behind who'd given him loads of space. (the lanes are almost wide enough to fit two cars in.)

I think it's almost impossible to do this. Who passes another rider and then doesn't move back over out of the middle of the road? That's technically helping them but is against the rules.

Just how long am I supposed to ride in the middle of the A1 before moving back to the left I wonder? Ha!

I'd say there usually has to fairly blatant wheelsucking before anything happens, because most people are (and certainly should be) reluctant to make complaints.

There is an important point to made here though relating to the laying out of the field. Most, but by no means all, organisers are aware of the correct method - to put the best riders on the '0's' (50, 60, 70 etc.) and the next rank on the '5's', with the slowest on the '4's' and '9's'. Using this arrangement means that riders of similar abilities are not going to catch each other quickly, so if one 10 marker does catch another the caught rider is already thoroughly beaten.

I expect this just teaching grandmothers to suck eggs, but I have seen some badly laid out fields in recent years, and I just hope some future TT organiser might read this.

And talking of TT organisers, I just had a call from the man in charge of the Hounslow Open 10, who could still do with a few more entries.

The event is on Saturday 15th June (2pm start) on the Farnham-Alton course.

The course is reasonably fast: I don't know the course record, but I do know Hutchinson has done a 48 minute 25 on it. I happened to be riding the event, and he went past me as though we were taking part in completely separate activities.

The prize list amounts to about £240 (that's from memory) and at the moment we've only got 40 riders.

You've got until tomorrow evening to enter by phone or email.
If you haven't got a handbook and need the contact details send me a p.m.

Hi Chris

Is the course that the rider achieved his/her best ride on taken into account when organising a field? For example my brother beat his 10 mile PB by over a minute on the F11/10 Tring course last month.

^^ shame I'm not here

And talking of TT organisers, I just had a call from the man in charge of the Hounslow Open 10, who could still do with a few more entries.

Should pick up some entries from the 100+ riders who failed to have the short 21 needed to get into the Hemel 10 on the F11 :-/

Is the course that the rider achieved his/her best ride on taken into account when organising a field?

No, it would be too much effort, and the organiser would also need to know the conditions prevailing on the day in question.

Should pick up some entries from the 100+ riders who failed to have the short 21 needed to get into the Hemel 10 on the F11 :-/

Reckon there's a better chance of getting into one of the midweek ones?

If you mean the VC10 club events, then no, unless you're already mates with some VC10 boys. HCC175 is almost as quick, and just as fixed-friendly (i.e. not at all) and clubs using that in the evening don't get such big crowds.

Nah, the VTTA event on the 17th of July.

I have a feeling there will be a huge number of people booking mid-afternoon dental appointments that day :-)

I doubt the tandem entries will fill up.

Just sayin'

Already entered on my solo. No way I'm riding a fixed tandem on the F11; some of the geared crews are rocking 60/11 for the descent!