A disc or covers will save about 30-45 seconds over 25 miles. I’d look for a set of covers, some cheap ones on ebay. Raltech is an established maker but others are available.

What a fantastic course!!!

Position looks good, but check the 80% rule, you look pretty close, depending on whether it is base bar or elbows.

Looking really good, Andy. Your position compared to the pic on page 2 is night and day. Congrats on the top 10.

Thanks everyone for the comments re position, certainly think I’m getting there. Any recommendations for what disc cover to go for ? I was thinking of a raltec but as said by umop3pisdn that’s a no no.
Hjghg5 great result – to knock 2 mins off is some going !
Was in the same boat as you with bad side winds on the coastal L212 course near Barrow-in-Furness today . Choose the 38 off my roadbike for the front but when I finished I thought I might’ve got away with my 80 but I’ll never know now. Came 6th overall and 2nd V40. Averaged 309w for the 49mins it took me to complete the course, think I’ve got more to give power wise, I did a hilly TT last year on my roadbike at an av of 340w for 40 mins so with some more training my power should increase as the season goes on hopefully.

Is that on the H50/8? Andy (umop3pisdn) has ridden that so may be able to give you some specific course advice. (I actually drove down there last week but I wasn’t really considering TTing at the time).

For a 50 I would have my aero bottle full and try to drink from it every time I got to a junction/turn. I would also have a gel at half way (tucked in the hem of my skinsuit leg)

For a 50 I’d want at least one bottle, probably 750ml. I’d just use an ordinary bottle. I might enter that one if I haven’t missed the deadline. I’m rubbish at entering. Not organised enough to be a serious tester!

Rode the second westerley on Wednesday evening with the new jet6/9 wheels. Got a PB, third overall (second equal if you round to seconds) and best of all calibrated my powerpod against the bikecalculator predictions to within 1%. All I need to do now is find another 10% to average 320 Watts to go under my target of 23 minutes. All…

I validated the bikecalculator model with the winner’s DFPM average of 395 Watts !!! Again to within 1%.

The RDFCC season starts on Tuesday evening with a 6 miler. Its a CATI so all can ride as long as you are happy on the road. Better finish the “TT” bike off as I have yet to ride it and still need to chop 6″ off the steering column.

Hydration and fuelling is an interesting one. Some of the research suggests that the body’s mechanisms for regulating output are not only linked to what stores it currently contains, but also in some part to the triggers that stores are being replenished. Studies found that even the taste of sugar could trigger a boost in performance, way before the time that the energy could be digested and distributed to the muscles. There is an interesting summary of similar findings on hydration over at Cyclingtips.com.

So I think the takeaway from this is that is your physiology is such that you feel at all like you need to drink during a longer TT, then your performance will probably benefit from being able to.

Two hours testing a position and the new wheels on the Drift Road circuit. Rather pleasingly I was lapping in 23:10 without serious effort, so I’m hoping to manage a sub-hour 25 again this year at our inter-club TT next month. Position needed wider bars and raised a cm so I can keep my fingers wrapped around the shifters. You might like to know that my calibrated Powerpod reported 2:12 Watts#, and bikecalculator validated this with a predicted time of 23:01! Physics is great isn’t it 😉 . I also validated bikecalculator using the winning time at Wednesday’s Westerley ten and a bit at Hillingdon using a direct force PM. Am very satisfied now with the device now.

Still deliberating the 50, and thinking of how to make some disc covers for the Jet 9’s. I set them up with tubeless Vittoria Corsa Speeds, and my they do feel fast. Make a great noise too 😀 . Helmet change might be next, head comes up when tired, and I have to look over my glasses, making vision poor and eyes stream. Might go with contact lenses and a helmet/visor such as the Bambino.

#The geeks among us will recognise that the Powerpod and bikecalculator.com use the same model to make predictions, but consistency is nice to have ad validation was based on an independent dataset.

EDIT – entered -see you all on May 7th

Why so? it’s meant to have a better position for more of the time for riders who don’t tuck their head away completely (which I can’t do for very long). Currently wearing an Advantage, that I hold in a pretty aero position (head doesn’t go down), but I definitely need a visor and an Aerohead is out of the question on price! Selector is a possibility too and I prefer the fit of Giro to be honest.

Did you buy the speed sensor too? Most of my issues have been with speed sensors. I don’t bother with cadence and have not found any difference. Be sure to run the out and back calibration wearing your TT kit (helmet at the very least).

Instructions here https://ibikeforum.com/download/file.php?id=3517

I did – the Garmin one that wraps around the rear hub. I also bought 2x garmin mounts with the action cam mount, one for the road and tt bike respectively so its mounted dead centre away from my hands.

So, i was going to only perform the calibration for one bike then swap the sensor/powerpod as needed, but you think i need my aero gear on and that makes a difference? Therefore a 2 bike setup? I still havent worked out how you switch it from bike A to B looking at the internet instructions.

You need TWO speed sensors. Set TT bike with first sensor mounted on front wheel. Isaac software will guide you through the set up. Ride out and back for calibration. Repeat with second sensor on other bike.

Powerpod has a set of values for CdA and rolling resistance. It needs to know if you are on your TT bike and it gets this info from the speed sensor it pairs with. I keep the red pod on my TT bike with dedicated sensor on front hub. I use the black pod on my road bikes and run two profiles, by using the TT speed sensor or another sensor depending on bar mount or combo mount. The integrated speed and cadence sensors in my Giant bikes didn’t work reliably. Once calibrated, I’ve been very impressed, but am still working on the combo bar mounted calibration.

You’ll also find that weight of rider and bike are not very sensitive, and the defaults aren’t bad, but there is a BIG change based on TT position compared with hoods or drops. Have a play on bikecalculator to get a feel for predicting watts for speed and hence time for distance. The average gives a good predictor of what powerpod is reporting in real time when on the bike.

Direct line of sight and the inverse square law. It recognises the ANT ID of the sensor automatically.

TT’ing 101 required please STW 🙂

The Zwift based club I’m in is doing a ‘real life 10mile TT time’ thing at the moment where everyone posts a real life ten time. So I’m going to give the Newbury RC one a go on Wednesday.

I’ll be on my road bike with a PM- so what’s a good pacing strategy??
Aero advice is appreciated too but there’s not masses of scope tbh 😀

Personally I think TiRed’s pacing strategy is too variable.

EDIT: and mathematically is 102.5%FTP which is a bit shit for a 10 – should be more like 107% if you do a good one (ie smell blood at the end)

If you know your best 20 minute power, ride to that, then turn it up for the last two miles, go flat out with a minute to go, and sprint the last 15s.

You also got a free sprint of 15s or so at the start, but try really hard not to overdo it, a ten is a sustained > FTP effort and requires considerable concentration and mental freshness.

andy – some serious Watts there, get yourself on a fast course and the PB will be destroyed – my 10 PB is 20:55 off 264W so you should smash that as your position looks reasonably sorted now

He did say first 10 😆 . Whatever you do CH will be a PB and as mentioned 110% of FTP is a target 😈 . I’m rubbish at these short efforts, and have only raced hilly ones and Hillingdon. Might try an open on a fast course and VTTC. Much prefer 25s.

Gulp! Not sure I’ll be 110% ftp 😆 That sounds a little too painful for a first attempt!