Ah shame it's that weekend as mrs blobby already have something on the calendar. And already racing Easter Monday, got a ride on F11/10, not really a huge fan of big dual carriageway courses but it's probably the fastest course within easyish travelling distance.
Be interesting to see if you do get the bug, it is quite addictive. Though much like other forms of racing it can be very bloody frustrating when you don't get it right. Are you browsing the Internet for time trial bikes yet? 🙂
Lol, I've just come here from ogling a Spec shiv offer for £1500. I'm not going to buy one until the seasons out, and have an space issue storing another bike.
Out of interest, what do most people ride on longer - 50 mile for example - TT's? It strikes me an Aero road bike would be more of a comfort for the long stuff? The best bet for me you see is to consolidate my current road bike by buying a Propel/Aeroad type of thing which would leave me with a Summer roadie option. Appreciate it's an aero comprimise.
If you want to go fast a TT bike regardless of distance! Go to a 100 or a 24hr and those that want to go quick will be on TT bikes. You just set it up in a more sustainable position than maybe for 10's and 25's.
I'd have probably thought along similar lines to you before I got into it. Now it really wouldn't be a consideration.
Ah. I'll wait until after summer then to see if it becomes something I want to do next year.
I think Hutch mentioned that he raised his bars 10 mm to do a 25 and 20 to do a 50.
Is an interesting point regarding sustainability. Reading Millars book the other day and he said he'd warm up for a TT on the road bike as his position was only rideable when going flat out.
I think Hutch mentioned that he raised his bars 10 mm to do a 25 and 20 to do a 50.
Hutch used to do the opposite. Higher bars for a the short stuff for maximum power output, then lower bars to get more aero in the longer stuff as it was a submaximal effort so there was less impact to power.
Ah, 10+ years since i read that, memory is fading.
<slight hijack>
Just in case anyone is on a tighter budget, and this happens to fit their needs:
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HBVTRCFB/vision-trimax-carbon-si-csi-r-bend-flat-bar
£150 at the moment. No idea if it's any good.
That using the extra 40% off code? Looks pretty good, no idea how adjustable or aero it actually is though!
Well a good news bad news day for my TT build. Good news is that after about a month of waiting my TriRig Omega X callipers have finally arrived 🙂
Bad news is that the Zipp 808 I brought last year is [url= http://www.zipp.com/support/recall-information/index.php ]subject to a recall[/url] due to an exploding front hub issue. Waiting for more info on UK process from Fishers. Better be sorted quickly as race season proper is fast approaching 🙁
Still need to sort out a full time saddle for it too as I'm fed up swapping the Adamo between turbo mule and the TT bike. A narrow Dash Stage is looking very tempting...
Dash?! Lovely! We must get the mods to change the thread title!
Well it seems a shame to put some cheap and nasty saddle on there 😉
budgets gone mad 😆
Build is finished. We're into upgrades now. Different budget 😉
A narrow Stage... 🙂
Bothers me slightly that I'm quite far forwards on the rails, but think the rear saddle mount would be too far back. Probably not a problem seeing as I only use the front few cm's of the saddle.
Got my first open of the year on easter Monday so hopefully find time before then to fit the TriRig brakes too.
Bad news is that the Zipp 808 I brought last year is subject to a recall due to an exploding front hub issue.
Oh and happily on closer inspection turns out I have the v9 hub which hasn't been recalled... yet!
Can we see a pic of the final build of this cheap hack you've bodged together then?
How can you tell the hub affected? (I have a set of 404s bought last year...)
Can we see a pic of the final build of this cheap hack you've bodged together then?
About to pop out on it so I'll take a photo in the sunshine 🙂 Won't have the TR brake callipers yet though.
How can you tell the hub affected? (I have a set of 404s bought last year...)
DT, have a look at the PDF in this link...
If you have the flange ring then it's recall time. Mine is the v9 without the flange ring, brought last year too.
Not bad for a budget bicycle. 😉
You have to stop cutting the corner when existing the driveway from Blobby Towers though.
Haha I wish that was my driveway. The driveway to Blobby Towers is more suited to gnarmac bikes! I'm never sure whether to ride it on flimsy race rubber or walk it on expensive carbon soled race shoes 😕
Cheap flip flops to walk to the end of the drive then put shoes on and stash the flops until your return 😉
Oh bollox, that looks familiar. Will have to dig them out of the loft to check. Is it a hub swap and waiting weeks or a completely new wheel?
Wouldn't be so bothered if it was the rear as that needs a rebuild anyway.
Nice work on the bike btw 🙂
I think previously they've rebuilt the wheel on a new hub. Probably waiting weeks. Bit of a pain that. I'd research it a bit but would probably risk riding them and send them in after the summer, I think they've had very few actual reported failures.
The r9 does look very similar. Quite relieved mine is the r9 as I got it from an eBay store so sending back would have been a PITA. And the timing would have been rubbish with races fast approaching.
How did the TT go over the weekend riding to power? Can be quite tricky.
Well, plans changed, went out on the sat to test the position, got carried away and instead of a short blast went for a flat out 2hr ride. Logged a 20min pub of 286 and did 25miles in just over 1:15 with traffic and hills. Later that evening sat crosslegged giving the boy a bottle got bad cramp in calf which meant I was hobbling the next day and had to give it a miss. Numpty.
Bit of a balls up tbh, but I enjoyed belting around on sat and picked up the first Kom of the year. First 10 is on the 21st. I will not be a numpty the day before.....
Ah balls, hope the leg sorts itself out.
but I enjoyed belting around on sat and picked up the first Kom of the year.
Is good fun going for a blast on the TT bike. Does feel a bit like cheating 🙂
Well my budget tt bike is a set of clipons on my roadie! But it did feel a bit like cheating, I would love to have a proper go on a full on tt bike.
A few more updates. The TriRig brakes are on, as is the Dash saddle. Still fiddling a bit with the Dash saddle as where I sit on it seems to be a bit different to the Adamo.
Front end was a bit too low too so had to stick an extra 10mm of spacers in there (hopefully they'll come back out later in the year.) Had to take all the bars apart to get the spacers in as the Di2 runs down the middle of the spacer. Changed the brake cables too as I'd made a right mess of the outers on the original install. Had planned to change them for some Jagwire Link but it didn't quite work out (LBS told me the MTB kit they had would be fine with a different pair of inners, but it doesn't have the right connectors, grrr!) Hugely fiddly job, probably wasted around 3 or 4 hours trying to thread various bits of cable through. Probably about half an hour just trying to get the front brake outer through the hole at the bottom of the stem. Whoever designed the Pro base bar and stem interface should be flogged.
Anyway, here's the front end...
And here it is in it's current guise.
Still only one race so far this year. Easter Monday open got cancelled due to standing water 🙁 Got a club spoco this weekend on it though, and then the club Wednesday night 10's start next week 🙂
Well my budget tt bike is a set of clipons on my roadie!
Doesn't seem to be holding you back DT 🙂
Second race last night, a lumpy club ten. Pretty windy so swapped the 808 for a 404. Crazy race, 30+ mph all the way out, then about 25 most the way back up the hill into the wind. Bike worked well, though still haven't quite got settled on the Dash saddle.
Got a set of 3T forks on the way to replace the Wolf. Meant to be a tiny bit faster and they were going cheap on eBay 🙂
Also need a new warm up turbo wheel as disappointingly none of the spare ones I have knocking about take an 11 speed cassette. Might see if I can pick up a cheep 11 speed freehub that'll fit something.
Speaking of "budget". I did work it all out the other day. I pretty much got frame, bars, TriRig brakes, and all the Di2 stuff for what I'd have paid for something like the new Giant Trinity frameset. Pretty happy with that.
Also need a new warm up turbo wheel as disappointingly none of the spare ones I have knocking about take an 11 speed cassette. Might see if I can pick up a cheep 11 speed freehub that'll fit something.
Run it with 10 rear sprockets and a spacer on a 10 speed hub. How much of the 11T are you using to "warm up" anyway?
Don't bother setting the limit screws for a turbo trainer.
Run it with 10 rear sprockets and a spacer on a 10 speed hub. How much of the 11T are you using to "warm up" anyway?
Thought had crossed my mind. Wondered if the indexing would be all messed up. Might give it a try.
Thought I'd do a quick update as new fork just turned up. Meant to be a few seconds quicker and a fair bit lighter (full carbon steerer on this one.) Shall fit that tonight.
Got an 11 speed DT freehub for a rear wheel I can use on the warmup turbo. Annoyingly needs a bit of dishing. Not sure if this is a result of a change of freehub (possible?) or just the tight clearances on the frame having not used that wheel on that frame before.
Di2 is still brilliant on a TT bike. Though I think the dFly unit is draining the battery. At least I now know what happens when you flat the Di2 battery! If it keeps killing the battery I may take it out.
Had a lovely spin on it last night, good conditions, not much wind, really starting to gel. Excited at the prospect of decent courses and float days 🙂
Any pics of the finished bike? Not sure I've seen one.
Previous page has a couple of photos of pretty much finished bike. I'll post a few action shots when i get some 🙂
Becuase this became the de facto TT thread...
I did my first solo 10 last night, and despite my nerves thoroughly enjoyed it. I had ti start out early in the morning for work and forgot my garmin and HR strap in the rush, so added to the pressure was some googling about TTing to RPE and manual lap counting. It was windy - at hillingdon circuit - about 13mph and gusty which with my relative inexperience on the TT bars meant that I was a bag of nerves around the tight bends.
Nevertheless, with 11 laps constituting 10.4 miles I went off with a strategy of 3 laps under LTH, 3 laps harder but still under LTH, 3 laps hard over threshold and finally 2 smash laps. My first 9 laps were very consistent with the last 2 about 10 secs faster than the rest. I finally came in at 27:25 with an average of 35.2kmh which I'm really pleased to start with with as I wanted to get under 30 mins.
Lots to learn though, I had more in the tank, I need to take more corners on the 'bars and be confident enough to track wide on one of them to maximise speed through it.
I'm loving TT's though! Enough of the N+1 I'm sticking with a potential road bike consolidation & TT bike purchase over the winter type plan 😀
Nice work Kryton, well done!
Good work Kryton. When's your next one?
Given the controversial nature of this thread I may kick off another thread for TT related chit chat.
I trundled into work today on the roadie with clips, aero wheels and giro attack. Surprisingly no abuse. Will be a slow hours ride to the start and then my first 10 of the year. Last years PB (my first 10) was 26:53 on a standard road bike, so I would hope to be quicker this time round.
I'm on the tail end of a cold with blocked sinus's so who knows (getting the excuses in early!)
Well done on getting under 30, I remember that was my target to and I was super happy to do it
Best of luck DT.
If I get out of work early enough it'll be H10/8 on the TT bike. If I don't it'll be a more local non-aero 10 on the road bike. Not much to learn from the latter and it could be a fun race to do, but then I would like a proper go at a decent course too.
Well not bad. The course has changed slightly (p140) so it's now 10.7 so can't compare properly to old result. 26:48, 2 seconds slower than my buddy, dammit! Span out on the first drop so reckon I lost time there, 50x12 is too short. Power average of 262w a little below what I wanted but didn't have the overall average on screen so had little idea where I was other than the 3sec average. Finished with legs hurting but otherwise fine. I was approx 25:02 on the 10.
Didn't have the zipps on as the rear needs a re true. I'm sure I could have had those 2 seconds if I had 404s as opposed to cosmics
You'd have definitely had him with the 404's 🙂 Yours not going back with the recall?
Did the non-aero TT last night on the road bike,though I did use my 404's (seemed OK with the rules given it was no proper deep or disc wheel.) HCC118, a rolling B road out and back with a crappy surface. Bit of a scrappy effort but won it with a 23:22.
I'll do some sums later but I reckon it would have been maybe a longish 21 on the TT bike. Others who'd raced the course previously on TT bikes seemed to be coming in about two to three minutes slower on road bikes.
It's TT bike time on Sunday though, Westerley 10 open 🙂
For longer TTs (25s), do you guys drink/carry much fluid? I guess its personal preference, just interested since tt'ing is new to me, and i think i'll probably do more of it now.
How would you approach riding a hilly 25 in terms of riding to power? Ride above FTP on the climbs and recover on the descents? (which for me on sunday have sharp turns/potholes/draggy not fast)
If I'm honest the zipps are still in the loft, too many things going on at home at the moment (house up for sale). I'll try to check them for the recall this weekend. It was only the front hub though wasn't it?
A short 23 is a good time for a standard road bike...there was some lovely kit at the TT. Exorcets look the part, and the guys on them were posting 23-24min times. Might look into one for the C2W. And before anyone chimes in, yes it would be ridden to work, then the TT and back again!
Good luck for Sunday. Next one for me is the 3rd May and a course I know well.
It was only the front hub though wasn't it?
Yes, I think so. And probably the QR skewer too.
How would you approach riding a hilly 25 in terms of riding to power? Ride above FTP on the climbs and recover on the descents?
Depends really. Theory is that it's worth going a bit harder if the speed drops due to an incline (as your speed through the wind will have dropped.) So it depends on how steep the incline is, how long it is, and how fast you are going up it, and how steep the descent is and whether you can recover without losing the time you made up going harder on the incline. If there's lots of hills then repeated harder efforts can also be costly.
For longer TTs (25s), do you guys drink/carry much fluid?
Nothing on a 25.
Well done on the win Mr Blobby!
It's TT bike time on Sunday though, Westerley 10
Could be interested *fires up google*
Edit: Arse, too late.






