The other downside of time trialling is it’s probably one discipline where it is about the bike, and the helmet and the skin suit and the overshoes etc, etc.

If you are starting out, I reckon you can get 95% of the advantages without spending lots of money. You don’t need to spend a fortune to get tri bars, an aero helmet and a skinsuit. If you get serious, you can move on to fancy wheels,TT specific frames, etc, but that stuff is really marginal improvements.

If you are starting out, I reckon you can get 95% of the advantages without spending lots of money. You don’t need to spend a fortune to get tri bars, an aero helmet and a skinsuit. If you get serious, you can move on to fancy wheels,TT specific frames, etc, but that stuff is really marginal improvements.

I agree but the point I was making is the people of my acquintance that get into purely TT usually reach a performance plateau based on fitness. To go faster you need to resort to technology to reduce wind resistance. Most people I know that are into TT eventually go the whole hog which is why I never really bothered other than triathlon where I use my normal road bike with tri bars.

The other downside of time trialling is it’s probably one discipline where it is about the bike, and the helmet and the skin suit and the overshoes etc, etc.

It’s not about the bike (alright at the pointy end it is) with this set up
https://www.flickr.com/gp/149665050@N07/62K5t3
I came 2nd in the local summer evening TT series last year, in fact I’ve still got my fastest time on the course even though I’ve got a full on TT bike now.

With regards to better equipment making you faster.. Is that any different than what mountain bikers do..?

Or do folks just buy the latest 5k enduro bikes because they look nice..

Actually don’t answer that..

Time Trials?

I’ve been dabbling in them for the past 2 summers (road bike with clip-on bars and DIY positioning by experiment) and they provoke a range of emotions in me.

I “enjoy” (get some satisfaction) from pushing myself for the duration, but find my lack of speed and a lack of improvement this year extremely frustrating and post-ride I am often disappointed. I look forward to doing them, though.

I’m a reasonably fit & strong 40 year old man, but get beaten by skinny, small boys and old, rotund men.

The people who are best at it appear to tend towards the introverted, have excellent mental focus and are not easily distracted.

I’ve found the scene to be quite social. The TTs I’ve done were run by my own club and other local clubs and I got chatting to people before and after the events.

There is some staggeringly expensive kit for TT. I suspect that I would rapidly see diminishing returns from any investment in a properly fitting bike of more than about £1000.

Some people take it very seriously and focus all of their training efforts on the TT season. It doesn’t interest my enough to do that.

I’m in two minds about next year: Either buy a used TT-specific bike, having a proper fitting, train and concentrate on it more next year or just sack it off and do 5K, 10K & trail/fell running races instead…..

I’ve found crits to be the most difficult/horrible thing. Especially as I spend most of them on my own…
CX races said to be the toughest hour on a bike, would take it over a crit anyday (not saying it’s easy obvs)
Hillclimbs brutal but over quicker and I quite like them.
Nothing compares to running a 5k flat out though imo

My 12hr TT was the best ride of the year. The atmosphere is unbelievable. Can’t wait for the next one!

By contrast an open 10 is nothing but misery for me. Hill climbs are even worse.

Crits are hard and I get little results wise. Road races are more strategic.

I’ve only done 3 TTs in my life and all were our club 5 miler, plus a couple of hill climbs. I thought I’d hate them but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed them. I’m not fit and, despite getting a PB this year, was last (everyone else got a PB too!).

I find them incredibly social, but that’s because our club makes them a social event. The nervous anticipation beforehand, the ride out to the start line, the jokey chatter as each rider is counted off the line, then a bit of grub and a pint afterwards. My family even came to watch this year, which really made it an event. I also like the year-on-year quest to improve my time.

I’d never get totally into it because I really don’t fancy wasting valuable riding time driving around the country to these events, which often take place on busy main roads. Our local 5 miler suits me.

There is some staggeringly expensive kit for TT. I suspect that I would rapidly see diminishing returns from any investment in a properly fitting bike of more than about £1000.

You can put together a pretty decent setup for a fairly modest budget, especially if you trawl the classifieds (check out places like timetriallingforum.) What costs the money these days (at least at the pointier end of the field) is aero testing. You’ll likely find more watts spending 500 quid on aero testing than you will spending 500 quid on kit or slogging away at the training for months.

You’ll likely find more watts spending 500 quid on aero testing getting a decent coach than you will spending 500 quid on kit or slogging away at the training for months.

I’ve only done a few TT style rides this year, where I’ve come so close to my random aim of doing 20mph average over 10-30 miles. The front end on my Cube road bike is huge, it’s taller than my Wazoo, hardly the epitome of great aero! 😆

I’d choose just over 10mins from the start of Oxenbourne Lane to the top of Harvesting Lane any day, as part of a ~27min “Round Butser” loop and then throw in Old Winchester and the White Way etc. for good measure. 😈

big_n_daft – Member
You’ll likely find more watts spending 500 quid on aero testing getting a decent coach than you will spending 500 quid on kit or slogging away at the training for months.

That is also true. Though you’ll still likely go faster after 500 quid on half a day of aero testing than you will after 500 quid on 5 months of decent coaching.

The regular club TT is a social event, anything up to a dozen of us plus time-keeper/pusher-off turn up, have a bit of banter and chase each other round the course, then retire to the pub. Open events are a bit more serious though still basically friendly IME.

Sadists. Also must be extremely boring. **** that for fun. They should also bin them from grand tours.

I know I bang on about aero a bit but I just found this that I posted a while back on another thread…

Taking a rider weight of around 75kg, going from a “poor” CdA of 0.23 (and despite some aero testing and being lighter, I’m still not that far below this 🙁 ) to a “good” CdA of 0.20… making some assumptions about rolling resistance and drivetrain losses, ideal course… riding at 300W, a poor CdA will give you 43.12kph and a good CdA will give you 45kph. For a 10 that’ll take you from about a 22:20 to a 21:30. To go as fast with a poor CdA you’d need about an extra 36W (or 12%) more power to make up those 50 seconds.

The faster you go the greater (in terms of watts) a small drop in CdA becomes. Given the example above, with a “poor” CdA, to go from 20:30 to sub 20 you need to go from around 380W to 410W. So 40W for an extra 30 seconds (as opposed to about 60s at the slower speed). Or you could just get a similar result by reducing your CdA to 0.212 (around the “average” mark.)

Btw, don’t ever attempt to discuss this sort of stuff with anyone outside a specific thread on this topic on a cycling forum 🙂

Edit… the point of all that being, once you get pretty good at time trialling and have good legs then the gains are mostly in aero testing. Small aero gains are equivalent to big power gains. And one is a lot more achievable than the other. I could work my arse off over winter and maybe find only 10 watts which I could probably find quite easily in a single AeroCoach session. Not saying you shouldn’t do both, but if you can afford several sessions a year then it can reap big gains.

I’ve found the TTS I’ve been to very friendly and far more relaxed than crits/races. Probably something to do with not really racing each other.

Shame I don’t really enjoy the process of TTing though. Too much intrinsic motivation required.

“The race of truth” is the race of aerodynamic kit and positioning and many hours on the turbo trainer.

OP you bought those £££ wheels for extra speed but you’re not a tester?

Please tell me you do road racing?

My 12hr TT was the best ride of the year. The atmosphere is unbelievable. Can’t wait for the next one!

By contrast an open 10 is nothing but misery for me.

Yeah pretty much this. Though I think I like 25s less than 10s.

Top 20 in next year’s BBAR is my objective for next year. Of course I now need to ride a 50 and a 100 as well. But I seem better suited to endurance. So we shall see. I’m also contemplating the (ulp) 24hr too.

Quite like a 25, but there is always a period where I lose focus. Won the club ten-and-a-bit series this season but only really enjoyed one of the 10 I rode!

MrBlobby, aren’t there devices similar to a powerpod that now give you live CdA data? Surely that’s got to be an even better investment than wind tunnel time?

I accidentally watched a GTN video about the bikes at Kona earlier and was struck by the innovation! I know they aren’t covered by silly old fashioned rules but still, those guys have thought of everything!

[video]https://youtu.be/QRaii0Uuzf4[/video]

“I could work my arse off over winter and maybe find only 10 watts which I could probably find quite easily in a single AeroCoach session. “

This. 10W is a helmet change, you can try 5 helmets easily and still have another 7-10 runs left. Imagine the ballache of trying to do your own helmet testing (which hardly anyone can actually do as people just dont know enough about statistics and error margins), ordering helmets, sending them back, selling them, scrounging. It;s just a massive pita.

My CdA was already pretty good at 0.200 but Xav saved me another decent chunk and then I didn’t change my position for a whole season, which is the real win. You see people constantly fettling, buying new stuff, not knowing what has made them faster or slower. Knowing what your CdA is for sure and then not worrying about it means you can get on with enjoying the racing.

Aerodynamics >> training .

Of course both is better, but being aero means I can ride my MTB instead of training

Shameless Opportunist link to my ad – TT bike, extra set Carbon 50mm Tubular wheels, tyres etc, little used due to illness. Note price drop from original price, will take a bit under £700
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/felt-b16-triathlon-bike-with-extra-set-superb-carbon-tubular-wheels

MrBlobby, aren’t there devices similar to a powerpod that now give you live CdA data? Surely that’s got to be an even better investment than wind tunnel time?

Once you’ve got a decent baseline then you’re often looking at very small changes (head position, hand position, stuff like that) that can equate to maybe two or three watts, and with testing in a velodrome or tunnel you can evaluate stuff like that. From what I’ve read the PowerPod outdoors just isn’t sensitive enough for that sort of work. They are worth doing though as you get half a dozen of those little changes and you’ve found 20 watts.