Time trial kit

[Paul_L]

I've started to compete in our clubs TT league this season and have seen my times come down from 38mins plus to 36m28 over an undulating 12.7mile circular course.

There are 3 or 4 races left in the season and i'd like to get down to close to 36mins if possible. Now i ride on my standard road bike with all weather 23 tyres. For next season i plan to take things a little more seriously and train specifically for this, but what single thing would make the biggest difference in terms of equipment in the remaining few weeks. It's been suggested by a club mate that fitting race tyres instead of my Gatorskin 4 seasons will probably save 20 to 30seconds. I normally inflate them to 110psi, so would this really make a difference. I'm also thinking tri bars, but having never ridden on bars before i'm thinking i'd need a few weeks to get used to them. The course is quite technical so i'm not sure how long i'd be on the bars, especially until i get confident with them.

So would tyres be the best bet? And what would folk recommend?

 

[Waspie]

I was in a similar position to you, did a few TTs last season and have competed more regularly this season.
Faster tyres might would be the obvious place to start, not sure about a 20 to 30 seconds improvement but they would help. This season I have run Shwalbe Ultremo ZX and Vittoria Open Corsas, I suspect the Vittorias are the faster of the two but I'm only guessing here.
My experience of tri-bars - on fitting tri-bars I knocked a massive 2 seconds off my time for a 10. However, over the course of the season and tweaking my position a fair amount I started to see times improve by quite a bit. I suspect a combination of getting used to the bars, fitness and more TT experience helped, but I think the main thing is getting the position sorted.
I compete in TTs in and around Peebles in the Scottish Borders so not particularly flat, not sure how it compares to your course though.