frank9755
Cyclist
- Location
- West London
Time Trialling – a beginner’s perspective
This is an article I wrote for my club magazine on starting to do time trials. I thought I'd share it more widely - as an example of what a fairly average cyclist can achieve without doing any specific training other than cycling - in case anyone is thinking of giving time trialling a go and wants to know more about it.
If anyone is interested in doing a first TT and is within reach of West London, my club, Westerley CC, run 10 mile events on car-free track at Hillingdon every other Wednesday evening through the summer. They are come-and-try-it events, so anyone can just turn up on the day and have a go (special bike not necessary - there was someone on a mountain bike last week) and it is a good chance to try it without having to worry about traffic!
Other clubs in other parts of the country also run come-and-try-it events
Starting out
My first time trial was in March 2010 - a 25-miler on the A413 Amersham Road. My time was 1:18:45, giving an average speed of just over 19 mph. This was pretty slow on what was a sunny but chilly early-season morning. I wasn't last out of the field of around 80 people, but I didn't beat many people (and I can't be sure that those I did beat didn't have punctures), but at least it provided me with a relatively easy target to aim for next time.
The main things I recall from the race are going off as fast as I could and suffering a bit of a blow-up as I ran out of energy, then finding some sort of rhythm in the latter stages of the race - apart from on the hill which forms part of the Amersham by-pass which I was reduced to plodding up in a low gear.
I hadn't specifically intended to do time-trialling at all, but I'd started riding with Westerley CC during the winter and, during the course of club-run conversations, it became clear that time trials were what everyone was working towards so, after checking with a couple of people that they didn’t think I would be a complete embarrassment, I thought I'd give it a try.
Having completed my first one and survived, I tried another in April. I tweaked a few things on the bike I was using (which had cost me £160 on eBay from a guy who had bought the wrong size and ridden it to work just once, and is now my wet weather and commuting bike), fitted a shorter stem, put the saddle up a couple of notches and did away with the mudguards and saddlebag full of tools. The course was on the A413 but the HCC114 starting from Great Missenden and including the Wendover bypass, but not Amersham and its dreaded hill - and I went a bit faster, knocking a minute or so off my previous time. The thing I remember most vividly was ending the race in a combination of agony and numbness from my new saddle position. At the end, I got off the bike, found walking was impossible and collapsed into the grass verge, where I lay for ten minutes while awaiting restoration of normal blood and nerve services to my legs. I decided the saddle was too wide for me and vowed to replace it ASAP.
My next couple of races were in late April and early May on what the fairly slow course at Fifield, which has quite a few hills, corners and exposure to wind. Persisting with my Vanquish(with a new saddle, further tweaked stem and Look pedals and cleats instead of my SPDs), I rode a bit better and managed to lower my personal best slightly on the first race and win the handicap (in the rain) on the second. I enjoyed the course, especially it being a circuit on country roads rather than a there-and-back on a dual carriageway. I particularly noticed how differently it rode on the two days with the wind coming from opposite directions acting to smooth out some hills but build up others that had been insignificant the first time.
Initial breakthrough
Around this time I was beginning to get hooked, so I did some research into what I could do to improve my times, apart from the obvious tactics of getting fitter, losing weight and pedalling a bit harder. I came across the famous Bike Radar article which attempts to itemise the performance benefits of the various things that can be done to reduce times (such as wearing a pointy hat, little socks over your shoes, having aero bars, not wearing gloves). It's based on wind tunnel research so I thought it must have at least some validity. Basically it says that the main thing to do is to get aero-bars. So I hit eBay again,made a short list and managed to snap up my Cannondale Six-13 Slice TT bike, which had done just a handful of races.
While I know enough about fitting a normal bike to be able to have a go, if not get it right, I knew I hadn't a clue how to set this one up properly and I also knew that it was very important to get it right if I wanted to get the full benefit from it. So, on the recommendation of a clubmate, I booked myself a slot at the Specialized Concept Store in Ruislip for a fitting. While I didn't agree with everything that was recommended,it enabled me to get a good riding position on the bike, both reasonably aerodynamic and comfortable enough to be able to maintain for at least 25 miles. It still took me little while to get used to the position so I took it out for a few laps of the circuit at Hillingdon and also pounded up and down the bit of road between Greenford and Southall which is reasonably flat and straight.
It was a couple of months before I got to try the bike out in a race, back at Great Missenden in July. During this interval I’d completed tours of France and the Balkans and ridden some audaxes in the UK (including my first 200km). Altogether I’d ridden around 3,000 miles and lost about three quarters of a stone. I'd doubtlessly gained some fitness and was also debuting my Cannondale time trial bike. It was a good day for riding and I was expecting a significant improvement in my time.
At the start, one of the others asked me what I was hoping for. I said 1:15 as I really had no idea how it would go however, I was really wanting and expecting to go under 1:10. The ride went well. I managed to avoid being overtaken by club mates for a long way and made those who did catch me work much harder for it than in previous races. I felt good right to the end,and got a time of 1:08:02, giving an average speed of 22mph. This knocked eight and a half minutes off my personal best, and meant that I won the handicap quite easily! This felt like a real breakthrough for me and for first time I felt that I was vaguely in the same league as my clubmates
I managed to shave a bit more off my personal best in a couple of subsequent races. The first was at Marlow on thefamous 'ski-slope' H25/2 course. This was my first time out on this course and, while I went ok, I didn't like it as much as I had hoped. The initial descent was fair enough: I was able to stay on the aerobars, reaching around 38 mph. But the course after this was quite undulating and windy, with some very rough tarmac to beavoided. I ended up with 1:06:49/ 22.4 mph
My trip to the Tempsford F1B/25 course on the A1 was less pleasant. Somewhat distressed by having to get up and leave the house before dawn for the first time this winter, I failed to come to terms with hills leading up to the famous landmark water tower and recorded a disappointing time of 1:08:14 (22.0 mph). I was second-last out with only Matt Botterill, the eventual winner, behind me. He came storming past after only a couple of miles so I felt a bit exposed as the last rider on a busy road for virtually all of my ride.
The following week, by requesting an early start, I managed to squeeze in an extra race just hours before catching a plane to Nepal. This was organised by North Hampshire Road Club, onthe H25/8 course, which runs up and down the A31 from the village of Bentley. I found it an enjoyable course. It was a lot less flat than a look at the OS map beforehand had suggested, but a far more significant feature was the wind, a SW of about 15mph so either a full-on head or tail wind. A clubmate I was riding with said to me at the start 'this first bit into the wind is going to be tough'. And it was. But the turn came and, with the benefit of the wind, I seemed to be going at 27mph rather than the 17 that my computer had often shown on the first bit. The second upwind leg seemed to be a bit less painful than the first, and then the final downwind bit to the finish almost felt like flying, compared to the first section. I managed 1:06:40, which equates to 22.5 mph. Although this put me 80th out of 89 finishers, it trimmed a few more seconds off my personal best.
Getting a bit faster
When I got back from a cycle touring holiday in Nepal and Tibet, another 10 pounds lighter and with lots more red blood cells from operating at altitude and, I expect, some further improvement in overall fitness, I felt that I could get my personal best time down further. But it so happened that the first race back was a 10. I’d not done one of these before so, while a personal best was guaranteed, I was hoping for a decent time. The course started from Great Missenden and comprised the first section of the 25 mile route, including the Wendover bypass. I felt pretty good once settled and managed to get well past the half-way turn before I was overtaken, and this was by club record holder, Dave, who had started only a minute behind me. No-one else passed me and I got home in 25:21, giving easily my fastest average speed to date of 23.7mph.
The following weekend I was hoping to translate this performance into an new personal best over 25 miles. However a combination of appalling preparation on my part and strong winds ensured that this didn't happen. The event was back on the Great Missenden course- by now very familiar territory. My immediate preparation consisted of acouple of beers in the pub on the Friday evening followed by a FNRttC to Southend and back, getting me home mid-afternoon on Saturday with 120 miles in my legs and minus a night’s sleep. I stayed up for a couple of hours but was starting to nod off in random places round the house so around 6pm I thought I'd better go to bed. I had a few hours sleep but then woke around 10pm conscious that I needed to eat not because I was hungry but to fuel the morning's ride. So I got up around midnight and wolfed down aquick ready meal. My legs felt very sore. Back to bed about 2am and some more sleep, until 6:30am when the alarm went off. Legs still felt very stiff and I thought seriously about staying in bed, but went out and did it.
It was a horrible ride with a strong wind from the North-West which made the upwind sections painful. The Wendover bypass rode faster up than downhill but at least the downwind sections were fun, in particular the final leg. On the last turn I saw that there were three riders close behind me and, keen to avoid being caught, really drove hard on this section. I held the bike at30mph or above for a couple of miles - much faster than I had ridden this bit before - and thought that at those speeds I would not be caught. However, when my speed dipped tojust under 29mph, another bike came screaming past. Not sure who it was, I kept up my pace and tried to stay in contact. After the finish I saw that it was my clubmate, Andy. He told me he had been really trying to catch me to challenge for the Percy Marks handicap trophy. He explained that he'd needed to beat my time vs handicap by 45 seconds to win it, otherwise I would win it. Back in the clubhouse the results showed he'd only managed to beat me by 44 seconds. I therefore won the trophy, whichwas based on 50 miles of riding, by one second!
Although the trophy was a lovely surprise, I was pretty disappointed with this ride. Despite my altitude benefits, my weight loss and fitness gain, my time of 1:08:43 (21.8mph) was 41 seconds slower than I had ridden on the same course back at the start of July and my average speed a massive 1.9mph slower than the previous week. I wondered how much impact the conditions could have had. Asking around in the clubhouse afterwards suggested that others had generally run about two minutes slower than their fastest times for this course. So some excuse from the weather, but I resolved to do better the following weekend. While in the clubhouse, wearing my cycling shoes and carrying a cup of tea I slipped, fell backwards and sent tea everywhere. Somehow that felt like a more fitting result from what was a very poor ride than winning a trophy!
The following week was the VTTA 25, back on the‘ski slopes’ at Marlow. Determined to do better, I made a couple of changes to my bike to help. I did a bit of research and fitted Continental GrandPrix Supersonic tyres, which seemed to be the fastest clinchers available, and tweaked my saddle position slightly.
The weather forecast was not promising with showers and mist featuring prominently. It started raining when I reached the Hall before the race and there were warnings of standing water on the course. The conditions led to a very high withdrawal rate, withover half the entrants dropping out. Nevertheless I made my way to the start and set off, down the hill, quickly getting up to35mph. I felt the bike moving laterally quite a lot. I couldn’t say to what extent this was caused by the new, completely treadless tyres, the headwind or the wet road, but whichever, I decided I would not try to push my speed any higher. I came off the aerobars to improve stability and freewheeled for a while.
At the bottom of the hill I had to start working properly. Going up the hill on the Southside of the Thames was quite tough with my speed dropping to 14mph on the steepest section. Once on the A4 I felt I was going well, keeping my speed at or above25mph on the flat and downhill sections, and not lower than 19mph on the climb up to Knowl Hill. Ifelt that I was going to get a new personal best when on the final uphill before going back onto the A404 I was able to accelerate the bike to over 22mph, with a very solid feeling.
My average speed reached in all events over the season
Once back on the A404, I quickly realised that the wind was going to make this a much faster section than I had expected and I was able to keep the bike above 30mph for most of the last six miles - only going slower for the roundabout and the Thames bridge - and finishing the course at 31mph. After the finish, as I climbed the slip-road to go back into town, I scrolled my computer on to timer, and was really pleased to see a time in the region of 1 hour and 2 minutes. Back at the clubhouse this was confirmed: 1:02:28. This meant I had taken over 4 minutes off my personal best, averaged a shade over 24mph over the entire course, won 'best improver'. This was better than I had hoped for and made up for the disappointment of the previous weekend.
On my way out, race organiser, Rocco from the Willesden club, congratulated me and said he thought I would go under the hour with good weather on that course. I felt I could go better, too. A bit more power on the hills and a bit less weight will allow me to turn the 14mph into 17mph. If only the season was a little bit longer!
Looking forward
So now I’m looking forward to the coming season. I don’t think I’ll be able to fit in as many races but think I can go faster by, in the first instance, doing a bit more of the same – refining my position, losing a bit more weight, improving strength and fitness so I can get up the hills on the courses faster, and making strategic upgrades to my kit. I’ve not yet used my heart rate monitor or resorted to a turbo or power meter but those things might follow when I need something else to get my times down further.
This is an article I wrote for my club magazine on starting to do time trials. I thought I'd share it more widely - as an example of what a fairly average cyclist can achieve without doing any specific training other than cycling - in case anyone is thinking of giving time trialling a go and wants to know more about it.
If anyone is interested in doing a first TT and is within reach of West London, my club, Westerley CC, run 10 mile events on car-free track at Hillingdon every other Wednesday evening through the summer. They are come-and-try-it events, so anyone can just turn up on the day and have a go (special bike not necessary - there was someone on a mountain bike last week) and it is a good chance to try it without having to worry about traffic!
Other clubs in other parts of the country also run come-and-try-it events
Starting out
My first time trial was in March 2010 - a 25-miler on the A413 Amersham Road. My time was 1:18:45, giving an average speed of just over 19 mph. This was pretty slow on what was a sunny but chilly early-season morning. I wasn't last out of the field of around 80 people, but I didn't beat many people (and I can't be sure that those I did beat didn't have punctures), but at least it provided me with a relatively easy target to aim for next time.
The main things I recall from the race are going off as fast as I could and suffering a bit of a blow-up as I ran out of energy, then finding some sort of rhythm in the latter stages of the race - apart from on the hill which forms part of the Amersham by-pass which I was reduced to plodding up in a low gear.
I hadn't specifically intended to do time-trialling at all, but I'd started riding with Westerley CC during the winter and, during the course of club-run conversations, it became clear that time trials were what everyone was working towards so, after checking with a couple of people that they didn’t think I would be a complete embarrassment, I thought I'd give it a try.
Having completed my first one and survived, I tried another in April. I tweaked a few things on the bike I was using (which had cost me £160 on eBay from a guy who had bought the wrong size and ridden it to work just once, and is now my wet weather and commuting bike), fitted a shorter stem, put the saddle up a couple of notches and did away with the mudguards and saddlebag full of tools. The course was on the A413 but the HCC114 starting from Great Missenden and including the Wendover bypass, but not Amersham and its dreaded hill - and I went a bit faster, knocking a minute or so off my previous time. The thing I remember most vividly was ending the race in a combination of agony and numbness from my new saddle position. At the end, I got off the bike, found walking was impossible and collapsed into the grass verge, where I lay for ten minutes while awaiting restoration of normal blood and nerve services to my legs. I decided the saddle was too wide for me and vowed to replace it ASAP.
My next couple of races were in late April and early May on what the fairly slow course at Fifield, which has quite a few hills, corners and exposure to wind. Persisting with my Vanquish(with a new saddle, further tweaked stem and Look pedals and cleats instead of my SPDs), I rode a bit better and managed to lower my personal best slightly on the first race and win the handicap (in the rain) on the second. I enjoyed the course, especially it being a circuit on country roads rather than a there-and-back on a dual carriageway. I particularly noticed how differently it rode on the two days with the wind coming from opposite directions acting to smooth out some hills but build up others that had been insignificant the first time.
Initial breakthrough
Around this time I was beginning to get hooked, so I did some research into what I could do to improve my times, apart from the obvious tactics of getting fitter, losing weight and pedalling a bit harder. I came across the famous Bike Radar article which attempts to itemise the performance benefits of the various things that can be done to reduce times (such as wearing a pointy hat, little socks over your shoes, having aero bars, not wearing gloves). It's based on wind tunnel research so I thought it must have at least some validity. Basically it says that the main thing to do is to get aero-bars. So I hit eBay again,made a short list and managed to snap up my Cannondale Six-13 Slice TT bike, which had done just a handful of races.
While I know enough about fitting a normal bike to be able to have a go, if not get it right, I knew I hadn't a clue how to set this one up properly and I also knew that it was very important to get it right if I wanted to get the full benefit from it. So, on the recommendation of a clubmate, I booked myself a slot at the Specialized Concept Store in Ruislip for a fitting. While I didn't agree with everything that was recommended,it enabled me to get a good riding position on the bike, both reasonably aerodynamic and comfortable enough to be able to maintain for at least 25 miles. It still took me little while to get used to the position so I took it out for a few laps of the circuit at Hillingdon and also pounded up and down the bit of road between Greenford and Southall which is reasonably flat and straight.
It was a couple of months before I got to try the bike out in a race, back at Great Missenden in July. During this interval I’d completed tours of France and the Balkans and ridden some audaxes in the UK (including my first 200km). Altogether I’d ridden around 3,000 miles and lost about three quarters of a stone. I'd doubtlessly gained some fitness and was also debuting my Cannondale time trial bike. It was a good day for riding and I was expecting a significant improvement in my time.
At the start, one of the others asked me what I was hoping for. I said 1:15 as I really had no idea how it would go however, I was really wanting and expecting to go under 1:10. The ride went well. I managed to avoid being overtaken by club mates for a long way and made those who did catch me work much harder for it than in previous races. I felt good right to the end,and got a time of 1:08:02, giving an average speed of 22mph. This knocked eight and a half minutes off my personal best, and meant that I won the handicap quite easily! This felt like a real breakthrough for me and for first time I felt that I was vaguely in the same league as my clubmates
I managed to shave a bit more off my personal best in a couple of subsequent races. The first was at Marlow on thefamous 'ski-slope' H25/2 course. This was my first time out on this course and, while I went ok, I didn't like it as much as I had hoped. The initial descent was fair enough: I was able to stay on the aerobars, reaching around 38 mph. But the course after this was quite undulating and windy, with some very rough tarmac to beavoided. I ended up with 1:06:49/ 22.4 mph
My trip to the Tempsford F1B/25 course on the A1 was less pleasant. Somewhat distressed by having to get up and leave the house before dawn for the first time this winter, I failed to come to terms with hills leading up to the famous landmark water tower and recorded a disappointing time of 1:08:14 (22.0 mph). I was second-last out with only Matt Botterill, the eventual winner, behind me. He came storming past after only a couple of miles so I felt a bit exposed as the last rider on a busy road for virtually all of my ride.
The following week, by requesting an early start, I managed to squeeze in an extra race just hours before catching a plane to Nepal. This was organised by North Hampshire Road Club, onthe H25/8 course, which runs up and down the A31 from the village of Bentley. I found it an enjoyable course. It was a lot less flat than a look at the OS map beforehand had suggested, but a far more significant feature was the wind, a SW of about 15mph so either a full-on head or tail wind. A clubmate I was riding with said to me at the start 'this first bit into the wind is going to be tough'. And it was. But the turn came and, with the benefit of the wind, I seemed to be going at 27mph rather than the 17 that my computer had often shown on the first bit. The second upwind leg seemed to be a bit less painful than the first, and then the final downwind bit to the finish almost felt like flying, compared to the first section. I managed 1:06:40, which equates to 22.5 mph. Although this put me 80th out of 89 finishers, it trimmed a few more seconds off my personal best.
Getting a bit faster
When I got back from a cycle touring holiday in Nepal and Tibet, another 10 pounds lighter and with lots more red blood cells from operating at altitude and, I expect, some further improvement in overall fitness, I felt that I could get my personal best time down further. But it so happened that the first race back was a 10. I’d not done one of these before so, while a personal best was guaranteed, I was hoping for a decent time. The course started from Great Missenden and comprised the first section of the 25 mile route, including the Wendover bypass. I felt pretty good once settled and managed to get well past the half-way turn before I was overtaken, and this was by club record holder, Dave, who had started only a minute behind me. No-one else passed me and I got home in 25:21, giving easily my fastest average speed to date of 23.7mph.
The following weekend I was hoping to translate this performance into an new personal best over 25 miles. However a combination of appalling preparation on my part and strong winds ensured that this didn't happen. The event was back on the Great Missenden course- by now very familiar territory. My immediate preparation consisted of acouple of beers in the pub on the Friday evening followed by a FNRttC to Southend and back, getting me home mid-afternoon on Saturday with 120 miles in my legs and minus a night’s sleep. I stayed up for a couple of hours but was starting to nod off in random places round the house so around 6pm I thought I'd better go to bed. I had a few hours sleep but then woke around 10pm conscious that I needed to eat not because I was hungry but to fuel the morning's ride. So I got up around midnight and wolfed down aquick ready meal. My legs felt very sore. Back to bed about 2am and some more sleep, until 6:30am when the alarm went off. Legs still felt very stiff and I thought seriously about staying in bed, but went out and did it.
It was a horrible ride with a strong wind from the North-West which made the upwind sections painful. The Wendover bypass rode faster up than downhill but at least the downwind sections were fun, in particular the final leg. On the last turn I saw that there were three riders close behind me and, keen to avoid being caught, really drove hard on this section. I held the bike at30mph or above for a couple of miles - much faster than I had ridden this bit before - and thought that at those speeds I would not be caught. However, when my speed dipped tojust under 29mph, another bike came screaming past. Not sure who it was, I kept up my pace and tried to stay in contact. After the finish I saw that it was my clubmate, Andy. He told me he had been really trying to catch me to challenge for the Percy Marks handicap trophy. He explained that he'd needed to beat my time vs handicap by 45 seconds to win it, otherwise I would win it. Back in the clubhouse the results showed he'd only managed to beat me by 44 seconds. I therefore won the trophy, whichwas based on 50 miles of riding, by one second!
Although the trophy was a lovely surprise, I was pretty disappointed with this ride. Despite my altitude benefits, my weight loss and fitness gain, my time of 1:08:43 (21.8mph) was 41 seconds slower than I had ridden on the same course back at the start of July and my average speed a massive 1.9mph slower than the previous week. I wondered how much impact the conditions could have had. Asking around in the clubhouse afterwards suggested that others had generally run about two minutes slower than their fastest times for this course. So some excuse from the weather, but I resolved to do better the following weekend. While in the clubhouse, wearing my cycling shoes and carrying a cup of tea I slipped, fell backwards and sent tea everywhere. Somehow that felt like a more fitting result from what was a very poor ride than winning a trophy!
The following week was the VTTA 25, back on the‘ski slopes’ at Marlow. Determined to do better, I made a couple of changes to my bike to help. I did a bit of research and fitted Continental GrandPrix Supersonic tyres, which seemed to be the fastest clinchers available, and tweaked my saddle position slightly.
The weather forecast was not promising with showers and mist featuring prominently. It started raining when I reached the Hall before the race and there were warnings of standing water on the course. The conditions led to a very high withdrawal rate, withover half the entrants dropping out. Nevertheless I made my way to the start and set off, down the hill, quickly getting up to35mph. I felt the bike moving laterally quite a lot. I couldn’t say to what extent this was caused by the new, completely treadless tyres, the headwind or the wet road, but whichever, I decided I would not try to push my speed any higher. I came off the aerobars to improve stability and freewheeled for a while.
At the bottom of the hill I had to start working properly. Going up the hill on the Southside of the Thames was quite tough with my speed dropping to 14mph on the steepest section. Once on the A4 I felt I was going well, keeping my speed at or above25mph on the flat and downhill sections, and not lower than 19mph on the climb up to Knowl Hill. Ifelt that I was going to get a new personal best when on the final uphill before going back onto the A404 I was able to accelerate the bike to over 22mph, with a very solid feeling.
My average speed reached in all events over the season
Once back on the A404, I quickly realised that the wind was going to make this a much faster section than I had expected and I was able to keep the bike above 30mph for most of the last six miles - only going slower for the roundabout and the Thames bridge - and finishing the course at 31mph. After the finish, as I climbed the slip-road to go back into town, I scrolled my computer on to timer, and was really pleased to see a time in the region of 1 hour and 2 minutes. Back at the clubhouse this was confirmed: 1:02:28. This meant I had taken over 4 minutes off my personal best, averaged a shade over 24mph over the entire course, won 'best improver'. This was better than I had hoped for and made up for the disappointment of the previous weekend.
On my way out, race organiser, Rocco from the Willesden club, congratulated me and said he thought I would go under the hour with good weather on that course. I felt I could go better, too. A bit more power on the hills and a bit less weight will allow me to turn the 14mph into 17mph. If only the season was a little bit longer!
Looking forward
So now I’m looking forward to the coming season. I don’t think I’ll be able to fit in as many races but think I can go faster by, in the first instance, doing a bit more of the same – refining my position, losing a bit more weight, improving strength and fitness so I can get up the hills on the courses faster, and making strategic upgrades to my kit. I’ve not yet used my heart rate monitor or resorted to a turbo or power meter but those things might follow when I need something else to get my times down further.
