The Science of Fast or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Time Trial

Posted by Dan on 7. April 2009 00:41

I've entered three time trials in the past 9 months. I rode the 23 mile Peter L Teeuwen Time Trial (#2) last summer on my road bike, road helmet, road everything. My goal was to put in a sub-hour time. I scored a respectable 0:57:57.93 time and placed 21 out of 40.

The second was the 2009 Dismal Dash 40k Time Trial. Taking a lesson from my first TT, where the hardware outvalued the cars in the parking lot, I came prepared with high-tech aids, including a new Louis Garneau aero helmet, some borrowed aero bars and shoe covers; never mind that it was only 42 degrees and raining and shoe covers were necessary to prevent frostbite. For whatever reason, I had it in my mind that the PLT course was also 40k and my time for the Dismal Dash should be right around the hour mark. With all my aero gear, PowerTap and whatnot, I rode it in 1:06:59.70. This is fairly consistent with the PLT results as that course is shy of 40k. Still not too bad, but once again, my time was the median time for Cat 4s.

By this time, I've grown to like the suffering of the time trial. Plus, who would want to miss an opportunity to wear an aero helmet? So I set out looking for ways that I could spend money to improve my rankings instead of hitting the pavement in some "smart and methodical" way. Bah.



Number one on the list is a TT/tri bike. I won't go into all the web sites and articles I read in deciding which bike and which setup to choose, but I will say I wound up with the Trek Equinox TTX 9.0 from East Coast Bicycles. The choice between models was pretty simple. I eat too much pizza to justify spending the extra money on Dura Ace and I wouldn't be caught dead on a "catalyst green" anything, even if that means riding with Shimano 105 components. So there we go. The decision to go with Trek was made even easier considering my LBS is a dealer and will have no problems servicing the bike or getting parts if necessary. Seriously though, if you have some Ultegra stuff laying around, please let me know.

So now I'm equipped with the fancy helmet and TT bike. My initial fitting was done by the LBS when I picked it up, but it's pretty clear there's no way to dial in a TT bike on a trainer in 30 minutes. It's a lifelong adventure in tweaking. I am just embarking on this journey, so I'll have to save the details for another post.

I picked the bike up a week or so before Jeff Cup so I didn't spend a lot of time acclimating my aging back to the aero position with so much road racing coming up. Following Jeff Cup, I started doing my daily ride on the TT bike with the understanding that I was not going to tear up the streets of Norfolk until I got a good feel of the handling characteristics which will probably take three or four rides. That first ride was 2 mph faster on average than my best road bike run so far this year. Heh. You can't help it. Being in that position MAKES you want to go faster. Plus, I ride through some pretty sketchy neighborhoods.

So here we are, a few days post-TT. I'm not disappointed in my results. An average of nearly 25 mph is probably the best solo effort I've put in at any one time ever. I'm sold on the bike. To improve my performance, I'll need Excel, the internet and cash. Oh, and probably some more training.

Using the calculators at Analytic Cycling and my PowerTap data (sans heart rate), I established that I could have met the winning time if I'd averaged 350 watts instead of 306 or reduced rolling and/or wind resistance. Now I've got a goal. Between weight loss, aero position and better equipment and wheels, I should be able to get into the top 5 by PLT #2, using PLT #1 as a benchmark.