You don’t need a specific bike. There is time to be gained by having a TT bike, etc but there’s a rise in the road bike category.
If you put tt bars on you won’t be able to ride the road bike category but don’t let that stop you, at the end of the day you are only racing against yourself. With clip on TT bars when I first used them the day before a race, after a massive swerve I thought I’d never get used to them but the next day for the actual race (Freuchie) they were fine.
Most TTs in the UK are run under the CTT - cyclingtimetrials.co.uk
Events are usually CTT (Cycling Time Trials) organised, you enter on their web site and the VTTA is a sub set of that. Being a member of the VTTA gets you into CTT events that are reserved for the over 40s or a separate league for the over 40s if under 40s are allowed. I think the Glasgow way its all CTT but some clubs/organisations are completely separate, it might of changed now but in Fife 10years ago it was the FCA (Fife Cycling Association) that organised events.
Edit and you also get individual club events in some places.
TLI also have a lot of TTs throughout the year. There’s a bit of a VHS vs Betamax thing between them and CTT (or possibly VHS vs DVD, depending on who you listen to!). Check out both the calendars once they’re published around NYD, and also find some local clubs as these often have their own events that aren’t listed elsewhere.
As for the bike, road bike classes are getting pretty popular so you can compete without paying out for more kit than you already have (basically no tri-bars or discs allowed, some other rules depending on the event). You can of course ride any race on pretty much any bike, there are a few rules regarding handlebars, wheel depths etc but it’s mostly open season for non-UCI races (which are few and far between in the UK).
One thing to add, to race a CTT event, you must be a member of an affiliated club.
If you’re not in a club yet, join one that also organises TTs/other races, you’ll get good advice regarding racing, and its more fun if there’s a group of you at an event.
This bike is awesome $$$$
Well I built my new bike, still missing the wattshop cockpit, probably only in February.
I have an open velodrome, close to home, so in most tests it tested slower my giant trinity at 12w average.
But without the disc wheel, and without the cockpit, the rest is the same build that was on the trinity.
Looks great…. Do you think the disc wheel and cockpit will compensate for the missing 12w?
Depending on the speed that sounds very, very unlikely.
I‘d guess the difference between runs (holding line, clothing, air pressure, wind etc.) accounts for more of that 12W difference, than a disc wheel or a non-round cockpit.
Well I believe so.
Example in a TT (40 KM) these 12w would cost me something around 37~40 sec.
I think I can match a rear disc wheel, I’m going to try to get a disc rear wheel with a brake disc to test.
Yes, I did 5 laps ( set) on the velodrome, all at 40km/h.
I did 4 sets with trinity, and yesterday I did 4 sets with orbea, but on orbea just tried to copy my same position as trinity, but already adding the new rules for 83cm to the extension, while in trinity it was 80cm.
Well, there wasn’t even time to adapt the position or change something, but the numbers are these per hour, I’ll test it again in a month.
Sorry, are these two tests where you are comparing Trinity to Orbea, on different days?
Did you ever figure out if Ascalons bolt onto the Wattshop adjustable? It’s the opposite bolt direction but I wonder if there’s a way to work around that.
Nope… you’re right, it’s the opposite bolt direction. I ended up picking up some of the Aerocoach angled adapters. Unfortunately, like most of the Aerocoach items I have, they leave little to be desired considering the price.
First of the year I will make a custom adapter plate to help get less stack. Hoping a position change will let me take a step in the right direction.
It is a new bike year, looking advice for 12-24h TT bike 
Over couple last years I have been stretching time/distance to get to 500km+/24h on gravel bike with clip-on aerobars and 35mm tires. Now that initial target is met, it is time to start pushing intensity/speed higher. Training structure and progression is already in good place, I think. Goal for this year is 650km+ and next 750km+.
I am not a racer, this is for my own pleasure and to give structured training some goal and peaking date. It also means there is no support, riding on open roads with any bike I like. Looking at past rides, I am spending considerable time during stops to fill bottles, 2x750ml every ~4h.
Natural self-selected Z2 cadence is ~80rpm, Z3/Z4 90-95rpm, Z5 100rpm+. Typical HR paced Z2 speed is ~28km/h on gravel bike, ~32km/h on road bike (which I don’t have any more). Living in flat region, very little climbing. I am pretty flexible, sufficiently strong core, no issues keeping position for long time and different intensities.
Thinking about Specialized Shiv (tri-bike) because of its hydration and nutrition storage. But I am open to all suggestions, actually never tried any TT bike before. I am very comfortable with clip-on aerobars, with much relaxed endurance oriented position, of course. Also, would like to use 28mm tires (tubeless), asphalt on smaller roads is usually little bit rough here. Luckily no potholes, though.
Any advice is welcome, plus pointing out considerations that I might have not thought of 
An aero road bike might be worth a look, eg Cervelo Soloist (34mm tyres!), Canyon Aeroad, Trek Madone etc. Not quite as big a change in terms of position from your gravel bike, but plenty of aero gains. Depends if you a) want to go as fast/far as possible, and b) if you want to ride the same bike for various events/distances (ie if you’re entering a 24h TT, get a proper tri/TT bike, but if you’re just doing a self-challenge then ride what you like and feel comfortable on).
There’s a lot more info up-thread, but for 12-24h, I would say you need a bike that is going to be comfortable, and an aero position that you can expect to hold for 80% of the time. You can experiment with this with long rides on the tri bars on a road bike. As a starting point, though, bear in mind that most TT bikes have a steeper geo, and there’s more weight on your bars as a result. This might be fine for an hour, but for 24h, it may be different.
I have a Trek SpeedConcept with the saddle pretty far back (for a TT bike). Its still about 25-30mm further forward than my road position. I’ve experimented, and this is about as much as I can cope with in the aero position for 12-24h; any more and my shoulders, elbows and neck are too painful, and I end up on the base bar. I wouldn’t run a road bike; the temptation to get out of the aero position is too great! 
Think about saddle height and cleat position too.
Once you have a comfortable aero position, and have done a few tests to prove it works, then aero storage is the next issue. Depending on how creative and practical you are, you could probably make any bike work. On a supported 24, I’ve seen guys with one single bottle; they get a fresh hand-up every hour. If you’re totally self-supported, there’s a big advantage to minimising stops. I carried ~3litres plus 5 gels, and stopped every 4h to refuel. A refuel should take ~2mins. Factor in some time to fit lights for nighttime and put on/shed layers too. But if you’re riding for 23:30, you are doing OK.
Thanks for the input.
I usually train 4-5 months on clip-on aerobars before the event itself and do like it – for same long duration RPE, power is ~10W higher than on hoods. Then again, it is on gravel bike with more relaxed position. But it is good point, luckily I do indoor stuff on Kickr bike, i.e. can adjust geometry for real TT bike and try it out couple weeks before deciding aero roadbike vs TT bike.
When talking about cleat position, do you mean pushing it back? I already have pushed it as far back as possible.
The range of adjustment on most shoes is, in my humble opinion, pretty limited. I have redrilled my shoes to position the cleats about 16-20mm behind the rearmost position you can get on a normal shoe. If you aren’t into drilling holes into expensive shoes, there’s an option here:
Mid-Foot Cycling (mid-foot-cycling.com)
I’ve had good success with a midfoot position, but I’m not evangelical about any of these things - they are just solutions I came up with to solve problems. There’s a lot of stuff we can tolerate for an hour that we can’t tolerate for 12h plus. And the only way to find out your individual pain-points is to go out and try it! Good luck!
Has anyone got any views on budget rim brake rear disks in the UK?
Anything better that the wiggle prime 343 (£615)?
I do prefer the look and extra width of the parcours (£969):
Any other options welcome - would prefer tubeless and full carbon construction - I want the “WOMP”.
