A Time Trialing Thread

Design your own Scotland suit, if i was to qualify I’d definitely go for that over a GB suit…

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I’ll dig into the rules and see if that’s allowed!

Kyle Gordon had his TT helmet sprayed with a saltire for the commonwealth games, I was thinking of going that route :joy:

Just filmed my TT position for the first time. Obviously I am not wearing a helmet here, but otherwise it felt pretty similar to what I tried outside.


With no real experience with time trialing, I am a bit uncertain about what I should do with the position based on this. I feel I could get the back slightly straighter/more extended in the scapula region if I just concentrated on it. I tried “dropping between the shoulderblades” but I don’t know if it worked too well. I could also probably shift the seat 1-2cm forward and still be inside regulations.

I’m certainly no expert but I think if you go too flat sometimes you impede your hip joint which stops you getting power out. Also to my eye your saddle is way too high, I think you want a more horizonal foot at the bottom of your stroke (rather than toes pointing down) and putting strain on your cafes/quads. It might be completely a wrong adage but an old lbs owner told me toes down is great for sprinting but not for comfort and power.

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Do that too! Or use vinyl wrap and you can always get a photo prior and take it off for the actual event

I’m not a fitter, but I always try to put my laptop roughly where i’ll be looking down the road, it makes a difference in head/body position. Make sure you can see where you’re going in real life.

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Oh, didn’t see your edit here. Sorry for the late reply.
I can’t make the 2 TTs in one week this year, we got to plan our vacations quite far ahead at work sadly. But will keep an eye on those northern Germany series for next year. A 50km, not Triathlon Team, time trial is non existing here besides the king of the Lake. I’d love to try that.

About my TT suit and Aero base layer - thanks for making me look deeply into it!
Velodrome test in February (Giro Aerohead)
TT suit alone cdA 0.2062
Road suit + Rule28 cdA 0.2057

Velodrome test in April (TT5 helmet)
TT suit alone cdA 0.1953
TT suit + Rule28 cdA 0.2010

Don’t need to discuss the fourth value after the digit for velodrome testing, that’s margin of error (and not only the measurement, but myself alone).
So if we just say x is better than y, it would indicate that Road suit and Rule28 should be faster, BUT I tested that difference in February with another helmet. And for some reason never saw it cause I also tested other helmets at that time and it was stuck in my head that POC Tempor + TT suit = fastest.
The team TT suit (Sportful Rocket) has its zippers on the shoulders as a trip layer and rough fabric on the “back” of the zipper, see attached picture.

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The nopinz being wider Strips could be solely due to the speed they designed the suit for? If you check the 45km/h section you see that the wide Strips would be even faster for the Rule28 base layer, just “a lot” slower when you lose speed.

Thank you for the comments! I ended up setting the saddle lower. Here is a photo of me about 100m from the finish line.


It looks like I should try to close the gap between my head and hands, probably by setting the hands slightly higher as well as getting the neck into a better position.

The TT itself went quite okay. 29min 1s on a 20km course with a strong 6m/s sideways wind that was slightly on the tailside on the first half and turned to a headwind in the second half. I averaged 315W, about 15W less than I would have expected on my road bike.


Next time I’ll try to keep the power slightly less variable and aim for a slight negative split, this time I started just a bit too fast.

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In such wind conditions you should try for a negative split (second half more power).
What I do (or try to do) now is, if I know the average speed that I will likely ride on the course, be it from a previous attempt of me, or by stalking Strava, have the current speed show on my Garmin next to power (obviously for pacing myself) and distance (because we got some 5 laps courses and I cannot count that far during a TT). I try to see the wind direction by flags or trees, and push on into the headwind and ease off in a tailwind, always checking the speed against average speed I want and power to adjust.

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Indeed pacing by speed instead of power

I use the mywindsock app to plan pacing before hand and adjust as necessary during the ride!

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Another race and this time a close second place. I am really kicking myself over this one.
I was given a start time, and arrived to the start time, but when I arrived like 3 minutes earlier, everyone was gone already, because fewer people had showed up than expected.
They still allowed me to start and I was given no penalty (they are rather lenient anyway). My penalty that I started with no one (starting intervals are 15“), which is not only a pacing disadvantage (I would’ve had the winner right in front of me from the start), but obviously when overtaking the faster guys, you’ll likely get a greater benefit of draft, even when adhering to the 10*3m box.
Whelp, a lot of excuses. In the end, someone else was faster than me, and that’s all fair. Something to keep me motivated:


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Are those lap times? Looks like you need a longer race! The guy in first was slowing, while you sped up the whole time.

Maybe some sort of psychological effect of not having a normal start?

Looks like you had the speed, so a win shouldn’t be far off.

Find it odd that they had everyone start early. Pretty sure in our races (UK), if a rider doesn’t show up, that start slot just stays empty.

The winner probably blew up as well, but I’d venture the guess that riding in the midst of other faster guys helps on the first two laps.
The next race is 9 instead of 6 laps, so maybe that plays into my strengths…
However, there is one more regular in this event who is an absolute machine. If he shows up ill have to settle for second anyway :sweat_smile:

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Changing start times may be nice for the organizers to get through the starters quicker, but its a nightmare for every Time Trialist… and its not been done at any TT i took place in. As mentioned, usually the start spot just stays empty (which is also annoying if you have nobody to catch).

I’ve never had start times rejigged. Annoyingly I can be waiting at the start line and there’s someone there but he’s my 5 min man and nobody else turns up to start before me ((DNS’s) so I’ve rarely got some one to chase. Add in the fact that they usually send of the faster riders intermingled with the slower riders (0 numbers and maybe 5 numbers); the chances are that 5min man is totally uncatchable for me :joy:

I’m just looking at the start list for my Saturday TT I start 68th of 70 riders and on Spindata predicted times the first slower rider than me for me chase starts 12minutes ahead of me. It is 4 laps of a dual carriageway so I’ll probably catch slower riders at some point but they won’t be on the same lap as me :joy:

PS, the only time Ive finished 2nd was 2weeks ago and that was on handicap. My highest open scratch result was 15th but I’m normally far lower due mainly to descending\cornering like a wuss :joy: :joy:

Lol, I forgot Spindata done predicted finish, by perdition I’ll be the last rider on the course (although the twice Ive raced it (last year) I finished something like nearly 6-7mins faster than predicted. I think Ive (or the lbs to be precise) have sorted my disc wheel and my main challenge for 50 miles will be my weak biceps which tend to go numb and sore on long TTs which has led with my wussiness to some erratic times which spindata probably cant handle :joy: