Racing an indoor 12 hour team relay on Computrainers. Each of 12 riders do 55 minutes and the team that covers the most distance over 12 hours wins. Any thoughts on a pacing strategy that would result in the highest power potential? Wondering if 55 minutes of over/under type intervals would be more taxing or provide brief “breaks” compared to a steady 100% FTP type effort?
100% don’t do over unders. A steady indoor effort will be the most efficient.
5 min to change bikes but what about calibration ?
Oh and steady is best I think
This is a TT type effort, so by the end of your turn you should be empty if you’ve performed it correctly.
You should shoot for a negative split. Unless you have been training for tts id start at like 95% ftp and adjust up in the last 1/2.
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negative split seems to be the sensible approach even for pro-Tour TT-clockworks that know their power and energy consumption on point. I remember reading about Mr. Froome doing the first few km’s of a longer TT at 90% of target power to settle in but can’t find the source at the moment.
Alternative source: me bonking hard at a 46k TT this year because “oh this is faster than I intended to go but it feels like I can hold it” 
In regards of your over/under question: Your glycogen expenditure rises exponentially to your power, so 5% above FTP are not balanced with 5% under FTP for the same time.
Thanks for the feedback! I like the idea of the steady or even negative split, especially with off-season fitness.
There are multiple sets of Computrainers set up, so each rider has 20-30 minutes to warm up and calibrate before the actual 55 minute effort begins.
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It would be worth practising those kind of efforts in training to get a feel of what it’s like and how to pace.