Kelowna Tuesday Night TT

[IanC]

I rode the time trial last night on Old Vernon rd in Kelowna for the first time in about a month.  The last time I rode it was on my road bike with no aero bars.  Last night, I borrowed Steve's TT bike, but didn't do any set up besides raising the seatpost a bit.  My time ended up being almost a minute slower than on my bike!  My time was 25:57, pretty slow!  I was working hard because my average HR was 174, which is pretty high for me, because my max is around 186.

Anybody have any tips on how to become a faster TT'er besides a proper bike fit?  Up the climbs, is it better to stay aero and try and spin the gear or stand and power over them?

By the way, do you think you're fast?  Svein Tuft was there in his full Garmin Transitions skinsuit and set a new course record at 18:37

[GinnySellars]

Hey Ian
I'm no pro, but I would say stand over a short hill if it allows you to stay in the big gear and keep your momentum over the top to get back in aero.

Was everything else ready to roll? Did you get in a good warm up? Often people just show up and ride the TT. I find the respiratory system is the slowest to warm up for me, so need to warm up pretty hard.

By the way, we were looking back through some old results at the Summerland sprint tri last night. You were stinky fast. 3rd to Mike Champigny and Kristian Mannieta in 1:02 or something.

[StephenU]

Ian is a closet Tri-star!  Look out I say!  Wait till he shaves his legs!!

His front end looked like it was too low on the bike, so I think was restricting his hips and his power and maybe breathing was affected.  Obviously he has been mtn biking most of the time so he's likely just not used to being bent over!

Ian, do whatever you need to do with the fit of that bike to make it work for you!!

S

[IanC]

Thanks for the tips guys!  I had a good warm up as I rode out there. I am going to dabble in a few tri's over the next little while, so I want to get the bike portion dialed a bit better, and then fake the swim and run!
I definitely need to raise the front end a bit, because I am not flexible enough to put a lot of power to the peddles when I am way down like that.

In general though, it is probably better to stay aero and turn a little lighter gear than to sit up and push the bigger gear on longer gradual climbs?  There are a bunch of those at the TT.  On the way back, there is the one short little climb that you can stand and power over before getting aero again, but the rest of the time, stay as aero as possible?

Thanks

[Andrew]

Train your weakness, race your strength....

Train your weakness:
The weakness for you is position and flexibility. So, yes, adjusting the bike fit will help you generate more power, but will not improve the weakness. Talk with Chris about which muscles in particular need some focused stretching to allow you to generate power in a good aero position. This will be more beneficial in the long term, then simply adjusting the bike to fit your overcome your current weakness. The second weakness would be generating coordinated efforts in the different position when compared to MTB. In the forward flexion position, compared to the relatively upright riding on the MTB, you will be forced to use much more hamstring, and will not be able to make use of hip flexors, until you develop better strength in the shortened position. And this means more time in aero. As we have seen with Stephen and Jen who are both extremely strong on the road and MTB, they have not been able to transfer that power into an aero position. My suggestion for now, is not working HARDER, but working longer in aero...the best advice this month for those wanting to improve TT times...tape the Tour, and enjoy some long easy spins in aero watching the footage in the evenings. It does not need to be hard efforts, just easy spinning, allowing the neuromuscular patterns to develop, and the range of motion to be improved. These sessions do NOT need to take away form your enjoyment of outdoor training, and can simply be done as recovery or "down-time" exercises as if you were doing a long stretching session.

Race your strength:
For the time being you are stronger sitting up and standing, so use these skills in your TT until you have developed more flexibility and power in aero. So, stand on the hills, push hard, and go back into aero once you have got your speed up at the crest. Have a look at the following video to see that power CAN be created in aero position:
http://vimeo.com/12297942

It will take some time to develop these skills, so again, think long-term. Specific flexibility work in training, and neuro conditioning to allow you to remain aero and generate power in teh future.

[IanC]

Thanks for the advice.  I will be working on this over the next while and see what happens over the next TT's.  I know I am not very flexible, so that is something I need to work at over the long haul. 

See you out there at the TT's.  Just like the crits: sign on shortly after 6, racing starts at about 6:30-6:40

[MartinC]

Flew the BPR flag at the TT tonight. My second TT of the year. 22.22. Conditions were good, not much wind. Pacing a lot better than first attempt(22.34) as I tried to hold around 165 bpm for first half and then push hard on the way home. 3rd overall.

[Andrew]

Great result showing the value of pacing.

It would be interesting to see next week what happens going out at 170, and seeing if you can still hold on to the power on the way home. Just another opportunity to learn how your body responds to different intensities.

[IanC]

Rode the time trial again last night.  This time on my own bike with clip on bars and borrowed Steve's fancy wheelset and his aero helmet.  Thanks Steve! 
Last time I rode  Steve's TT bike and the handlebars were too low for me and I wasn't able to get much power down and ended up with a slow time of almost 26 minutes. 
Last night was much better and I had a time of 23:33, almost 2.5 minutes faster!  My average HR was the same for both races and the conditions were very similar.  It just goes to show how important a proper bike fit is!

BTW:  Last night was the last TT.  Next week is the hill climb up Knox for all you anorexic, lungs and legs guys.

[SimonC]

All you K Town TT geeks should come up to Vernon next Tues to try your luck against the local hammers. Becky and Ginny promise not to make you look too silly   
It's gonna go down !!!!!   

[Andrew]

And to add a little fuel to the fire...young Peter O'Brien is getting stronger with each event, and was just 4 seconds off of Ginny's time from last week. Put the two of them head to head, and it could be a very fun race to watch! And if Becky decides to downshift going into the hills to help keep her cadence up, she could be a serious contender in the mix as well!