Wow. I was expecting maybe ten riders tonight. We got 34 (32 bikes, as two were tandems). I spent so long signing everyone on and dishing out numbers that I barely had time to speak to anyone, even time keepers Mike Boag and step dad Matthew. They were calm and efficient, however, while I flapped about like a bird with a broken wing, telling them and retelling them the same things. There was a risk that some riders would finish before everyone had set off, so I drafted last man off Ian Squires as a pusher off. Well, maybe Nick was last man off as he was on the back on the tandem; Ian was on the front.

We had a great mix of newcomers, middle markers, and hardened TTers. As well as Richardsons CC and Richardsons TEF riders, we had riders from Paragon and Malton. We ended up starting a bit late, but lucky the evening was mild and sunny, with decent visibility. I bust the zip on my skinsuit when I rushed for a last minute pee and ended up having to safety pin the front up. Very gothic, although probably not very aero. Talking of safety pins: we need some more.

As for the ride, there was stiff westerly breeze made it hard going out towards Allerston. Stu Jackson and Rich Simms both had an unscheduled visit to the cricket ground during their races, after taking a wrong turn. I think we need the big arrows for first timers riding this course. I did have some little ones but ran out of stakes, as I used them for the several big ‘warning’ signs that were on the outskirts of the course. (You won’t have seen them. Well, Stu and Rich might!)

Matthew Enticknap makes the point of having a marshall for that right turn. I’ve ridden it with and without. I guess it would have helped Stu and Rich stay on course. It would require more volunteers of course. I put a big warning sign 30 yards or so before the turn by way of compromis

There were some interesting times tonight. Among the families riding, Lewis Scott nosed in front of dad Mike, and Callum Norris managed to stay out in front of dad Simo

Dave Simpson earned his TT spurs with a solid ride of 27:32, and Ian Squires and Nick Jackson were just behind him with 27:41 – on a tandem that was hacking around the mud of Broxa forest a few weeks ago. Nick Wilson came home in under 30 minutes in what I think was his first TT. Brendan wasn’t far off an average speed of 20mph either. Lorraine showed why she has a trophy and was first solo female finisher. Treasurer Tim Watts held an average speed of over 18mph in his first ever event, and while Dave Myers muttered afterwards that he wanted a faster bike or a faster body he wasn’t actually far of the pac

At the other end of the field, visiting rider Tommo had a good ride to catch Matthew Enticknap. Carl Martin and Paul Hickman made it, if not a 1, 2, 3 for Richardsons TEF, a still impressive 2, 3,

The only thing I want to know is why Paul Lane’s cycling mitt ended up stuck to someone else’s lycra shorts? (Was it you, Pete – I can’t remember.) Here are the results (below). If this was your first event: here’s your target for next time. Our next TT is in two weeks’ time on the Pickering/Malton road. Thanks again to Mike and Matthew for time keeping, to Ian for pushing off, and to anyone else whom I shouted panicky instructions at. I’ll be better prepared next time, honest.

1  22:28 Dave Thompson (SPCC)

2  23:34 Matthew Enticknap (R/TEF)

3  24:04 Carl Martin (R/TEF)

4  24:20 Paul Hickman (R/TEF)

5= 25:32 Barrie Cappleman (SPCC)

5= 25:32 Matt Purnell (SPCC)

7  25:45 Lewis Scott (SPCC)

8  25:46 Mike Potter (SPCC)

9  25:53 Mike Scott (SPCC)

10  25:55 Dan Joyce (RCC)

11  26:32 Dave Leaming (MW)

12  26:48 Jeff Francis (RCC)

13  27:05 Chris Goode & J Graves (SPCC)

14  27:32 Dave Simpson (RCC)

15  27:41 Ian Squires & Nick Jackson (RCC)

16  28:23 Paul Lane (RCC)

17  28:37* Rich Simms (RCC)

18  29:28 Matthew Graves (SPCC)

19  29:51 Nick Wilson (RCC)

20  30:22 Tony Graves (SPCC)

21  30:34 Matt Hazell (MW)

22  30:43 Steve Samples (RCC)

23  30:59 Peter Macauley (RCC)

24  31:10 Dave Schubert (RCC)

25  31:37 Brendan Ferguson (RCC)

26  32:22 Tim Watts (RCC)

27  33:23* Stu Jackson (RCC)

28  34:14 Simon Norris (RCC)

29  34:50 Lorraine Naylor (RCC)

30  34:57 Callum Norris (RCC)

31  34:58 Terry Lynch (SPCC)

32  35:46 Dave Myers (RCC)

* Went off course

Post edited because I transposed the times of Tim and Lorraine

Read original blog post

Here's my Garmin plot of the ride. Rich - get this in yer GPS so it'll tell you where to go next time!

I didn't get to warm up (starting HR of about 80 something) then set off too fast (HR suddenly spiking to about 190). I'll learn one day.

great event Dan.

il be looking on ebay now for a tt bike and a helmet.

looking forward to the next one.

Where am I going to find a minute from to beat that Tommo?

matthew said:

Where am I going to find a minute from to beat that Tommo?

Give me 10 minutes of your time for a little 'coaching' chat and in less than 4 weeks you'll be 30secs faster.

Give me 1hr and 8 weeks you'll drop a minute, no I'm not joking, two photos and 1hr that's all, I've got you sussed already.

Start by ditching the HRM's and Garmin's - total waste of time. FEEL. Every minute you are on the computer trying to suss out what the hell all those numbers really mean I'm out training getting faster and getting the FEEL factor. You get the idea, there's the first leason.

19's are there waiting for ya - it's doesn't have to be a dream.

2 photo's ive got one of me in the bath and one in Paris don't know how these would help me go faster

I'll take 10mins of your time Tommo if you can spare them, i have my computer for show only to get feed back later, and don't use during, i have issues between breathing and cadence my mind switches between the 2 GGrrr oh yeah and leg pain my cadence was crap last night pushing to bigger gear into wind

Great night ta again to all

This has got you all going.

Dan I've not spoke to anyone or read anything about training, I never do, don't get the mags - don't look on the net.

Honestly, I can't be a***ed.

You are right as always about everything else there, but I find it strange that when people say they work well with HRM's or powermeter's that in the end they like you last night still go up to 190bpm and blow up. This lad I beat down at Worksop had a powermeter and set off at 380watts whatever that is - and then blew up and said 'What was I thinking'. Well what's the point in having one if you don't look at it and use it, only to check up at home that 'Yes - I did in fact blow up' ?????? Anyway there you have it. I used a HRM for my first 2 years of TT'in, was fairly average then ditched it as a waste of time.

I'll take 10mins of your time Tommo if you can spare them

I'll see you at Brotherton next week Carl dude.

That could be power, HR, RPE (rate of perceived exertion) ????? Also training is not about the engine alone - alongside the physiological demands you cannot ignore the others:

psychological, tactical, technical and tere could be others environment, nutrition etc…. emm Pizza 

I've got headache now I'm off out training.

See you all at Pickering.

Tommo said:

You are right as always about everything else there, but I find it strange that when people say they work well with HRM's or powermeter's that in the end they like you last night still go up to 190bpm and blow up. This lad I beat down at Worksop had a powermeter and set off at 380watts whatever that is - and then blew up and said 'What was I thinking'. Well what's the point in having one if you don't look at it and use it, only to check up at home that 'Yes - I did in fact blow up' ?????? Anyway there you have it. I used a HRM for my first 2 years of TT'in, was fairly average then ditched it as a waste of time.

I started badly because I was flustered from organising stuff and hadn't warmed up. The HRM didn't make me go up to 190bpm. I did.  But I saw what I was doing and put a lid on it. Rest of the ride went okay - from the point of a fairly average racer like me. 

Your 'no external data' riding is a valid approach. But so is using an HRM or a Powermeter. Some pretty fast riders do use them - some of them even faster than you, Tommo.  Information is only as good as the use you put it to, so getting hold of data doesn't necessarily make racers go faster. And it may have made you go slower. Like Mark, I was just challenging the idea that HRMs are 'a waste of time'. For you, sure. For others? Some yes, others no.

I'm not really arguing with you, and I don't think Mark is either. If you read between the lines, we're all saying the same thing: try stuff - see if it works.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this. Someone once asked Eddy Merckx how to be a better rider. His reply: 'Ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike!' 

matthew said:

Where am I going to find a minute from to beat that Tommo?

What have I started?

In my defence, its the first time Ive riden this course and Tommo learned TT'ing in the course (and other local ones), so, in my opinion, there's at least 45secs.

Another 15 seconds for not setting off too fast then hitting that head wind and “blowing up”. I bet Tommo knew not to go too fast.

Looking at my Garmin data  I went a lot faster on my second lap after recovering at 27mph.

PS. Tommo, were you slip streaming me on that return leg……

PPS. Ive just got to go faster. I get it now.

anyone know where i could get a decent set of tri bars that will fit my islabike?? struggling to find some that will fit on because of the (frankly rather stupid, at least for me anyway) second set of brakes on it . looking to improve my times this year and think this will help,

any advice welcome,

Callum

CallumN said:

anyone know where i could get a decent set of tri bars that will fit my islabike?? struggling to find some that will fit on because of the (frankly rather stupid, at least for me anyway) second set of brakes on it . looking to improve my times this year and think this will help,

any advice welcome,

Callum

My youngest lad has an islabike and I took the extra brakes off, it's not a hard job. Then you can fit some tri's.

You would be better with a normal road bike though as they (islabike) are a cross type bike.

A normal road bike will have a better aero package with out those sticky out brakes and extra bits you don't need + the wheels and tyres are heavy.

Callum, Ive taken note of what Mick, Tommo and Elaine (My coach)  have to say so I would take note on what tommo has to say about a new bike/frame but Ian Cammish said to me at the club dinner that the tyers/tubs are the most important thing to have to go faster and I wouldn't like to question him about going fast.

Tommo said:

A normal road bike will have a better aero package with out those sticky out brakes and extra bits you don't need + the wheels and tyres are heavy.

We've settled the previous 'argument', but I won't let this one lie.  The difference in aerodynamics between a cross bike and road bike is trivial. Sticky out cantilever brakes? Get outta here! Wheel weight makes a minimal difference in a flattish time trial too. 

Better to have a versatile bike that you can try different things on. If you really want to go faster on the Islabike, you can tweak the riding position (e.g. tri bars) or you could, as Lewis suggests, put faster tyres on. These are what will reap the significant rewards at a sensible price. And most of the rest is riding your bike more. 

(I'm not suggesting things like aero bikes or wheels don't make a difference, not that sidepulls aren't marginally more aero than cantis - . just calling for a sense of proportion.) 

Nice one, Matthew. But it's only a valid comparison if you sort the crosser so it has the same riding position as your TT bike, the same tyres, and has gears that go high enough. The biggest gains from a TT bike come from the riding position it lets you adopt. But you can get that on other bikes. Andy Wilkinson did some pretty good rides on a converted hybrid with tri bars on it.

You could extend the experiment by having a go at a cross on your TT bike, maybe?

Tommo said:

I NEVER said change the bike, did I.

I mean get another bike for RR'in / TT'in - a road bike. Keep the Isla for training / crossing etc. it's a good training bike for sure.

I said 'sticky out brakes and extra bits you don't need etc'

So it's the overall aero - front forks / frame  basically everything. All these are not as good as on a road bike and all the things together do add up but only a small % I do realise, but it helps upstairs with the old psyche.

Wheel weight makes a minimal difference in a flattish time trial too. 

Absolute rubbish, (Rotating)wheel weight is the most important weight saving you can make. Flat or not + I didn't believe you can get super thin tyres on those wide rims.

Callum - Position is very important but be careful not to be too uncomfortable otherwise you will go slower even if you are in a better aero position.

No, you didn't say get another bike. But you implied it. And you've just said it now: get another bike. Callum doesn't really need another bike at this stage. If he wants one, sure. 

Absolute rubbish that wheel weight makes a minimal difference in a flattish time trial? Explain disc wheels.  You've got one. Maybe you should ditch it for a 16-spoke superlight wheel?  Aerodynamics trump weight. A heavier disc wheel is faster than a lighter spoked wheel. Fact. Saying otherwise is absolute rubbish.

Rotating weight is the most important weight saving you can make, but it only makes a significant impact in flattish time trialling when accelerating at the start and when accelerating out of corners. There won't be hills to accelerate up because you'll note I used the word 'flattish'. That means no hills. 

You can get 25mm tyres on the Islabike rims. Even 23mm will fit, though the ride will be a bit harsher that it would with a narrower rim. 

Just washed my TT bike and tried to work out what a strange clicking was. See picture below:

The rail on my saddle bust! No wonder I felt myself slipping to the front more than usual.

As a slower rider and having competed on Thursday night tt as my first, I have too say that all of this thread is way over my head except the first post.

My time is too slow. I was hoping for a sub 30 minute time, so, I've been out riding, pushing more than i would up the hills and actually starting to take this cycling lark a little more seriously than I have been(not to much though).

I'll be at the next tt on me cheap road bike, with my mountain bike helmet and shoes and going for a quicker time. For me I reckon that any technology there is wont make me any faster, just a few less foodie treats(pies) and a bit more training and I'm going to get faster.

Lorraine said that this tt game was addictive………….she maybe right.

So: that would be anecdote <rolls eyes>. Did I tell you that all my PBs were done while wearing black socks. Black socks are faster.

Are you also denying that the Zipp disc is more aero than the Planet X disc? That it was all (whatever 'all' was) down to a few hundred grams? And that there was no placebo effect because you'd just dropped a four figure sum? Yes? Well, I've never denied weight makes a difference; we must just have different definitions of 'minimal difference' and 'a big deal'. Clearly it was a big deal to you. Tell me what the cost in pounds was per single second saved on a given event? 

Meantime, I'll respectfully suggest that relatively new time triallists don't think they have to have a new bike or lighter wheels or that cantilever brakes or unspecified 'other stuff' (frame eyelets? ) is making their bike act like a sail in the wind; that they just enjoy their riding, get fitter and, if they do want to buy some cheap speed (not that kind!), they consider fitting tri bars (Callum - you can fit them to your Islabike once the auxilliary brake levers are removed, as Tommo noted earlier on) and maybe change the bike's tyres. Brendan has exactly the right idea. Ride more. Enjoy it. As you enjoy it and ride more, you'll go faster. The rest can wait.

Along with the scientific explanation of why I was spouting 'utter rubbish' that I was waiting for.  

I agree, Mark.  I just think anyone making claims like 'absolute rubbish' should be able to back them up.

For anyone who is interested in how stuff like weight and aerodynamics affects speed on a bike, this page isn't a bad start. I can also recommend the books Bicycling Science by Whitt & Wilson and Bicycle Design by Mike Burrows. 

For anyone who isn't: ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike.

king of the hill said:

Calumn you need to get ya Dad to buy a wind tunnel, then adjust your bike accordingly to the air flow, this may cost a few quid but you will be well popular with all TT'rs because we'll all want ago, and you will go faster, please put my name down first as it was my idea

I'll have a bit of that as well but it will have to be a quick test as I need to get out and ride my bike ride my bike ride my bike.

Don't forget the most aero position for 'you' might be too uncomfortable to hold, therefore you will go slower in a better aero position.

Testing stuff for real - not just reading/writing about the theory. There's no escape, the times don't lie. Fast & slow I've been there.