TT Report:

I heard about this TT just this week and signed-up. I'd like to develop some TT prowess, since I've always liked racing the clock --so I really need to put more of these on my schedule. Today's Floyd CRCA TT (replacing their Bear Mtn Seven Lakes TT) was my first of the season.

The course was the usual Kissena course with the start/finish moved to the line that W.S. United uses for their Thurs night races. The length was 5 laps (11.3 miles by my Garmin), 1 minute between starters.

I rode out to Floyd from Park Slope --risking not just my skin but my lovely tubulars on the gauntlet that is Flatbush Ave.-- which made for a reasonable warm-up. I signed-in, pinned meself up, and did 1 lap easy and another lap hard for the final layer of my warm-up. I pulled into the start gate, heart pumping hard, with 4 minutes until my start.

Another Kissena --Chris Conde-- waved to me, he was in the shoot two positions ahead of me. In a few minutes I was off...

The start was into the wind, so I spun-up to a fast cadence, checked back right to ensure the lane was clear, moved over and held my cadence and effort at what felt right. I came around the first turn and chunked the gear down 2 notches and settled into a rhythm with a nice cross-tail wind pushing me along at about 27mph (expected to be faster at this effort, but the wind was soft for Floyd). I felt good and speedy. 30 seconds later I thought I smelled something burning --and lo'! it was my cardio-vascular system! I backed-off just slightly, quelled the flames and the brought the temperature down to a smoke. And I was rolling well. Turn, turn... there's the wind again... clicked-up two cogs and kicked a beat that once again felt right.

Next lap... repeated the above, but avoided the fire. Heard some whooshing behind me and hoped it would be some fleet Cat.1 giving it everything to get around me. Unfortunately, it was a fellow in my cat4 race: Andy Shen of BH. Then again, he had started 5 minutes before me, so he was out pacing me, so I figured/guessed that he'd got about 30 seconds on me. 30 seconds would be hard to make up in a short TT, but I thought I could make it close. Not wanting to give-up 1st place so early, and neither wanting to react too quickly, I held my pace and after Shen was about 5 bike lengths up, I locked onto his pace. My plan was to do this for the next two laps, then close on lap 4 (his 5th and final lap), then pull my fastest lap through to the finish. Well, Mr. Shen got smaller and smaller. He got so small that his aerodynamic advantage became insurmountable. And so my plan was foiled.

It didn't help that on the 1st windy stretch of lap 3 that an increasing wind gust gut-checked me, sending more flames. I recovered a little and and slowly pushed hard along 2nd windy (finish line) stretch, regaining my pace once again. Through the long cross-tail section, the clock looked in on me and advised me to keep it even, that I was in save-yourself mode with only one more hard-push left in me. In a moment of weakness I surrendered to the clock's advice and motored at my established pace until about 1k from the finish when I brought everything into coordination for speed (it actually felt kind of slow).

Across the line, the clock patting me on the back, but my legs are pissed --they've got more in them!

Damn, beautiful day at Floyd, but I rode this one on the wrong side of empty.

Result: They're publishing results later this afternoon. I think I finished in about 27m30s or a little more. I think Mr. Shen and probably some others were significantly faster.

That's it,
Norm

p.s. Saw Patrick out there as well... I think his time was in the neighborhood of my own. And Chris did very well, I think he said he finished at around 29mins... very good after coming-off a crash at Killington last weekend and no training this week.

And big thanks to Chris for giving me a lift home --and saving my tubulars from further Flatbush abuses!

Results Here:

http://www.crca.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/FBF-TT-Results.pdf

Norm looks like you were 11th at 27:28. Not bad for a FBF TT. Chris Conde 17th at 28:52. Also brand new Kissena Joji Matsushima was 11th in the Cannibal category at 32:14.

http://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cyclings/Floyd-Bennett-Field-Time-Trial

Nice ride Norm: 24.68mph
(according to http://spokepost.com/tools/time/ )

Ingraham on crazy TT rig: 27.93mph.

Thanks for the info guys...

Also note that Patrick was just behind me: 27:44, good for 13th place.

Pictures from the TT have shown up here:

http://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cyclings/Floyd-Bennett-Field-Time-Trial/Kissena/17414656_hxNGNj#1324453736_pM3zG9F

Interesting to compare the positions of Norm, Chris and I. Norm and Chris are much more narrow up front and I am lower. We probably all could improve aerodynamics: me by narrowing and Norm and Chris going lower, no?

Feedback anyone?

In general getting lower would be a good thing. But there are caveats: #1 is that flexibility is important so that power production is not compromised by the lower position. #2 is that there is such a thing as too low. I've seen pro's ride with such a low front end that their back is actually in the wind and that is no different than having your chest in the wind.

As for narrower, provided you are not riding with your arms spread wide, opinion is less definitive. The GB pursuit squad, for example, tend to have their bars just inside shoulder width apart, and they go plenty fast.

So much of positioning depends on...many different things. Individual flexibility is very important, but so is saddle position. Most pro time trialists and lots of amateurs set the nose of their saddle at UCI minimum for setback and then base their position around having the saddle at this point. The more forward you are relative to the bottom bracket, the easier it is to get low. Of course, the problem is that this becomes a different position than your road bike and the only way to truly exploit the position is to ride it enough to get comfortable in said position.

Another way to lower yourself is to lengthen the extensions, but you should only lengthen them to the point that you're not pulling yourself forward with the new position.

With narrowing the pads, you should neither compromise steering nor inhibit breathing.

If you're on a road bike, you can probably take spacers out from under your stem. If you're stem is already as low as it goes, you can switch to a lower stem. As most people use 80-90 degree stems, getting a 73 can drop you down 2cm or so from an 84.

With most of these things, the best way to figure out what works is to test out the changes in the field. This is time-consuming and painful.

I do want to work on my position... but, my setup for Saturday was to clip-on the aerobars and go --no adjustments whatsoever.

I felt very comfortable in that position, so I think I can drop the bars a bit (via different stem). And I know I can raise my saddle a bit. I don't think I should move the bars out any farther --I've tried it and I feel too stretched-out, uncomfortable.

So, I'll start with getting my tail higher and my upper torso lower... both just a little at first.

Oh, and I'll train for these too!

Thanks for the feedback guys.