invictus43
Well-known member
Congrats to Ryder Hejsedal..first Canadian winner of one of the three grand tours..the Giro d'Italia.. That's the equivalent to winning the Moto GP world championship... Former mountain biker I might add... :-D
Holy Time Trial batman!
28km in 34 minutes?
Dammit!
Don't even bother..they're ridiculous. I can grind out 300 watts for about 5 mins..these guys do 400 watts for an hour..peaking at over 1000 watts. Now I'm no great fit cyclist..but I know a guy who was and his best TT was about 40km/h..12th in the province..these guys are doing 54km/h.. Just as an example..they're pushing a 53-17 on 4-6% grades..
40km/hr over what distance?
My last road ride was 37km @ 34.5km/hr. Fairly windy day. Northbound, slightly uphill with a tail wind, cruising was 46-48km/hr. Southbound, slightly downhill with a head wind was 30-32km/hr. I think on a calm day I could probably average 36-37km/hr over that run.
That was the provincial TT championship..so they were 40km back then. My buddy finished in about 57mins..so just over 40km/h..
Now i want to try.
It's a cool discipline..you vs. the clock. No tactics..no drafting..just grind it out.
http://www.ontariocycling.org/
That's how I ride now, more or less. No drafting or tactics in the du/tri rides except I would not have to save anything for the run.
There are a lot of subtleties that can make you faster. Position is important..takes a lot of flexibility to achieve the optimum position. Sometimes takes years to get to where you need to be. Pedalling mechanics..still remember when Miguel Indurain caught and passed Lance Armstrong back in..1997?..like Lance was tied to a tree..he improved his TT technique a lot after seeing that..
I know I still have room to improve but I'm not terrible as of now. Saving up for a Felt B2 or perhaps a Cannondale Slice with some fancy wheels for 2013. If I can keep up with my training, get stronger, and get a more slippery bike I should be able to challenge for fastest overall (for the ride portion) of the sprint duathlons.
For TT, it's all in the wheels and bars..I'm not sure if disc rear is legal still in Ontario..but get the most aero wheels you can afford..then get your elbows in and back flat.. The weight and aero of the actual bike frame isn't nearly as relevant.