The Joy of Time Trialling
After this morning’s successful Open 25, a bit of a look into what is involved. Something to think about for anyone considering participating in or indeed organising an event.
Although the event itself takes up a few hours of a Sunday morning, the preparation begins quite a while beforehand.
Genesis – the start of it all
The process for today’s TT actually started in early September of last year. This is when I needed to file the event proposal with the Cycling Time Trials – London South committee. There’s quite a good reason for this. They need to be able to plan which events are taking place where so that you don’t have two events close together or even clashing – some courses share stretches of road. They take the applications away and a busy person (called Martin) works through all the events to make sure that they can all happen. Our events were all confirmed at the CTT AGM in October (which I did go to).
Once the event is confirmed, there are a few more steps:
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- Book an HQ. The London South handbook has a helpful list of suggestions and contact details.
- Appoint timekeepers. Again CTT provide a list of local, qualified timekeepers.
- Send off the police notification forms.
- Start begging for helpers.[/list]
Exodus – getting people out
There are some requirements for putting on a successful time trial. Essentially, you’re going to need cake, marshalls, cake, checkers, timekeepers and cake. Testers (as time-triallists are often called) do like cake.
Marshalls are out there, partly to point riders on their way and partly because when the general public see people in hi-viz then they know the Something is Happening. Checkers are there to make sure that people ride the whole course rather than taking a sneaky shortcut.
For every event organiser, the CTT/LS provide a guide to where marshalls need to be. It’s important to follow this as so long as you (the organiser) do, you’re covered by their liability insurance.
Levity/curse – post event chat
One of the things that struck me when I first started time trialling was the atmosphere. OK, before the event people can be a bit subdued and a bit focussed on their own race. You’ll get greetings and the odd “do a good one”.
After people have finished the atmosphere back at the HQ is always great. Folks want to chat about which bits were hard, the wind, the potholes, the traffic …
They will also want some cake.
Apocrypha – reasons why I was slow
This is always a big topic of post-race conversation. Reasons include, but are not limited to: had a bit of a cough and feeling rough; legs a bit tired from a hard week; going through a bad patch; I had to stop at the bottom of Tollgate because of a coach; I am fat and slow.
Revelation – results time
The thing about time trialling is that no matter whether you are competing for first or trying not to be last, the results mean something. It’s been said that in bunch racing, the objective is to ride as slowly as possible and still cross the finishing line first. The objective in time trialling is the opposite. It is to challenge yourself to give as much as you possibly can over the course.
The French call it “the race of truth” (except probably in French – they’re awkward like that) and it is. Although I’ve never been fast or trained enough, I have found that time trialling teaches you a lot about yourself.
