SCCU 25 18/4/10

[Snoop Doug]

...on the equipment side you can get decent disk cover thingies from wheelbuilder dot com they cost a fraction of a disk wheel and you still get a lot of the benefits. Richv used them and they didn't seem to slow him down eh...?

[Toks]

[quote="Andrew G"]
It's not an avoiding pain thing, Mr Brent, and isn't a drastic slowing, it's just that I'll notice I'm not going as hard as I could and my speed is say 23mph on a stretch of road where it should be 24.5-25mph. Do that for 2 miles though and you've lost enough time that you can't get it back.

[Andrew G]

That's the difficult thing that often for a lot of people, like me, takes time to learn Toks. By definition overiding your subconscious isn't easy, it's not defined by the length of the TT. George for example may have learnt to automatically have a race head on from his enduro racing background.

My Dad who used to be a decent club time trialist in his day said it would take me nearly 2 years to get the hang of it. With the usual I know son's "knowledge" I thought he was talking nonsense. Oh surprise when he turned out to be correct. Just as in road racing it takes time to learn tactics and bunch positioning it takes time in time trialling to learn to do it properly. Just because your riding down the road on your own doesn't mean there's not something to learn, same as spending a load of cash on good kit won't make you fast.

[mark mclaughlin]

Hi Dave

I started TT’s back in the late 70’s. This was pre aero bars, disc etc. The big thing then, was to drill bit’s out of your brake levers and chain rings to save a few ounces…. seemed to make sense at the time??
For the record I used to get under the hour, my PB as a junior on a road bike was 55.16, it was a on the fast E72 course. Think Alf Engers smashed the 25 record on that course with a 49 that same year!!
I managed a 58 on my comeback? riding my Ribble road bike with tri-bars 2 years ago, and now I’ve got Terry’s TT bike.
The obvious advantage is being naturally lower at the front and generally more aero especially with tri bars: but if you look at alot of old skool riders they all looked pretty streamline on there machines, but you had to work harder in the crouched position.
I guess I was 17 too which all helps and was racing 3 times a week, now I’m 49 , but age doesn’t seem to slow some riders. I see Ron Keeble got under the hour on Sunday and he’s 64. Hope for us all!!
We’ve had some rapid times in the Addiscombe when you look back at the records, that 51.45 for the 25 will take some beating George…..

Welcome to the Dark side Dave.

[Toks]

[quote="Andrew G"]My Dad who used to be a decent club time trialist in his day said it would take me nearly 2 years to get the hang of it. With the usual I know son's "knowledge" I thought he was talking nonsense. Oh surprise when he turned out to be correct. Just as in road racing it takes time to learn tactics and bunch positioning it takes time in time trialling to learn to do it properly. Just because your riding down the road on your own doesn't mean there's not something to learn, same as spending a load of cash on good kit won't make you fast.

[Andrew G]

bloody hell Mark I knew you were very fast back then but that is really really fast. Now apart from the drilling did you use PMP L Shaped cranks .

[David.Hilbert]

[quote="mark mclaughlin"]
For the record I used to get under the hour, my PB as a junior on a road bike was 55.16, it was a on the fast E72 course. Think Alf Engers smashed the 25 record on that course with a 49 that same year!!

[Mike I]

[quote="David.Hilbert"]I can't get over the idea that the disks and pointy hats etc are cheating in some vague Luddite way. That's just me though.

[Ivor]

[quote="Andrew G"]1) Tri-bars
2) Pointy hat
3) Skinsuit
4) Disc wheel

[Jon H]

[quote="Mike I"]It's not just you David .

[quote="Ivor"][quote="Andrew G"]1) Tri-bars
2) Pointy hat
3) Skinsuit
4) Disc wheel

[Ivor]

[quote="Sylv"]Front wheel is more important than rear though.

[Sylv]

ha ha didn't even make the connection!

hmmm what else am i selling?

oh yes some Spin mtb wheels nice and aero for marco's bmx for the next President's 10!!!

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2777/4523963774_195e14136b.jpg[/img]

[Andrew G]

Front wheel's more important yes but you can only go so deep, a PX 101 is legal but right on the limit, a Zipp 1080 is just over and illegal. The deeper you go with a front wheel the more tricky the bike is to control in winds/gusts too which can counter the aero gain. The back isn't a problem as your weight on it keeps it stable.

Skinsuits do make more difference than you think Ivor. You're not going to go much quicker but in the second/£ ratio they score quite well, like the pointy hat.

As Sylv say though, if you ride with your knees out what's the point .

I think a lot of it is marginal gains though that you try and accumulate, same as focussing better, staying on the tri-bars all the time to keep the frontal area small etc. Personally I still think legs and head are the most important bits of kit you can own, put Hutch on a butcher's bike and he'll still be quick.

[Andrew G]

Marcus, the 50 I saw on the board was a handicap time it was won with a 55 and James came 4th on scratch and 3rd on handicap. A superb result on a road bike.