Uphill Time Trialing
06-01-09, 12:25 AM
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Uphill Time Trialing
Hello all,
So I've got a prologue-type time trial coming up in a week and I've got a few questions. The course is 4.8 km (although it only came out to 4.4km on my Garmin). It starts in a valley and is 2.2 km flat/slight rise, 1 km climb at 5.2% (Max grade of a little over 7%), and then another 1.2 km of flat. I've got a picture of a ride file from when I did the course on Saturday for reference.
So the two conundrums I run into are:
a) Do I use a TT bike or a Road Bike? The weight penalty between the two would be about two pounds. I know I'll just be using my 50mm carbon aero rims because I don't own anything else. Looking at the course time-wise I'll be spending about 60% of my time on the flat and 40% on the climb.
b) This is the less important of the two as I'm pretty sure the answer is "Just go balls out because it's a short distance", but should I approach the TT with a idea to harder on the hill or should I just use a regular negative splitting strategy metering my effort so that I finish the hardest as the course is ending.
Oh and as for numbers I'm 6'5, 174 lbs, and I'll be putting out about 350 watts for the duration of the time trial. If Kreuzotter was still up I'd like to run simulations over there but it seems that it is no longer available.
So I've got a prologue-type time trial coming up in a week and I've got a few questions. The course is 4.8 km (although it only came out to 4.4km on my Garmin). It starts in a valley and is 2.2 km flat/slight rise, 1 km climb at 5.2% (Max grade of a little over 7%), and then another 1.2 km of flat. I've got a picture of a ride file from when I did the course on Saturday for reference.
So the two conundrums I run into are:
a) Do I use a TT bike or a Road Bike? The weight penalty between the two would be about two pounds. I know I'll just be using my 50mm carbon aero rims because I don't own anything else. Looking at the course time-wise I'll be spending about 60% of my time on the flat and 40% on the climb.
b) This is the less important of the two as I'm pretty sure the answer is "Just go balls out because it's a short distance", but should I approach the TT with a idea to harder on the hill or should I just use a regular negative splitting strategy metering my effort so that I finish the hardest as the course is ending.
Oh and as for numbers I'm 6'5, 174 lbs, and I'll be putting out about 350 watts for the duration of the time trial. If Kreuzotter was still up I'd like to run simulations over there but it seems that it is no longer available.
06-01-09, 05:28 AM
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pan y agua
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Unless there are handling issues (i.e. turns on the descents) I'd also vote for the TT bike. At the speeds you'll be going aero trumps weight.
Yould could work this out in the analytical cycling web page. But my bet is you will just a small fraction slower on the climb, and significantly faster on the flats and descent.
One other option would be a minimalist set of clipons. The big advantage tyo this is you would keep your standard road bike geomtry, which will help climbing, have less than a pound weight penalty, and still get most of the aero advantage.
Yould could work this out in the analytical cycling web page. But my bet is you will just a small fraction slower on the climb, and significantly faster on the flats and descent.
One other option would be a minimalist set of clipons. The big advantage tyo this is you would keep your standard road bike geomtry, which will help climbing, have less than a pound weight penalty, and still get most of the aero advantage.
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You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
06-02-09, 10:05 PM
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Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'm leaning towards the TT bike as well. I did the trial run on the road bike though (to answer Grumpy's question). Any ideas on the pacing part of the question?
06-02-09, 11:08 PM
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Killing Rabbits
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As for pacing:
-Start with high power to get up to speed. Don't sprint, just get up to your TT pace rather quickly.
-Ride very hard on flat before climb. Maybe in the last ~1-2min of the flat you could slightly reduce power (-5%) as a recovery strategy. You would then attack the climb with that additional +5%.
-All out over the top of the climb. If you "die" near the line it's ok because you die going fast.
It's all about reducing the amount of time you spend going slow.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum
The fastest time on the 4000 m pursuit was achieved with an 'all-out' start at a high level of initial power output, followed by a constant anaerobic power output after 12 seconds, resulting in an evenly paced race.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum
Our findings confirm that time savings are possible in cycling time-trials if the rider varies power in parallel with hill gradient and wind direction. ...the extent to which such power output variations can be tolerated by a cyclist during a time-trial is still unclear.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10527322?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.P ubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=4&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed
RESULTS: No differences were found between the CP and VP trials in mean VO2 (CP 3.33 +/- 0.11 L x min(-1), VP 3.26 +/- 0.12 L x min(-1)), mean heart rate (CP 158 +/- 3 min(-1), VP 159 +/- 3 min(-1)), mean blood lactate concentration (CP 4.2 +/- 0.7 mM, VP 4.3 +/- 0.7 mM), or mean RPE (CP 13.9 +/- 0.4, VP 14.1 +/- 0.4). CONCLUSION: Therefore, during a strenuous 1-h effort (78% of VO2max), subjects experienced no additional physiological stress by varying power +/- 5% compared with that during a constant power effort.
