Mike's Bike Blog

Yesterday was my 2nd "official" run at the 8 mile Time Trial and I recorded my fastest time. Last week I did a practice run and was a bit disappointed as my time was slower by 5 seconds and I totally died around mile 6. My speed dropped to below 20 mph, but luckily I got my second wind and was able to finish somewhat strong. Looking at the data it appeared I did a poor job of pacing as I went out too hard from the beginning. WIth that in mind I made every effort to do a better job of pacing.

Last nights TT was the first time with my new aero bars that I got for Fathers Day. The theory is the aero bars will get the rider into a more aerodynamic position thus cutting through the wind. The amount of watts to propel the bike is suppose to go down as the drag coefficient is reduced. That's the theory anyway.

It was a hot one, still in the 100s when I got to the veloway. I warmed up with 2 laps around the veloway, the first at a moderate pace and the 2nd lap in the small ring with high cadence. This was my second ride of the day, during lunch I went out for an easy 40 minutes.  A couple weeks ago when I did my first TT I followed this protocol of riding during my lunch time for a light effort. Last week when I had trouble I did not do my lunch ride as I thought the effort might hinder me. Going forward I'll keep the easy lunch spin in the game plan as at the least it doesn't seem to contribute to any negative effects.

Besides the aero bars I also tried one other new piece of equipment. Instead of a standard water bottle I used my CamelBak RaceBak. Even though the race is only 8 miles in the extreme heat I need to take a drink every 2 miles. With the bottle I have to fumble around getting it in and out. Not a big issue but when every second counts it's a lot easier to drink from the RaceBak than a bottle. With the RaceBak I noticed I was able to get in a couple more drinks than with the bottle. With the bottle I strickly followed my 2 mile hydration plan, but the RaceBak seemed to not disrupt the pace so I was able to get in more drinks when I needed it on the back side of the course on the return.

My power was down by 10 watts on this attempt compared to the previous. However I averaged .3 mph faster this time at 23.8 mph. There would appear to be something to this less drag thing. I think my pacing was pretty good, I finished with nothing left in the tank. On the hills in the 1st 1/2 of the race I made a conscious effort to hold back a bit, keeping my power in check until almost to the top and then I would raise my power and effort to crest the top and be able to catch my breath on the other side.  I passed 2 riders again this time. The first rider around mile 2 and the second one was in my sights from the turn around point. I finally passed him within the last mile. Having him as my carrot was probably the real reason I beat my time as it gave me the motivation to keep pushing on. I was surprised I didn't get passed again because as I was starting there were 5-7 people at the light waiting to turn left onto the course and they looked serious with full TT rigs, skin suits and aero helmets. Catching the last guy was quite gratifying as he was on a TT bike with aero helmet.

My official time is 20:11.90 and averaged 23.8 mph. That's a whopping 24 second difference in my previous fastest time! I'm still amazed that I was able to cut that much time off my ride while having a lower power average. There's probably more tweaking that can be made to my TT position. I slapped the aerobars on and adjusted my seat back a little and played with the angle a bit for comfort. Looking at the guys riding full on TT bikes their seats seem higher which appears to flatten their backs out thus giving them a more aerodynamic position.

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