The TT Thread

[Karla]

Congratulations, that's a stunning ride.

[rob]

Congratulations, you've certainly worked hard enough for it. What is next on the list?

I have the Shaftesbury 50 on Sunday with a view to getting a fast BBAR qualifier.

If that works out I may enter the Breckland 12hr first weekend of August.  After that I’m done with time trialling for a while.

[Frank9755]

Well done, super ride!

[DuncanM]

That's seriously impressive - congrats!

[rob]

Congratulations, you've certainly worked hard enough for it. What is next on the list?

I have the Shaftesbury 50 on Sunday with a view to getting a fast BBAR qualifier.

If that works out I may enter the Breckland 12hr first weekend of August.  After that I’m done with time trialling for a while.

Well I managed 1:50:42 this morning which was a bit below par on what felt like a hard day.   Comp record was smashed by 4 minutes, though.

I’m unlikely to race again this year.   I have a range of things to sort out in body and mind before putting myself through it all again.

[DuncanM]

1:40 is still impressively quick. Are all these times on the setup in your avatar (titanium bike, deepish front, disk rear, fixed?)?
I marshalled on Thursday at a junction where 3 roads join. It was awkward as there wasn't 1 place I could stand where I could see all 3, so I had to hobble around a bit more than I would have wanted. I felt spectacularly impotent standing there shouting CAR! and pointing as they approach with the intention of turning onto the road the car is coming along. No accidents. One rider missed the next turn and ended up going so far off course I'm not sure whether he got the number back to the organiser!
My foot is definitely getting better, so hopefully I can get a few weeks training in and do the last club 10 in mid August (on my fixie). Won't get as much improvement as I wanted unless I get it absolutely perfect (I think I need a new sprocket so might go 1 tooth smaller).

[rob]

Frame/wheels/skinsuit/helmet unchanged.   Cockpit has been messed around with this year and I *think* it’s more effective.  Also new chainset and I upped the ratio for faster courses.

[rob]

After a couple of disappointments and revisiting goals for the year I arrived at the EDCA 100 this morning a little pensive.  The forecast was good with little wind but rising temps towards the end.   I had persuaded my family to hand up 3 bottles during the ride.

What happened in the end was probably my best ever execution of a TT.  HR in the right zones but keeping a lid on the effort.   Fuelling and hydration absolutely spot on and a negative split, hammering the last 10 Miles.

Not seen my official time but the Garmin had a long 3:46 as I crossed the line.  Big PB and a new club record.   Shattered but very satisfied.

3:46:35.   So with my Shafts 50 time I 'only' need 260 miles in a 12hr to get a 25mph average.   Still can't bring myself to enter one, though.   I've been a lot more relaxed since I decided to not race again this year.   Time to go on holiday and think about next year.

[rob]

Sat and watched the Breckland 12hr for a couple of hours yesterday.   It was hot but there were some pretty good rides.   Slight pang of guilt for not riding.

I expect that, despite this being the National next year, I’m unlikely to ride as it’s the weekend before PBP.

[Feanor]

Tonight was the last of the Evening League TTs, and was designated as Old Skool.
Riders are encouraged to use retro bikes, and retro clothing.

I had the oldest bike, by about 20 years...


Old Skool by Ron Lowe, on Flickr

Boy did that hurt. Makes you realise just how strong some of the riders were Back In The Day. Beryl Burton set a 12h record that stood for 50 years until last year on such a beast!

[DuncanM]

Does anyone here use a disk cover on their back wheel?  I was planning on using one of the cheapo ones from eBay, but the rear wheel I wanted to put it on has an Open Sport rim, which is really shallow section, so there's nothing to overlap and the vendor didn't think there would be enough area to tape to. I've been looking at various homemade versions, but most of those assume deep (ish) section wheels too.  Not sure if this is the right place for this question (maybe Skip bike and Bodge it would be better, but I'm not sure the readership there and here are a good cross section!), but...
I've got a cheapo PlanetX 50mm front now, so the Open Sport looks really odd on the back!
Cheers
Duncan

[zigzag]

i've been using a home-brew covers, but on a 55mm deep rim, works fine. i don't think it's possible to attach such a cover to a shallow rim reliably.

[DuncanM]

I was wondering if I could basically butt the disc up to the inside of the rim (with a pad near the rim with some correx to make it a bit chunkier), zip tie the sides together to hold it on and then silicone the gap to the rim to make it all smooth. It's a fixie, so it would probably be easier (and cheaper in the long run) to buy a cheap wheel with a V rim and then buy the cheap ebay cover to fit that.

[Pedal Castro]

Sat and watched the Breckland 12hr for a couple of hours yesterday.   It was hot but there were some pretty good rides.   Slight pang of guilt for not riding.

I expect that, despite this being the National next year, I’m unlikely to ride as it’s the weekend before PBP.

Dang! I told my daughter when PBP was so she wouldn't put her wedding on that weekend so she went for the one before so I could ride to Sweden for training (and the wedding) then have a week off before PBP...looks like I'll ride the 24 again next year then.

[Kim]

I was wondering if I could basically butt the disc up to the inside of the rim (with a pad near the rim with some correx to make it a bit chunkier), zip tie the sides together to hold it on and then silicone the gap to the rim to make it all smooth.

For the WHPVA championships I disc-ified my rear wheel by molishing an appropriate disc out of 1mm ABS (she says, handwaving the knack to getting the dishing just right), sized to butt up to the inside edge of the bog standard rim, secured it to the side of the rim with PVC insulating tape, and added a few cable ties to the spokes to prevent anything catastrophically nasty happening if the tape didn't hold.

It survived a weekend of racing with no ill effects (including comedy off-roading across the camping field and a several of loadings and unloadings into the back of a car), even with the tape adhesive being sun-baked by the scorchio.

Obviously this approach requires that you aren't going to use the rim as a braking surface...  But I reckon that attaching the two discs together inside the rim would be secure, if somewhat less aerodynamic.

[rob]

Sat and watched the Breckland 12hr for a couple of hours yesterday.   It was hot but there were some pretty good rides.   Slight pang of guilt for not riding.

I expect that, despite this being the National next year, I’m unlikely to ride as it’s the weekend before PBP.

Dang! I told my daughter when PBP was so she wouldn't put her wedding on that weekend so she went for the one before so I could ride to Sweden for training (and the wedding) then have a week off before PBP...looks like I'll ride the 24 again next year then.

Next year just looks to be a faff.   I’ve realised that I don’t recover well enough from long efforts to be able to do that many.   This probably means that another go at the 24 will need to wait until 2020.   I might like to try the Team Swift 12 next year.  It’s not as fast as the Newbury or the Breckland but might be something a bit different provided 1) it’s still on and 2) it’s the last weekend in July again.

[Karla]

I can offer you hand-ups and accommodation ten miles from the start in return for support on the 24? 

I'm thinking of doing the 24, the Breckland 12 and PBP but then I hope that if my current touring efforts give me nothing else, they give me the base fitness to do several long efforts without undue effect.  The PBP will also be an Adrian Hands job rather than a 60 hour effort.

[DuncanM]

I was wondering if I could basically butt the disc up to the inside of the rim (with a pad near the rim with some correx to make it a bit chunkier), zip tie the sides together to hold it on and then silicone the gap to the rim to make it all smooth.

For the WHPVA championships I disc-ified my rear wheel by molishing an appropriate disc out of 1mm ABS (she says, handwaving the knack to getting the dishing just right), sized to butt up to the inside edge of the bog standard rim, secured it to the side of the rim with PVC insulating tape, and added a few cable ties to the spokes to prevent anything catastrophically nasty happening if the tape didn't hold.

It survived a weekend of racing with no ill effects (including comedy off-roading across the camping field and a several of loadings and unloadings into the back of a car), even with the tape adhesive being sun-baked by the scorchio.

Obviously this approach requires that you aren't going to use the rim as a braking surface...  But I reckon that attaching the two discs together inside the rim would be secure, if somewhat less aerodynamic.

That sounds impressive. While it's a fixie, and therefore I could cover the brake track, I would very much prefer to keep 2 brakes.
I have solved the problem in the simplest way possible, by buying a new rear wheel semi-accidentally (I bid thinking the price would go up lots and it didn't, so I won) on eBay. When it arrives, I'll measure up and order a disc cover.

[DuncanM]

My wheel(s) turned up in time, so I ended up riding the bike like this (sans saddle bag and pump). The brake track on the new rear wheel is pretty worn, but I rarely use the back brake (it's there for insurance), so I'm not bothered. The gearing was 52x16.

2018-08-25_06-21-53 by duncancmartin, on Flickr

I did 27:58, which is my best time on this course - 30s better than earlier this year on the road bike with TT bars which was my previous best time. I thought my pacing was a bit dodgy, and there are a couple of bits where I just kept my cadence steady and let the power drop, but looking at the interval on Trainer Road gives me a normalized power of 240 and an average of 234, so that's not too bad.

https://www.trainerroad.com/career/duncanm23/rides/38805018-condors-stadhampton-tt-fixed-

I could probably benefit from a more secure position (I felt like I moved around a fair bit), and more practise at spinning and producing power (I find it different to just spinning down a hill where you are letting the hill do the work). I guess that (and more power) are what I should be working on for next year. I'll try to sort out some pictures of me on it, so you can point and laugh help improve my position!

Cheers

Duncan

[mattc]

How much faster are you without the pump-n-pack?

2.5 miles is a long walk ... and there's not a lot of pavement or flat verges on that road. Lot of potholes too, so flats are probably more likely. Sorry!

[Feanor]

Scottish National 100 hill-climb TT today.
That hurt.

The lumps didn't seem to bother Kyle Gordon, who put in a stonking 3:36:10, taking the Scottish Record.
I put in a rather more pedestrian 4:19:55 on my first attempt at this distance.

I'm in the frame for the club BAR, and actually finishing was essential, but my time was much less important, as there are so few people in contention.  So I took my Audax-level kit ie small seat pack with the usual stuffs, and a mini-pump. Neither were required.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1798622478

[DuncanM]

How much faster are you without the pump-n-pack?

2.5 miles is a long walk ... and there's not a lot of pavement or flat verges on that road. Lot of potholes too, so flats are probably more likely. Sorry!

It was a club 10 - if I had a flat someone would have noticed and they could have sent someone back to help me out. Loads of non-riders floating about. I left all my gubbins at the start...
As for how much faster, maybe the 2 seconds I was under the 28 minute mark?
If I were riding it on my own, I would definitely have carried it (and the bottles, and my rain jacket and...)

Fantastic ride Feanor. 100 scottish miles in 4:19 is impressive. 

Cheers
Duncan

[rob]

Very interesting Aerocoach session although a bit knackering after a 600 at the weekend.   Pretty big gains in a couple of hours of testing.

Now I just need to bully myself back into fitness in time for next Summer.   Bit more cake to eat in the meantime.

[DuncanM]

Tell us more!
I appreciate that everyone is different, so what is fast for you won't be fast for anyone else, but what did you test, and how did you do it?  I'm really curious about these testing sessions (though lack of funds means I'm going to have to go with Golden Cheetah and the Chung method if I ever get around to it).

[rob]

Tell us more!
I appreciate that everyone is different, so what is fast for you won't be fast for anyone else, but what did you test, and how did you do it?  I'm really curious about these testing sessions (though lack of funds means I'm going to have to go with Golden Cheetah and the Chung method if I ever get around to it).

You do a baseline run on the track and then come off.  We then did several runs with a couple of different lids with head up and head dropped.  There was then a series of laps moving hands and elbows in different directions and a change of hip angle.   The fastest combination was then put together and we did a couple more runs with minor tweaks.  I was blowing out my ears on the last few laps trying to ride 25mph plus.

The session cost was quite high, but the only recommded upgrade is the helmet where the aerohead tested fastest in all positions.   That’s only if I’m not persuaded to buy their new track disc....

The total changes whilst all small made about a 10% difference to drag coefficient.  Oddly it was also more comfortable.  My position is unlikely to be seen on the road until next Summer.