From training to race weight, to time trials and peak performances, this is Part III of what I learned from the 2019 road season:
Time Trials
Don’t Forget the Wind Factor When Pacing a Time Trial:
Time trialing is an art form as much as it is a discipline. There is nothing like the whoosh whoosh whoosh of a disc wheel as you fly down the road at 50 kph. There is no other sound that gives me goosebumps like the final countdown – No, not the one by Foreigner – beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…BEEP! And there is no other pain like the final 5km of a time trial, especially one that you really care about. Time slows down and the finish line lingers, blurred in the distance. All I can hear is the sound of my breath. Every exhale is a wheeze, my ribs straining to squeeze out every last bit of breath. My hands and feet are on fire, drenched in sweat that is pouring off my aero helmet. Oddly, I can no longer feel my legs. If all there is is pain, then could it be that there is none?
As you can see, I love time trials. Those who know me also know of my fascination with numbers. I always analyze race routes: the length and pitch of every single climb, the number of corners and which can be taken at full speed versus those which cannot, and matching my power target to the course, aiming to squeeze every last second out of my effort to go as fast as possible. But in 2019, there was one key factor that I neglected. And I paid for it, more than once: wind.
- The Valley of the Sun Time Trial is as close to it gets as having a TT on trainer in a wind tunnel. The course is just over 14 miles long, out-and-back, tilting up at an average of +1% on the way out . No corners other than the U-turn halfway through. In windless conditions, it’d be best to pace this TT as steadily as possible, avoid blowing up, and finishing strong. But in 2019 there was a significant tailwind on the way out, probably a steady 10 mph if I remember correctly. So the best strategy – the one that should have been obvious to a TT data nerd like me – was to hold back just a little bit on the way out, and then smash the second half of the TT, probably ~20 W higher on the return. In the end, I went out too hard. I was holding good power on the way out, but I had nothing left to give on the way back. Despite finishing the effort with a near-perfect split (353 W on the way out; 352 W on the way back), it was a less than ideal effort given the wind conditions. When I should have been gaining time – if I had paced it properly – I was losing 10, 20, 30 seconds to my competitors.
- At the Elite Nationals TT, I did the same exact thing: a perfectly even split. But this time, it worked. There was a slight headwind on the way out, meaning that my even pacing saw my gaining time on my rivals, most of which had gone out too hard.
- Anyone who raced the Redlands TT in 2019 will remember it for the wind (and the crazy bus-stop turnaround, which was actually pretty cool if you ask me). Starting on the campus of a local community college, the course snaked along the service roads before launching riders out onto the main road at over 50 mph. From there it was a gradual descent (~-5%) down to the outskirts of Redlands, blasting along the streets and through the turnaround, and then back up the climb to the finish. What made the most sense in windless conditions no longer applied: starting easy on the descent (i.e. 250 W and then getting into a tuck; please don’t get into a super-tuck), going steady through the neighborhood (300-350 W), and then blasting up the climb as fast as you can (400+ W). Instead, the weather called for gale-force headwinds (20-40 mph) on the descent, which meant a slight crosswind through the neighborhood, and then a massive tailwind up the climb. How in the heck am I supposed to pace this now? What seemed in hindsight to be the fastest strategy was to pace the entire TT as if it were one continuous effort, maybe going just a little bit easier on the descent and then harder up the climb, but a difference of only a handful of Watts instead the massive differences normally expected. A few riders still did 400 W on the descent, and then 430-450 W up the climb. They turned out to be the fastest on the day.
Lesson Learned: Do your homework.
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