The Divine Secrets of the *&^%$#g Time Trial

We fear it, and we are afraid of failing at it.

There is no place to hide in the TT. It is just you, the road, the bike and the watch. So few riders are good at it. It is a very difficult discipline to prepare for, mentally and physically. It requires special equipment. It is costly, both to the pocketbook and the psyche. It is an awesome weapon in your arsenal. Acquire it, and riders will fear YOU.

Welcome to The Time Trial.

The Divine Secrets:

SECRET1: There is a difference between a road race and a TT, you need to understand that and prepare completely differently for each.

SECRET2: Anyone can become at least a passable time trialer.

SECRET3: It is so much more than just stomping on the pedals.

The TT chronicles Part 1

Rider 1 - Fabulous young 165 lb Cat 1. Fast, quick, loads of power, VO2.

Rider 2 - Cat 1, tall skinny 145 lb climber, racing 4 years longer than rider 1. In his early years, after much hair pulling and wailing about, begins to apply lessons learned to TT skills, and eventually becomes a good roleur.

Rider 1 is baffled, and frustrated, as to why Rider 2 beats him in TT's. Fails to understand just powering the pedals is not all there is to it. Reluctantly attends school of TT hard knocks, and after 2 seasons of whuppins, finally bests skinny-ass climber.

Part 2

Powerhouse Cat 4 all full of confidence, riding on legs alone with no aero eqip, stunningly gets passed by his 30 second man, all decked out in full TT equipment, mid-way through a 10 mile TT. By a rider he knows cannot beat him on the road. Cat 4 ups it a gear and stays 20 meters behind for the remainder of the ride, vows to figure out this TT thing.

SECRET4: you need to master the 'Breathing Technique"

It is a simple theory designed to make you as efficient, hence, as fast as possible. You count. Anything really. Some riders count pedal strokes. I will tell you what I do. Using a deep, powerful rhythmic breathing pattern, I count on the exhale. I count to 100 then start over. If I lose track, I start over. I lose track a lot... It is hard to stay focused. But if you think about the breathing, then count and exhale HARD and visualize the number you are at, this takes an edge off the pain. I have done some experiments with this. Lets say, my HR is 185, my speed is 26 mph and I am about to crack. 30 more seconds and I am going to shut down. You shut down even slightly in a TT, and you are losing seconds. Not good. So, I restart my deep breathing, restart my counting at 1. Initially, I am so close to blowing, my lactic-haze induced foggy brain is sure this is not going do any good. But I stay at it, and low and behold, after about 2 minutes, I am now breathing easier, and my speed has risen to 27 or even 28 MPH. Imagine, I am now going faster and an easier perceived effort. How?. Because I am not focusing on how much agony I am in. I am focusing on my numbers and my breathing. I am now breathing more efficiently, (panting is the worst form of breathing), so my body gets more O2, hence I am going faster. Pretty cool trick. Hard to do, and you have to work at it all the time, but it does work. Powered me to 3 National Championship medals.

The Time Trial is not called "The Race of Truth" for nothing. Any holes in your preparation, be it your strength, physical or mental, will show up in the TT. You will need to train specifically for the TT. You must get used to doing intervals at LT for up to an hour. Physically this is very hard, obviously, but I know of a LOT of strong riders who can't TT worth a damn. Why? The answer is upstairs. You have to be mentally very tough, and very "dialed in" to be a successful TTer. Look, the greatest riders in history could all TT. LeMond, Armstrong, Indurain. The ones that could not, Chiappucci, Virenque, Cipollini, Musseuw, the list goes on and on. They can all win individual races, but if a TT is gonna make the difference, they are going to fall away. Mentally most riders can rack the meter up to the red zone and holding it there for XXX minutes in a pack, but solo?

Ahhh..Now you are beginning to understand

Equipment: You know who I am talking about, those guys who prowl the parking lots before the TT, looking like a freaking bullet. Helmet, shoe covers, bike, disc. Yikes. They just look fast.

Chances are, they ARE.

TT Theory: Imagine this: If in theory to ride a TT as efficiently and as fast as possible, lets say you had to ride a imaginary perfect straight line. All the time, and never wavered. If you did this, at the end of the ride you would have gone as fast as you possibly could. Now imagine every time you take a drink, lift your head, lose your breathing cadence, or lose your concentration, in theory you are drifting off that line, and your efficiency begins to erode. So now maybe you have ridden 95, 93 or 85 percent of what you could have. Imagine. The effort never wavered, but you drifted off the theoretical line just a few times. You lost seconds. Every time you drift, the clock is ticking. And that ain't good. This is why good strong riders shake their heads when riders they know that are not as strong as they are, beat them in a TT. That other guy was dialed in more than you. He did not lose those seconds here and there, and over the course of those miles, you both cranked along at 350 watts, but he beats you.

Take what the road gives you.

"Think about that.You work hard in the uphill, then coast a bit on the downhill. NO. Not only no, but hell no.You hit the downhill strong as well. You corner efficiently, and accelerate out strong. You hammer the flat, always under control just under the redline. Mentally you are completely focused on what you are doing, anything less and you are losing seconds."

Rick Sorenson, 3-Time Masters National Championship Time Trial Medalist

The Bible of the TT routine:

PRIOR TO THE START: Make sure all you equipment is prepared and ready at least 1 hour before the TT. DO NOT be seen putting on your aero bars in the parking lot 30 minutes before your scheduled start. Check with the person at the start line that has the official time of day, and make a mental note of exactly how much time you have to complete your warm-up and get to the start line on time. Never ever miss your start time.

WARMUP: You will need a consistent warm-up routine that you use for all TT's. This eliminates a performance variable, helps give you confidence, and hopefully gets you thoroughly warmed up. Use whatever routine you feel works for you, experiment a bit. The goal is to be completely warmed up but not tired, which is a slippery slope to climb, admittedly. I like to encourage short high cadence efforts of not more than 2 minutes, standing(30 sec)and seated(full 2 min). Of course this is after a minimum of 30 minutes easy to moderate riding as a warm-up. Finish your warm-up 15 minutes prior to your start time. Roll up you skin suit,(you should ride with the top rolled down, so it does not get wet during warm-up) and proceed close to the start area. Approximately 2 minutes before your start, begin slow deep breathing. This helps you bank some oxygen that will help get you thru the first mile or so. Relax.:)

FIRST MILE: Start strong, but not ballistic. Stand and accelerate off the line, and sit down as quickly as possible. Get into your aero position and immediately begin your counting/breathing.

Main: You should be operating at 95 percent of your capacity. Stay on the imaginary straight line. It is a constant battle to stay focused. You have to work at it, think about it, stay with it. It can be done.

Finish: Approximately 1 mile or so from the finish begin to ramp it out to the max. At 1 KM you should be 100%. The final 200 meters, absolutely gas it for all you have. After crossing the line you should be completely spent.

The goal is after you have finished to be able to say " That is as fast as I can go". Then, wherever you finish, you finish and you can hold your head up and say you did the best you could.

In Conclusion: Time Trialing is not easy. It is brutal. You have to train for it. Practice TT's are never popular among non-TT'ers. You are good at what you are good at. Most riders do not TT well, so they avoid them like the plague, and they suffer when a real one rolls around. It need not be so. If you can TT it is such a valuable weapon, but it is one you must ACQUIRE.

Get a bike, get a plan, get confident, and go kick some ass.

Good luck
Rick Sorenson
palmarescoaching@s1webdesign.com