The Exeter ITT (individual time trial) takes place this Saturday. With a time trial everyone races on their own against the clock. No body to draft, no tactics to play, no energy to save. Everything gets left out on the course and when the results come out everyone will know who is the strongest.
Well...sort of.
Most cyclists, get classified into a type. The common types are
- Sprinter or one who is fast for short bursts. Usually win a lot of races and generally don't make good climbers, but are well known for bike handling skills and nerves of steel.
Robbie McEwan is a perfect example of a sprinter and can accelerate like a Ferrari- Climbers - guys that go uphill fast. Almost always light and produce very high watts/kg
Levi Leipheimer is a very good climber. He weighs 135lbs- Flatlanders - guys that would be good climbers except they are too heavy. Fast for long periods of time, but not light.
Magnus Backsted (right) loves flat roads. Uber fit, but weighs 210lbs- All arounder - someone who is good at everything, usually not superb in any.
Jens Voight can do everything well, but a specialist will always beat him in their discipline- Time Trial specialist - a rider that can ride in a very aerodynamic position and still put out a ton of power. They have excellent concentration skills.
Look how low and aerodynamic Dave Zabriskie rides
On Saturday I get to do my best impression of riding like Dave Z. Its definitely is the race of truth as far as you only have yourself to race against, you have to concentrate all the time, and you have to pedal really hard for long periods of time with no other motivation but your thoughts. The only reason I hesitate to say its not the race of truth because equipment matters more in this discipline than any other.
For the most part when I show up to a P1/2 crit against 100 other racers the equipment makes about a 1-5% difference at most. For a time trials, it could make a 25% percent difference. Luckily a huge chunk of that difference can be seen by just buying a low cost set of clip on aero bars, which help you to ride in the position similar to Dave Z. above.
Wish me luck on my 40K (25 mile) solo effort on Saturday. Hopefully I can break the magic time of 1 hour. At least we'll know the truth then.
For the most part when I show up to a P1/2 crit against 100 other racers the equipment makes about a 1-5% difference at most. For a time trials, it could make a 25% percent difference. Luckily a huge chunk of that difference can be seen by just buying a low cost set of clip on aero bars, which help you to ride in the position similar to Dave Z. above.
Wish me luck on my 40K (25 mile) solo effort on Saturday. Hopefully I can break the magic time of 1 hour. At least we'll know the truth then.
2 comments:
Good luck! You can do it!
You can do it Z....you know you can, you've got what it takes, just "DO IT" :-)
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