A look at the aerodynamics and convenience of a water bottle between the arms for time trials.
12 months ago – three days before the ECCA 100, I did a post on rear mounted bottle cages. The post wasn’t much use for me because – 5 miles into race, the said waterbottle self-ejected itself onto the road, never to be seen again. I somehow managed to do the 100 mile TT on 1.5 litres, but it was close to being a disaster.
This year I’ve gone for the other end of the bike and spent considerable time looking for a waterbottle which could be mounted on the aerobars. The advantage is that I’ve heard this is a very aerodynamic position for a waterbottle. I know Matt Bottrill uses something here for CTT events.
The good thing about a Speed Concept Bontrager aerobars is that it comes with potential to buy an adaptor to but on tribars making it easy to fit an ordinary bottle cage on. (SC WB Cage)
But, for some reason I bought the profile design Aero HC. This can be fitted to any aerobars – whether a Speed Concept or not.
HOwever, it uses a rather unaerodynamic contraption to fit on to bars It’s quite wide and it puts a lot of extra stuff into the wind. Someone tested the Profile Design aerobottle and found it quite unaerodynamic. (review at DCRainmaker)
However, I can ditch this thing and just use with Bontrager bolt cage.
It looks quite aerodynamic. It reminds me of the Japanese bullet train.
The races are coming thick and fast at the moment. This weekend the ECCA 100, then a few days later the UCI elite mens British time trial in Lincolnshire.
Bradley Wiggins in BTTC (about 2009)
There is a smattering of time trial regulars on the BTTC startsheet – but it looks a little more like a truncated Premier trophy road race, with a few top pros flying in from the continent. It will be an interesting battle between Alex Dowsett (former World Hour record holder) and Geraint Thomas (winner of this years Tour of Algarve, E3 Herelbecke and one of most accomplished all-round pro riders). I’m worried that doing a 100 mile TT on Sunday may not be best preparation for short TT race on Thurs, but at least I won’t have the Tour of Switzerland miles and climbs in the legs like Geraint Thomas.
I started doing the BTTC in 2006, where I think I finished 14th. Since then the quality and depth of the field has increased quite significantly. There are many really quick riders on the startsheet, who kind of slip through the radar – such is the quality in depth of British cycling at the moment.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking – how to do a race when very heavy rain is forecast. For example, this years Circuit of the Dales was running off in torrential rain. Fortunately I was on holiday in New York so I missed this edition, but I think I would have really struggled. I get cold when it’s dry – when it’s wet, there’s only so long I can stay warm.
The problem with time trials is that you need your race number showing, so you could put a waterproof cape under your skinsuit. Whether this would work I don’t know. But, I’ve got a race cape for the eventuality.
This DHB Race cape is only £24.99 (I got sent free for review)
I chose a size small because I’m thinking of wearing under skin suit. It is quite short, and a little bit baggy given that it is size small (though I do have ultra thin 30″ waist. If I was wearing over top of jersey, like most riders, it would be a little short on the tail. But, that for me is not a problem, I’m not too worried about getting wet lower down. In reviews which are generally good, many others seem to say it is a little on short side
For the past 10 consecutive years, I’ve entered the national hill climb championship. I don’t always prioritise cycling, but the last weekend in October is sacrosanct. It’s the one race, I always want to do. Since taking part in the championship and edging around the podium places, I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking at the (incomplete) list of past winners and podium finishers. (See: Men | Women) A list of winners is the one link with the past – but a list of names only gives you so much. Certainly there are riders like Brian Robinson, Chris Boardman and Malcolm Eliot who need no introduction, but until now people like Frank Worthen and Vic Clark have been nothing more than names in a history book.
A Corinthian Endeavour
‘Hill Climb Agony’. Photo by Bernard Thompson. One of my favourite cycling photos of all time.
The book gets off to a very good start by being able to interview the 95 year old Vic Clark. Vic was the first rider to successfully defend the title (1946-48) and a link to the very early era of the championship – since he raced against both Frank Worthen (winner 1944) and Bob Maitland (winner 1945). In a way the book is good timing – there are only so many opportunities to interview 95 year old former cyclists (though may Vic continue to prosper for many years to come!)
In Vic’s interview he gives a generous comment (after losing by 1 second) that Harold (Frank) Worthen deserved to win the first title in 1944. In his own words:
“You’d have thought I’d have been dissappointed, but I wasn’t, I was glad for Harold because there was nobody who could ride hills like him. It wouldn’t have been right for his name not to have been on that trophy.” (p.18)
An auspicious start for the spirit of the championships, and perhaps the idea for the title of the book – “A Corinthian Endeavour”
More than anything else, it is interesting to learn about the personalities, characters and differing careers of this very diverse group of people who have won the championship. Even by the standards of British Cycling, I think it’s fair to say it’s a pretty eclectic mix of individuals and personalities; you learn it’s a championship with a very rich history. A championship that means so many different things be it Darryl Webster’s rather reluctant four in a row, to the hill climb specialist who sees it as the highlight of his career.
Gear ratios alert
Paul Curran – Rosedale Chimney
As a hopeless, post-modernist hill climber, who has – to his great shame – never owned or even ridden a fixed gear bike, I have never paid any attention to understanding what people mean when they talk about 60” gears and the like. In the opening chapter, gear ratios were coming so thick and fast that I had to resort to our very modern friend of Google.com to convert these ratios into modern money I can understand. 42*16 I can just about deal with – though, national champion or not, I still have no idea how anyone can cycle up Winnats Pass in a 69” like they used to do in the good old days! (I think I’d use 39*25 whatever that is in inches.)
If you feel flummoxed by an avalanche of gear ratios, fear not, it’s far from being a book about the technicalities of hill climbing.
Today was the Paul Bennett Memorial 25 mile TT organised by Hemel Hempstead CC on the F13/25 (A41) from Ambrosden towards Aylesbury. I train near these roads quite frequently – not on the A41, but the lanes surrounding it. I must go through Ambrosden 2-3 times a week.
Paul Bennett was a timetriallist from around this area who raced for many years. Amongst other things he broke the UK competition record for 25 miles in 1965 with a time of 53.31. The record took over half a minute off the previous record by M.J.V. Burrow and he became the first man under 54 minutes. By coincidence my time today was fairly close, just a bit slower – a time of 53.42 Of course times between the 1960s and 2010s are not comparable given modern technology. For point of reference the current 25 mile record is 45.43 (Matt Bottrill).
It’s not all CdA and lightweight components at Cycling Uphill. I do get a lot of joy seeing students in sub-fusc riding to their exams. Perhaps because:
A) It reminds me of the stress of doing my own exams, but now I have the luxury of being an old man who can sit by the side of the road knowing that exam results don’t really matter than much. (Not for my career path anyway…)
B) Riding in sub-fusc at 8mph down Oxford High Street is about as far removed as you can get from timetrialling along a dual carriageway at 30mph. It’s all very sedate. And that’s cycling
Cyclists off to exams by Weston Library (old New Bodleian)
You’re not allowed to wear you hat until you’ve passed your exams, but you have to carry it in. Brilliant It’s like in the old days, you used to have to have a bell on your bicycle to start RTTC events, but you could ditch it after the first mile (like John Woodburn used to)
The world hour record by Sir Bradley Wiggins was one of those great sporting moments. It was a great achievement, and a real pleasure to watch.
An hour of a single athlete riding around a track, may sound quite dull. But, it is testimony to the record and athlete that it was one of the most enthralling hour’s of sport I’ve watched.
As a timetriallist myself I couldn’t help but admire, for the full 60 mins the near perfect position (with ridiculously low CdA), and metronomic timing of the laps. At one point, the average speed seemed stuck on 54.62 km/h. There was a very slight dip in speed in the last twelve minutes, but, still enough to smash the record with a 54.526 km.
After the torturous hour of racing, Bradley gave a very composed and entertaining interview; an example of why he was so popular. (a sharp contrast to the inarticulate interviews of footballers after European cup final last night – which was a great game!)
Number of riders who have won the following palmeres: One – Bradley Wiggins
Olympic gold – Time trial (2012)
Olympic gold – Individual pursuit *2 (2004, 2008)
Olympic gold – Team pursuit (2008)
Total Olympic medals – seven, four gold (and Rio 2016 to come)
World Time Trial Championships
World Time trial championship (2014)
Track world championships * 6 gold medals (10 medals in total)
Stage race victories
Tour de France victory
Critérium du Dauphiné (2011, 2012)
Paris–Nice (2012)
Tour de Romandie (2012)
Tour of Britain (2013)
Tour of California (2014)
Miscellaneous
3rd Vuelta Espane (2011)
Wore leaders jersey Giro d’Italia and Vuelta
Team pursuit world record 3 times. 3:53.314 (2008)
National titles
National Time Trial Championships (2009, 2010, 2014)
National Road Race Championships (2011)
UCI World Hour record
54.526 (2015)
The coverage of the hour record was mostly good (at least after missing the start with Sky commercials. It was a little bizarre having a mid race interview with Seb Coe, who for some reason was spending the hour riding on an indoor bicycle. Carlton Kirby did a fine job in the commentary; but it was the atmosphere of the crowd seeping into the tv which was the real star.
1036mb was the air pressure making the record perhaps an hour slower. This record of 54.6 is definitely not on the shelf. I think a rider like Tony Martin could break it. – Perhaps within the year. Alex Dowsett will probably go away for a few years and feel that towards the end of his career he could come back and get close to this mark.
Would Bradley be tempted to have another go – knowing that low air pressure could give him up to another 1 km? Probably not. Bradley doesn’t have much to prove, but then he always said he would never do the hour record at all.
p.s. Kudos to the young kid wearing an Otley CC jersey I saw in the crowd.
p.p.s. I’m so glad his aero team told him to shave off his beard. I wouldn’t have got as much joy if he was riding with a beard to disturb the airflow.
Until yesterday, I hadn’t done a 10 mile time trial for ages – but, like the proverbial buses, two have came along together this weekend. Today was supposed to be a 25 mile time trial on the H25/2 course, but roadworks on the A4 put paid to that. Still, it was good to get a race at all, and the way my legs felt, I wasn’t too dissappointed it was cut short.
Without any particular fast 25 mile times in the past three years, I was seeded number 40, off at 8.10am. This meant a relatively early start – especially after racing last afternoon.
I always struggle to race early in the morning, and today was no different. Yesterday I averaged 338 watts and felt I was flying. Today I was 20 watts lower – 318 watts, and it felt pretty grim. The spark just wasn’t there. I felt like an old motor car, which was struggling to get into fifth gear. I can’t complain too much though, I still managed to scrape in another 30mph ride. 19.59 for the 10 miles on the A404 (H22/10) course.
I’ve never done a 10 mile TT on this course before. But, it is a fairly fast dual carriageway so times are relatively quick. There isn’t much climbing, though there is a little drag towards the end of the first half. There was a light northerly wind and pleasant sunshine. It might have been a super-quick day, but for the big block of high pressure sitting over Europe.
There was a time when I spent several seasons trying to do a 30mph ride, I had a succession of times sub 20.10, but never made the magic 19, but now the 30mph+ rides seem to be coming in droves (well perhaps ones and twos). But, I’m not alone in getting 30mph + rides. It’s amazing how much times have improved in the past few years in timetrialling – it seems people are really learning the art of aerodynamics – pushing down times through cutting down on drag. By the way, the BBC have stated Bradley Wiggins has a reported CdA of 0.176 – I don’t really know what this means, except that Wiggins is super-aerodynamic and will cut through the air very fast)
18 is the new 19
The problem is that with all these technological improvements is that a 19 is now no longer the holy grail it once was. Of course, there was a time when riding a 25 mile under the hour, was quite an achievement – that seems a bit quaint now. They say in the 2010s an 18 is the new 19 or on the V718 a ’17 is the new 19. (I appreciate that last sentence sounds like gobbledygook, and if you’re not immersed in the sub-culture of UK timetrialling, it probably is!)
Back to more meaningful comparisons of performance. What position did you finish?
The H10/8 time trial course is on the A31 Bentley bypass. It is one of my favourite courses because it is fairly local, quite fast, a few long drags to make it interesting and a fairly straightforward turn. The road surface is mostly good and smooth (not like the H50/8 which goes further West to Chawton).
There is 93 m of climbing over the 10 miles. It finishes a little lower down than the start.
Today, there was quite a strong headwind (17mph) from the West. It meant it would be hardest out to the turn at Holybourne roundabout. It is also hard for the first couple of miles because you climb a long drag.
I used to really dislike wind when timetrialling – it makes it harder and you go slower, but having a power meter makes wind more enjoyable. You might be going slower, but you can be comforted by the fact at least your power meter says you’re making a big effort.
With a strong headwind and uphill start, I went quite hard from the start, aiming to do the biggest effort into the wind.
Alpe d’Huez by Peter Cossins is a cycling history of the famous Alpine climb. The book looks at the dramatic moments on Alpe D’Huez which have featured in the Tour de France. It also looks at some of the winners and the factors that make Alpe d’Huez such an iconic climb. It also examines the combination of myth and reality behind the great climb and examines some of the criticisms of the climb and whether it has become a victim of its own success.
I received a copy of Alpe d’Huez by Peter Cossins on my way to the Pyrenees a few weeks ago. It was good timing because riding up the Pyrenees gave a much more vivid understanding of the attraction behind real mountains. As Cossins mentions towards the end of the book – a succession of doping scandals in cycling has caused a shift from a focus away from riders to the actual climbs. Modern day magazines place less emphasis on just the cycling personalities – the climbs themselves have become much more central to the interest in cycling. Witness the explosion in books about climbs and mountains. Riders come and go, but mountains are always there. Mountains are 100% reliable – they don’t have skeletons in the cupboard, but are a permanent feature on the landscape – tantalising any cyclist in the world to ‘come and have a go.’ As it is often said, it’s hard to have a knock around on Center Court, but anyone with a bike can ride up Alpe d’Huez and compare their times.
