With apologies to the USA TV series "Burn Notice", I thought I'd write a series of essays that explain a little bit about what competitive cycling is like for fans of the team who might not be competitors. I'll try to capture the mind-set of what it's like to race a bicycle and what thought processes go into that using the narrative explanatory style of the main character from the series, "Michael Weston". I hope you enjoy the look into the world of amateur bike racing.
The Time Trial
Time trailing is both the easiest and hardest of the cycling disciplines. Since you race "by yourself" with few tactics and no drafting, this discipline is sometimes thought to be the purest in cycling and is often called, "The Race of Truth." It's also the most equipment intensive of the disciplines because each rider has to push their own way through the air. An aerodynamic bike, slippery clothing and smooth helmets make for a fast rider. They also make you look like a high tech space traveler.
Time trialing is about pacing. For every distance and time there is an optimal effort the cyclist wants to put out. Go too hard and you'll run out of gas before the end of the race. Don't go hard enough and some other rider will finish the course faster than you. Finding that balance is where the art of the effort is and it's how time trials are won and lost.
Every rider has a maximum effort they can put out for an hour. The effort is different for every rider and can depend on the rider's genetics, training, fitness and a host of other factors. You can go harder than that but you can't do it for as long. If you try, you're body will rebel and shut down. Again, the harder you go, the sooner that happens.
The first thing you need to know to be a good time trialist is to know what that effort feels like. Once you know that, you can pace your effort according to the race. If you're doing a fairly short time trial you can go harder-a lot harder. This seems like a simple principle but it's harder than it sounds. This is complicated by a couple of misconceptions riders will often have.
The first big mistake a lot of riders make is that they start a time trial way too hard. Whether it's adrenaline, cycling "macho" or a lack of understanding of what constitutes "hard" over a long period of time, riders often come out of the start pushing a pace that they can only sustain for about 3-5 minutes. At first, this feels good but once the first mile or two goes by, the rider finds that not only can't they hold the pace they've set but that they've burned up their legs for the rest of the time trial. There are guys who are experts at the short effort-prologue specialists-but there are very few time trials of that length.
The second big mistake that's made is to race your opponents-the other riders. This may sound like what you want to do but in a time trial you have to remember that you're racing the clock, not any one else. Get into a drag race with a faster rider that's in front of you or behind you and you'll pop before the race is over. Get too satisfied with passing other riders or too discouraged when you are passed and you'll let up and slow down. You race the clock based on what your body is going to give you on that day.
The final big mistake is a lack of attention to detail. Time trailing is a detail oriented endeavor. There's no pack to hide in, no technical skill to fall back on and no friends to help you out. Almost everything in a time trial happens before you step up to the start line-how you trained the week leading up to the race, how you eat the morning of the race, how much tire pressure you're running, how aerodynamic you and your ride are, how you have warmed up. It's a lot of little details that might only make a couple of seconds difference but when taken together can make or break your race.
Finally, when you go off, you have to learn to block out as many of the external distractions as you can. You can't be thinking bills or about mowing the lawn or what you're kids are doing. Your goal is to focus on the task at hand and to get into a rhythm that includes your breathing, you legs and your train of thought. You focus on pushing yourself to the edge of what you can do for that race and that distance and then you spend the rest of the race forcing yourself to remain at that edge.
Do this well and you get good and fast. It's not a discipline for everyone but it is the "Race of Truth."
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