Road Bike VS Time Trial Bike

The Test

At the final round of the Spires Trilogy series I decided to take along both my Time Trial bike and Road bike with a view to post a winning time in both categories. With 37 riders signed on it would be a challenge to finish the first run and get changed and onto the road bike for the second run.

Bike Set-ups

TT Bike Configuration

TT Bike: Planet X Exocet 2 with Fast Forward Disc and Tri spoke.

Rider attire: Skinsuit, time trial aero helmet and overshoes

The set-up shown above was used with the addition of a fast forward tri-spoke over the 80mm Planet-X rim shown above.

Road Bike Configuration

Road Bike: Dolan Ares with Von2 Raptor wheelset 38mm aluminium clinchers.

Rider attire: Bib shorts and top + road helmet and no overshoes.

A very similar set-up was used to what is shown here. Water bottles and overshoes were removed for the test.

Course and Conditions

The event was ran on the Toome out and back course. Weather conditions saw a strong headwind out with a strong tailwind on the return leg.

Results:

Outward Leg (Head Wind)

TT Bike -12.21 @ 362 watts

Road bike - 13.38 @ 319 watts

With the headwind one is going slower so it takes a bit longer to cover the 5 miles. We can see here that around 80 seconds was lost to the time trial bike.

Return Leg (Tail Wind)

TT Bike 8.27 @ 351w tt return leg

Road Bike 9.24 @ 327 road bike return leg

Faster speeds attributed to the tail wind shows the 5 miles was covered in much faster times on both bikes. Just under 60 seconds of difference in the road vs time trial bike with the road bike. My legs felt a bit better on the return leg on the road bike and was able to lift the power a bit.

Overall Results

TT Bike - 21.17 @ 360 watts

Road Bike - 23.20 @ 323 watts

In percentage terms the road bike was 9% slower with an 11% drop in power shown. One might question if the road bike power was the same as the TT bike i.e 11% more power would that not have yielded the 9% back in time? The answer to this is definitely not. Wind resistance is exponential in proportion to speed, i.e the faster you go the more power you need to put out to go a little bit faster again. In real terms that means a stronger rider actually benefits more from the aerodynamic equipment than a weaker rider.

Conclusions

I hadn't any rest between outings and this would account for most of the drop in performance in terms of power output., As soon as I finished on the time trial bike I got changed and put TT bike in car and pulled out road bike. By that time I had ridden over to the start line it was time to go again.

It would have been a little more scientific if the power outputs could have been the same. but I think one might take a rough guess that 40w could have yielded up to 60 seconds of time so ultimately the full road set-up perhaps being only around 60 seconds slower over a 10 mile time trial.

The rider accounts for up to 90% of the aerodynamic resistance so it would be fair to say that the time trial helmet, skinsuit and overshoes and also the more aerodynamic position would have yielded much of the time gain regardless of the bikes in test. We must also not overlook the fact that the geometry of the time trial bike and handlebars allow for the aerodynamic position. A good bike fit can sometimes be a better investment than the same money spent on equipment/clothing if your position is not aerodynamic you certainly won’t yield as much free time as you might otherwise do with a good position on the bike.

To anybody thinking of getting into time trials the should not feel they require the latest and greatest equipment. To compete at the front of the field where every second counts getting as much free time through equipment is important in order to level the playing field. Ultimately it can be an evolutionary process as it was for me and starting out on a road bike with some clip on tri bars would be the obvious first step followed by a TT helmet, deep section wheels then a skinsuit. A more expensive skinsuit vs a decent club one is a very very marginal gain.  

A few more bits and pieces

Just recently specialized has come out with its new venge claiming it to be up to 5 minutes faster than other "high end" road bikes. I can hear by tell you that is total nonsense and in the real world if its actually so much as 1/4 of that its as much as I would expect.

Case in point,I have a few...

Last year Colm Cassidy one of Ireland's top testers was at woodgreen on his Cervelo P5. This is a quote from Cervelo "Cervélo says the P5 is 6-11 watts quicker than the other so-called superbikes, saving roughly 24-44 seconds over 40km". Where does a planet X TT bike fall then? One wouldn't put it in the super bike bracket with the Shiv or the Trinity etc? 

I rode pretty well that night and posted a 19.09 with Colm posting a 19.08 he was kind of on the wind down after his brilliant national achievements etc but was still in very good shape. Talking Watts etc after its clear to see that the bike doesn't make that much difference and certainly there are not the free watts that we are led to believe. That night I put out 5.25w/kg for the 10 miles. Colm would have been close to that also.

Michael Hutchinson has a very good book called "Faster" which has a nice chapter on equipment. A great read for anyone interested in the topic. He sums it up pretty well with a passage that goes something like "I sat down and added up all the free speed I had gained over the last ten years. Bikes, skin-suits, wheels, wind tunnel testing etc. The problem was that when I added it all up, I should have gained about ten minutes over a 40km time trial. In reality it was more like two."

The Race of Truth

Wednesday past saw round 3 of the TVR time trial series. I wasn't expecting much physically as I've been training pretty hard this last few weeks for the National Champs in a few weeks time. I did a spin before work of around 40 miles. As is customary I was down pretty late to Warrenpoint, its a fair wee spin down and with traffic out of Belfast it is always a bit of a rat race.

No drama with getting the name signed on by the good people at TVR. I got a quick warm-up of around 10mins in. I don't often get any warm-up done, I should try and change that, I kind of like hooking in my dance music and getting in the zone thinking about what I plan to do.

What is going through my mind when I am about to set off for a time trial? To be honest there are absolutely no nerves at all, lots of people talk about nerves but I never get them I usually have a pretty tight schedule of what I need to do and there just isn't time for over thinking and I am just doing. There is a routine I go through. I have a small half filled bottle of water with orange and pineapple juice, I drink that as I am warming up. I have the helmet sitting in the back of the jeep with a gel in it and I have that gel just before I put my helmet on. I stretch out my IT band a bit more (it gives me a little trouble if I forget). That is pretty much it really.I have a playlist on my phone I like to listen to that just before setting off if I have time.

On the line I am quite relaxed and like to have a bit of banter with whoever is in-front of behind me. Getting on the bike I still for some reason don't balance it that well always takes a good launch man to hold me steady! When I get the 10 second count a switch in my mind gets flicked and I get really focused, its always the same start these days I set off hard and get the bike up to speed and then settle down and start tapping out a rhythm on the pedals, my breathing is deep pulling in as much air as possible.

I think about where I need to push a little harder and where I need to knock it back a little. Time trailing isn't just about going from A -> B as fast as possible there are so many little details that you learn, you need to know your course and where the smooth bits of the road are, where the little rises and dips are. All the time I am trying to keep as narrow and aero as possible. I am keeping a close eye on my heart rate to see if I am pushing hard enough or too hard. Your legs will always tell you that your pushing too hard if your doing it right its just about getting the fine line between too hard and much too hard right and getting to know your heart rate is a great indication of that.

Time trial is a funny thing I love the analogy by Obree. Imagine a competition of who can hold their hand in the fire the longest, if person A and person B both put their hand in the fire at the same time they will hold their hand in the fire as long as they need to it will be the person with the most desire that will win. If the test was done blind i.e person A and person B cannot see how long the other person has held their hand in you can be sure the times will be much shorter for both.

We set off on our own we have no idea what the fastest time is to better on any given night. What anyone else does is not important your only competition is yourself and to try to get as much out of your body as possible.

The equipment factor does come into it. A top TT rig can cost you the same sort of money as car. I use a Planet X Exocet 2, it would fit in around mid range in terms of aero/cost. I run a FFWD disc wheel with a Planet X 80mm front deep section. On Wednesday night those close to my time wouldn't have been far off double maybe triple the value of equipment. For example non UCI legal Cervelo p5 Six which will sting you around £6k but in relative terms its not all that much faster and the guy on the bike is still certainly the most important bit of the puzzle given the rider accounts for 90% of the aerodynamic drag. The other consideration is the faster you can go the more apparent the aerodynamic advantages can become, so over a 50 TT or 100 TT where the absolute speeds are a little lower there is very little between mid range and top of the range.

My time clocked in at 19.53. A new Warrenpoint to Newry and back course record. Conditions were good and certainly made it possible to shave a few seconds off the fastest time. Some will point out that perhaps if Damien Shaw would have had a disc wheel he may have given my time a run for its money or if Martin Irvine had of been in attendance he could perhaps of set a faster time. Both those statements might well be true and its pretty cool people even muttered my name with those for a comparison.

As for the Nationals I am looking forward to it. Its really the only time of the year I get a chance to go up against the full time guys and the very top testers from all over Ireland. I go to it with no expectations of a result but you can be absolutely sure I will be giving it 110%.

Tour of Ulster 2014

Stage 1

Stage 1 for me stated with a bang literally! The phoenix guy who was beside me pushed down hard something went bang when the starter said "GO!!"
I ignored it and just set off at a steady pace not overcooking it and knocked it back a bit half way down the straight. I hit the climb and kept it in the big ring the whole way to the top and rode it out of the saddle with a nice tempo, it was hard but I always felt in control of the effort and got over the top strongly enough I felt. The guy who was racing against me came up behind said his chain slipped or something. Looks like my time was good enough for 33rd not much separating quite a large block of people.

All in all Happy enough as that sort of effort would not be to my strengths I set a PB Power for that time duration so in all I did my best.

Richard Timmins had made the long ride up to watch the hurt on faces going up the hill. The hardest thing was the cold air, when your breathing really deep the cold air really catches the lungs!

Stage 2

From the gun it was so fast and the cross winds had the thing lined out on the wrong side of the road the whole time with the bunch swinging back to the left avoiding cars and marshals crashes were coming all the time and down the back it was just like riding a constant time trial!after a crash between Downpatrick and Castlewellen I lost contact with the front but going up Castlewellen hill. I got into a chase group and up through Bryansford we were just behind the main bunch and went round a few cars and got back in just before spelga.

Block headwind up spelga and the cold was unreal. I got off the front and rode over to Mike and we forged up over the KOM together where at the top the road was blocked and marshals and coms shouting and there was boys going to cars and getting new clothes and a guy with a stop watch setting off the front group of around 5 I Didn't have a clue what was going on and I rode off with that front group and then realised I was in the front chase group and I dropped back looking for Mike who I thought would be coming on his own as we had a bit of a time gap to the point where we got stopped but it was the larger group of around 25 I fell in with them shivering and freezing. just as we turned to decent boys with deep sections got blown off the road into the verge and I swung out to the left out of the wheels to try and warm up with peddling. I was getting seriously cold we dropped down towards Kilkeal and cars were coming up beside us and me and speaking to me but i couldn't understand what was going on. then the team car came up and I seen our other riders in it and it stopped and I stopped I was in serious bother at this point. I was literally shivering so violently it was unreal.

A good half hour before I stopped shivering. I was definitely not a million miles from hypothermia. I've been cold before but that was a different level cold so deep in your body is a strange feeling.

Looking back they called it off too late should not have sent us downhill and stopping us made it worse as any body heat was gone before we started going downhill. A very difficult call all the same for the race directors to make as nobody wants to be the one to end the race.

Stage 3

Weather looked a bit more promising this morning, but I very nearly set off with too many layers on after yesterday. Pulled my leg warmers off just before we rode out, very glad I did. it was straight into climbing at the start of the stage but we were all well warmed up for it on the turbos. A few guys started to shell right at the start of the race! I was down into Newtown last wheel following big hev, made up a few places just through the town before keady climb and made steady progress up through the field on the climb and managed to go over the top well enough positioned. The decent was fast enough and I drifted back a bit. With the standing water and also some diesel on the road the riders took the bends a little easier than I thought they would so made it down into keady with what had made the selection at that point.

Heading for markethill the thing was lined out, absolutely chewing bar tape on the limit! i was praying for the climb up so the pace would drop and it did as riders climbed steady so i got recovery there. was absolutely cooking and then started to try and get my wind vest off which for me was a major achievement with my bike skills! going through Markethill things lit up but had Ronan and Duncan a few riders in front so never too panicked about loosing touch and concentrated on keeping on their wheels. up past Gosford was a big sprint and the guy in front of me blew and had to make the gap to Duncan which was not easy! things seamed to ease halfway to the Bawn.

Through Armagh and to Caledon it was pretty piano! I called up our team car and got myself and the other lads new bottles then distributed them to the guys. Everything was pretty handy from there with those that had made the selection. Rehagey was a non event and much easier than chasing Lorenzos Strava KOM a few weeks back! things lit up again after Balleygalley and I kept up towards the front and make sure i made any selections and went over the KOM with 2 other lads and we drilled it down the decent. was fast and furious, but I did really well keeping my speed through the bends and came off the white bridge road with a few guys with a gap and we tried to drive on but then some lads stopped riding and our group swelled.

From there a the group grew it got very cat and mouse there was still a break up the road at this point but the racing was full on in my group and it was attack after attack.

I gave it a few digs but wasn't able to get a gap. a few clipped off and things stalled Murphy managed to get into that move so then I set about just marking moves. Was fairly handy then just jumping from wheel to wheel.

On the run in to cookstown 10km to go was still plenty of attacking and I jumped onto Colm Cassidys wheel and he drove it over to a small group. we were about 7 guys and were tapping through full gas heading to cookstown.

The main bunch not far behind snapping at our heals. people stopped riding and I did also as I had a man up the road anyway well clear out of sight by this point.

A guy in an Irish top put in a dig and I got on his wheel and looked back and we had a small gap over the main group and the two of us drove it down the hill and through the roundabout but the main field surged through on the run to the line and then it was a case of making sure not to loose any time and keep with the main bunch.

Stage 4

Didn't know much about the course but Paul M had taken a drive around it and said it was going to be tough and pointed out a few of the key places where we needed to make sure we were in touch with the action. Big cross winds again from the word go and lineouts were the dish on offer once again. I kept myself out of bother down the back but making sure on all the wee climbs etc I moved up through the bunch so was never at risk of being dropped. Some sketch moments all the same at times with pace being so high and the winds. Darnell and Conor were pretty active early on and Darnell got in a break but it swelled to be pretty big and the bunch then brought it back. Was pretty quiet after 3 laps or so lots of riders dropped each lap as they couldn't stick the crosswinds or the punchy climbs which took a fair bit out of the legs. I decided i would have a dig on the 2nd last lap out the back on the big open road. Made a bit of a mistake as i should have been at the front going onto the road where I wanted to attack and subsequently when I got up to the front a break had already gone, I launched off the front and tried to ride over to the break. I just missed them going onto the climb they were about 3/4 of the way up it when I hit the foot of it and I knew then it would be difficult.

I looked back to see where the bunch was and I could see a few riders trying to get over to me but decided i would ride on and if they made it to me then all well and good.

Coming through cookstown past the start finish a few riders joined me McCrystal, McLaughlin some boy from CT tomac and maybe one more, McCrystal and Ronan looked wrecked but they rode through then the CT Tomac guy wouldn't contribute which started the breakdown of the whole thing. Irvine jumped off and kept going but on your own into the cross wind was a suicide mission.

After that I just had to make sure I didn't loose time and kept with the front chase group to secure our team place.

Over the last couple of climbs boys were exploding I managed to get round a few guys just at the right time over the last hill and got on Irvine's wheel and was then in the first group home after the break.

A bit annoyed I missed that break as I could have worked and rode in it well but I did well never the less to almost make the ride over on my own was just missing a few % perhaps a set of deep sections might have been all I needed down the fast big main road, there wasn't much in it at one point perhaps 10-15 seconds.

Have to say the Caldwell guys were really good all weekend we were all well looked after and it made riding the bike much easier. So a big thanks to them.

Tour Of the North 2014

Tour of the North Stage 1

Got to sign on in time, went to sign my name and it wasn't on the start sheet! Whoever printed and sorted numbers must not have used the most up to date list as I was no where to be seen. The race director Joan said she would sort it out so panic was over.

I headed back to the car to get ready and Joan came over shortly after with numbers and said Conor Murphy was not here so I could have his numbers, I said I would be keen to ride for Caldwell as opposed to guys I don't know so I popped over and they were happy enough with that.

The neutralised roll out was frantic as anything, people fighting to get near the front and then there was a crash... I got up to the front just before the flag dropped and was first to attack and drilled the front for a while, I thought I am going to be doing the same watts down the back as on the front so at least I am safe up here.

Just before the first big climb of the day I was poorly located towards the back but was able to move up as the climb progressed and went over the top in around the top 10. The decent was mental! I unfortunately got a bit freaked out and was down the back by the tight left hander (the same one as last year) I was able to gain some places on the inside and pass a few on the first kick but it was flat out to get on and round people but I made it, think I was last person to get over!

On the same bit of road there was a high speed crash someone hit the motorbike that was in front of a car it took down quite a few, I was able to get round the people on the deck and back onto the main bunch without too much bother.

Into the next climb I was well up towards the front and got up over that well positioned and made a few attacks. I knew there would be some fast descending so was a bit nervous but the bunch was well depleted so that made things a little easier.

The next climb again I went up it steady and kept good concentration on any moves that might go and kept an eye on a few people. It was hard but I was never in any worry of going over my limit.

The last climb was pretty tough going and as we got towards the top there was some strong cross winds! the speed ramped up in this and it was small groups starting to form. I committed to chase across to the front small groups and got on and was in a small group of around 10 at one point.

with about 10 miles to go we were 10 or so but nobody wanted to commit themselves and the group began to swell in size.

The cross winds were strong all the way as we were heading towards the finish i kept to the left of the road and didn't give much shelter on my inside and let people come round me to shelter me a bit. A few attacks were going off but everything was being brought back, the group continuing to grow as other riders got back on and worked their way up through the cars again.

I wasn't sure where the finish was to be honest and didn't know the distance exactly with about 10km to go I was on the front doing a fairly easy 200w and recovering a bit nobody attacking.

6km or so a slight climb and McKee from Banbridge kicked hard and another got on his wheel. I reacted to it and started to chase I looked back and I had a decent wee gap of about 5 seconds from the main bunch with the other two 5 seconds in-front again. The only problem was I had a man on my wheel!

I started to drive on and I flicked the elbow but we couldn't get working together well so I sat up.

Was surprised to hear they stayed away and got 15 seconds or so on main bunch.

I rolled in with what was left of the bunch.

Tour of the North Stage 2

When I heard the route for the TT was going to be a mile longer than last year I thought that would swing things a little more in my favour compared to last year so getting up to the start this morning and finding out that a burnt out car on the course would see the route shortened by 1 mile I was pretty disappointed. Never the less I got warmed up and psyched up for now what would be a 5 minute effort. With no real wind it would take a little away from my slimmer more aero build also so it was just fly and die and hope it would be enough, I didn't fancy myself over 5 minutes so much as its very different to a longer time trial.

After all was said and done I ended up 3rd, 2.5 seconds off first or so. What a thing I'm certain I would have been the best man there had it of been another mile as I felt fine and the finish line came too soon, my heart rate 10 beats off max.

Anyway I got a nice trophy for 3rd which is nice to have never the less and not many lift those sort of things at these kind of stage races.

Tour of the North Stage 3

After the TT I was pretty high up overall on the GC going into stage 3! It was pretty hectic on the rollout with another crash before the race started.

With the way the winds were it was pretty handy to sit in and I was very comfortable down the back wasn't much of an issue sitting down there and I didn't really need to be up in the shit zone of the bunch but I was missing out on any moves off the front.

There was a bit of a split with a group of about 20 in front and then a small break up the road from that. They were about 35 seconds up the road and a number of riders were trying to jump over. I made a move and was brought back and then put in a bigger dig on the climbs and got clear and TT'd over by myself.

By the time I got over that small group was stalling and looking at each other and before long the bunch was back on us.

Thomas martin made it into the front break and I set about marking moves out of the bunch etc.

The course was similar to 2014 but we went off the circuit onto another long section of road Thomas was now back in the bunch and there was a small group up the road so I got to the front and nailed it for on my own and hoovered up anything that was hanging out front. I was also at the front for a really sketch bit of road which was lots of wee tight down hill right and left turns! I was working hard but if I was down the back if be chasing on just as hard so was nice going through those bits first wheel.

Some attacks then went off and two of the Caldwell guys got into the move so was all good and I was able to sit back in the bunch again.

We hit a very steep climb small group up the road about 30 seconds now in front. I worked my way up the field as boys blew on the climb and went over with the chase group.

Riders started to stall and I tried to jump out of that group myself but was marked so I just sat in from then to the finish.

The chase group of about 10 swelled all the way to the finish.

I dropped from 3nd on GC to 13th overall on the GC, 17 seconds behind Yellow. Caldwell sits 2nd overall in the team classification.

Tour of the North Stage 4 

Great weather this afternoon for the final stage of the TOTN. With a little breeze I knew it was going to be a fast pace run! We had a bit of a team talk and the idea was we would all sit in and wait and do no work for the first half of the race and let the jersey teams etc take it up. I stayed down the back which was comfortable enough for the most part bar a few chasing on sessions out of corners.

Cars started to come through the bunch and at that point I knew it was a sign the break had gone out to a considerable gap. I moved from the back to the front behind one of the motorbike marshals and Paul give me the go ahead to drill it.

I got on first wheel and flicked the Garmin to show me the watts and heart rate and started laying it on thick! boys were then trying to leap off the front and eventually they learned they were not getting off the front when I am sitting at 400w.

I drilled it solidly for quite some time, the motorbike Marshall constantly giving me information the gap was coming down.

We hit the springwell with me front wheel and I was in the zone I set a hard tempo from the very bottom and the gap was over a minute going up it and as I pushed over the top it was a mere 25 seconds.

I pushed hard over the top to make sure nothing would get away at that point (I was later told I split the race in two with the pace up the springwell) but it was clear to see it was a smaller group as we went over the top, now about 40-45 riders with around 15 up the road.

we were now doing close to 50mph down the other side with riders swinging from side to side thinking they could get off the front, how stupid! I bailed out and swung off and moved to the back about 10 seconds later I saw an IED explode and bikes riders and wheels were flying every which way it was mental I hit the brakes and scrubbed off enough speed to be able to avoid the bodies and bikes that littered the road. It was one of the worst crashes I have seen and that goes for watching smashes on TV.

I chased back onto the group and made contact as they slowed for the turn up Cam forest. I got back up to the front and started to rattle out the big watts again.

I closed the gap to the break just before the last ramp on the climb. 3 of our guys were able to launch over the ramp and get into a front break I was then able to sit on the second group and let them do all the work over the other side.

My legs were recovering nicely as they were turning themselves inside out to get back in the race.

it all came back together again all be it a much smaller group but I knew those that got dropped on Cam would be closing in on us and all the Caldwell were now in this front group so I got on the front again and started pulling. A few attacks went which i marked and then I somehow found myself drifting off the front when I looked back!

I then drilled it and pulled out a bit of a gap I had spent a fair bit a short while back so wasn't expecting to stay away to be honest but I wanted to make the jerseys work!

Two guys were attempting to ride over to me but all they were dragging the jerseys up the road. It was pretty pointless but guys now see me go off the front and think I am a dinner ticket to a victory or something if only they knew how badly my legs were now screaming, and I wasn't really in the mood to work with anyone. I sat up immediately when I was caught. 2 other lads got off the front and after I brought that back I was done for the day I swung off and went to the back and stayed there for the final 8 or so mile doing my best to keep contact to try and help us in the team overall.

Craig McAuley was able to get in the winning move shortly after I went to the back and it was then sorted that I had to do no more.

We ended up with 2nd in the Team overall missing first by 2 seconds.

Craig and Darnell lifted prizes for top 10 GC and KOH prizes also.

All in all it was a very enjoyable stage race and I enjoyed being able to use my strengths to help the other guys in the team where possible.