Your First Time Trial
Article reproduced by permission of Cycling Plus
© Cycling Plus and Dan Joyce 2007
Photography: Paul Smith, Warren Rossiter

Time trialling is an ideal introduction to competitive cycling. It's just you, your bike, and the stopwatch.
Dan Joyce tells you how to get started.

WHAT IS A TIME TRIAL?

Time trialling is the simplest of competitive formats: a race against the clock, with riders starting a minute apart. It's known as the 'race of truth' because there's nowhere to hide, no one to draft behind; just you and the bike and the thumping of your heart. Oh, and a clock ticking.
Most events are fixed distance, being 10,25,50 or 100 miles. There are also fixed time events -12 and 24 hours -with the objective being to ride the furthest you can. Courses are on public roads and are either'out and back', using a roundabout to turn halfway, or circuits with consecutive left turns. You can take part on any roadworthy bike except a recumbent. Normally you need to be a member of a Cycling Time Trials-affiliated cycling club.

Thirty seconds," the timekeeper calls out. The starter holds you up while you clip into your pedals. Deep breaths. "Ten seconds." Your pulse is rising, your mouth goes dry. "Five, four, three, two, one..." You're off! Out of the saddle, you're powering down the road to get on top of your gear.

For the next half an hour your lungs will work like bellows. Your legs will strain on the pedals. Your nose will run. You'll be effortlessly overtaken by a skinsuited cycling machine who set off four minutes back, his disc wheel roaring like a Star Wars TIE fighter.

At the finish you'll suck in ragged gasps of air, feeling so shattered you want to be sick. So you'd be forgiven for asking: where's the fun?

Why do it?
Well, it's nice when you stop. But there is more to it than that. Once you've got your breath back, your body is swimming with endorphins. It feels good And at some primal, work-ethic level, it's satisfying to have ridden at 100 per cent capacity, to have learned where your limits are. There's a sense that you've used the time productively, having seized the day rather than let it drift by.

It doesn't matter what your fitness level is, whether you're 22 or 82, male or female. If you can ride 10 miles on a public road then you can ride a time trial. It's not like a road race, where if you fall off the pack your race is over. Since the slower riders set off first, finish times cluster together.
You'll automatically get your personal best time (PB) in your first time trial. Whether it's 31:07 or 25:12, that's your target to aim at next time. It doesn't matter what time anyone else got - first and foremost in a time trial, you're racing against yourself.

Where to ride
Time trials take place on measured courses on public roads open to traffic. Accordingly, riders are obliged to follow the usual rules of the road. Historically, time trials were shrouded in secrecy as cycle racing was banned on British roads. By riding separately, time triallists could be seen to be 'going about their normal business' rather than racing. Riders wore inconspicuous clothing and courses were named with a recondite code system -such as V415 - that's used to this day.

Nowadays the secrecy is gone, although it can still look a bit impenetrable. A time trial start will see a group of cyclists in a layby on a Tuesday evening. The course start and finish might be small marks on a kerbstone. Only a few marshals in brightly coloured vests and perhaps some fold-out signs saying 'cycle race in progress' indicate that there's anything going on. It's not like popping down to the leisure centre. Yet it's not as cliquey as it may appear, and most local cycling clubs are only too happy to see new faces.

How to race
If you want to ride more than one or two time trials, you need to join a club that's affiliated to Cycling Time Trials, the sport's governing body. There are more than 900 around the country, and membership costs around £10 per year. The club secretary will send you a list of club events, and you can ride any of them. As well as the annual membership, you pay an on-the-day entry fee, from 50p to £2. That's local club events. Open events are bigger, attracting riders from across the region or sometimes the country. You have to register in advance for an  open event and the fee will usually be a bit higher. You don't need a racing licence for either type of event; membership in a CTT-affiliated club is sufficient. If you're under 18 - the minimum age is 12 — you must have a parent/guardian's authorisation.

You can have a go at time trialling without first joining a club, because many also run 'Come and Try It' events. "The idea, as the title suggests, is that you come and try it to see if you want to join the club," says Phil Heaton, Cycling Time Trials' national secretary. You'll need to check with your local club's secretary to find which events are 'Come and Try It'.

This summer, the CTT is having a big push with Come and Try It events coinciding with the Tour de France visiting the UK.

"We're writing to all our clubs encouraging them to run a 7.9km time trial, which is the same as the prologue," says Phil Heaton, "so people can compare themselves to the best in the world."

Equipment
All you need is a roadworthy bike. That includes mountain bikes and tourers but not recumbents. If you're 18 or under you have to wear a safety helmet (an aero helmet is allowed only if it's up to approved safety standards). If the bug bites, you might decide to get an aero race bike. To begin with, a decent £500 starter bike such as the Specialized Allez or Trek 1000 will be fine. Either could be used for training or day rides if you later upgrade to a better model for racing.

Assuming the bike is at least half decent, with road tyres, the biggest effect on your speed (apart from your fitness!) is not the machine but your position on it. You make up the overwhelming bulk of the air resistance, which is what mostly stops you going faster. So don't wear baggy clothing, and make sure your handlebars are as low as they can comfortably go.

To get more aero still, fit clip-on tri-bars. Profile's Century ZB aero-bar (£35, www.evans.com) is the cheapest. More expensive bars offer greater adjustability, lower armrest cups and better aerodynamics. To get a good fit on your tri-bars, you may need to get a different stem.

Upgrading your tyres is another way to go faster. Many starter bikes come with 25mm training tyres; they won't roll as well as decent 23mm (or narrower) race tyres, even those that come with a bit of puncture protection like the Vredestein Fortezza Tricomp (£22), Schwalbe Stelvio (£30), Michelin Krylion Carbon (£25) or Continental Grand Prix Attack/Force (£30).

Perhaps the biggest improvement will come from using a heart rate monitor because it will tell you how hard you're trying. Budget models (Sigma or Halfords) are available for under £30, and even big names like Polar and Cardiosport have models around £50. Mount the HRM to your handlebar or tri-bar where you can see it. Many time triallists like to use a bike computer instead of or as well as an HRM.

Training
You don't need to train at all to do your first time trial. You'll want a base level of cycling fitness, but if you're a regular cyclist you'll have that. Nevertheless, the effort level will come as a surprise. Have a go at riding flat out for several miles, just so you know what it feels like. Use this opportunity to check that your riding position is okay when riding at full speed.

If you want to do some training, remember that any training regime is only going to make a difference over weeks, not days. Add to the frequency of your rides rather than the intensity. That's your fitness base.

If you want to get your body used to 'changing up a gear', try some basic Fartlek training. (Jo out for your normal ride and after you've warmed up, pick a landmark you can see - like a tree or house-and race up to it. If it's close, sprint. If it's half a mile away, ride harder but don't flat-out sprint. Once you've reached it, ease off for a few minutes, then repeat.

Whatever your riding regime, make sure you don't do any hard rides for a couple of days before the event. Your body needs time to recover.

On the day

You don't want to race on a full stomach - but you don't want to race when you're starving cither. Have a carbohydrate-rich snack, like a banana sandwich, three to four hours before the event, and drink plenty of water.

Most local events require that you arrive at least 15 minutes before the start. Build in some spare time. You'll probably sign on for the race with the timekeeper beside a car boot. The timekeeper will then hand out race numbers. These are safety-pinned to the back of your jersey, right at the bottom not high up on the back. Ask someone to pin yours on for you.

As you'll be one of the first riders off, double check with the timekeeper how-much time you've got before you start and exactly where the start is. If you've got time to spare, ride down the road a bit to warm up. Riding out to the event can be a useful warm up if it's local enough, but remember you'll have to ride home, too!

Get to the start with a couple of minutes to spare. At one minute to go, you'll get in position. Make sure you're in a gear you can accelerate away in. At 30 seconds, the starter will - if you wish -hold you up. Take some deep breaths, clip into and orient your pedals.

Don't slaughter yourself in the first few miles. You need to get into the ride - find a rhythm for your breathing and pedalling that's hard but sustainable. Try not to let your mind wander. Keep half an eye on your heart rate monitor or bike computer, or count your pedal strokes for one leg (one, two, three, four) and then the other, and repeat.

Other riders will come past you. Don't worry about it. When you can see the finish, give it everything. Keep riding straight past the finish. When it's safe to do so, do a U-turn and return to where you met up before the race - not the start. Don't hang around the timekeeper or try to talk to him. He'll be over with the results shortly.

Have a drink. Get your breath back. And when the timekeeper reappears, go and find out your time. So, how did you do?

It doesn't matter what time anyone else got - first and foremost, you're racing against yourself

THEY DID IT, YOU CAN TOO

Dave Thompson, 38, did his first time trial in 2006 after years of solo road and mountain biking. He began thinking about racing when he bought his new Cannondale two years ago.

"I started doing more serious miles on road - 50,60,70-milers. I'd also been going to the gym to do spinning, and I began to wonder what time I could do in a time trial.

"A couple of mountain bikers joined the club just before me. As circumstance has it, one of them, Andy Browne, came to do some plumbing at my house and told me he'd done his first time trial the week before. We were talking about it, and he invited me to come along and have a go the following week. So I did. I joined there and then. I did 26:21, but I completely messed up my pacing, I was that excited. I'll be racing all this year and for the foreseeable future."

And in turn, Dave's even recommend time trialling to others. "There's a 40-year-old woman at my gym who's good on the bike. I asked her if she fancied coming along, and she was just like me, really, assuming "they'll all be miles better than me". So I replied: "Just do it for yourself. Don't worry about anybody else. There will be people there that will be miles faster, but there will be people who will be equal to you. Nobody will laugh if you do a really slow time.' Anyway, she's going to think about it, she says."

Lori Douglas, 45, did her first time trial last year, having joined Velo Club Beverley. She has a background in mountain biking.

"I began road cycling a year and a half ago, and started going out with the club," she said. "It's a huge challenge trying to keep up with a group of very fit guys, being the only girl, but I found I was really enjoying the cycling.

"I wanted to see how I compare, so I thought I'd give time trialling a try. It is quite daunting, though, because everybody seems to have quite specialist kit. For me, it's hard to get a comparison. In the time trials that I've done there haven't been any other women there, and I'm always going to be that much slower than the guys.

"The first time trial was hard work -really hard work - because you're trying to go all out for the whole time. But on a road bike, it feels like you're flying. You really do move. It's a good feeling. The speed is a good element. Mountain biking for me was more about distance and never about speed."

Stephen Ongly 35 year-old Steve was doing his first Open 24-mile hilly TT when we caught up with him at this Chippenham Wheelers organised event (see Thanks To, below). The father of two only started cycling 'seriously' last summer when a friend sold him a bike for £200, then he raced a 10-mile TT and caught the bug.

This year he joined the Chippenham Wheelers for a season of TTs and road racing and emptied his savings account to buy a Cannondale CAAD9 Spin which, as you can see, he loves. He doesn't have a helmet yet though... Apparently the kids and wife were going to buy him one after watching him ride this TT without.

"The best thing about TTs is that I can get up and ride one on the Saturday morning and then still get home for a full day with the family after. It was really nice to have them come out and support me today too."

THANKS TO
Andy Cook and John Lewis of Chippenham Wheelers for allowing us full access to their Open Hilly 24 mile TT which is part of the WTTA Hardriders time trial series.

Article reproduced by permission of Cycling Plus
© Cycling Plus and Dan Joyce 2007
Photography: Paul Smith, Warren Rossiter