Race of Truth

This coming Sunday we'll be hosting the LAMBRA Individual Time Trial Championship, otherwise known as The Race of Truth.  Truth be told, I won't be riding it. Now, one shouldn't take that to mean that I lack respect for the Time Trial discipline.  On the contrary, I am continually flabbergasted, amazed and humiliated by those who not only actually race in them, but excel in them. Aside from a few years around the mid-late 80s when dedicated time trial bikes were still experimental and I was motivated by a burning need to win back enough of my entry fees to pay for the next race's entry fee and/or the daughter's new shoes, I have struggled with time trials for the better part of forty-five years. Early on, I figured out that the best way to minimize the inevitable self-deprecating excuse-making manifested after most of my attempts to go fast without wheel-sucking was to be the Time Trial promoter or official. This allowed, and still allows, me to save face by having a valid, even noble, excuse not involving lack of training, general suckiness, advancing age, and/or lack of exquisite aero-ness. It also allows me to offer lots of advice to new time trial riders that may or may not have been entirely made up on the spot. Regardless of my lackluster time trialing history, there is no denying that I do have a fair amount of experience with them, even if it tends to be more from the perspective of a survivor as opposed to a victor.

First and foremost, as far as I can tell from observations of the past decade, if you expect to be on the podium you are going to need a Time Trial bike, otherwise known as a Tri bike, that will set you back five to ten grand in order to make your private parts go numb. I don't have one of those. I don't even have the now ubiquitous carbon fiber aero wheels because every time I save up enough to get some, I get a bill from the city assessor's office for property taxes or trees need to be trimmed or the air conditioner blows up. But I digress. If you can't spring for an actual TT bike, you can come reasonable close with a combination of aero wheels, clip-on TT bars, and a TT helmet.  I have the latter two and have borrowed the former one, largely without making a significant difference in my time trialing competitiveness.  That's probably because I lack the necessary motivation.  You see, in order to do a good time trial you absolutely have to make a solid, unwavering, irreversible decision, well ahead of time, to suffer ... greatly. One thing I know from my own experience is that there are no shortcuts in time trials.  There are no wheels to suck, no strategy to play out, no waiting for the sprint or attacking the big climb to get in a breakaway. There is only the truth, and the truth may be that you suck, or, for some apparently, that you don't. Either way, by the end of a TT, you will know the truth.

So, knowing that you aren't a time trialist, how do you put down a credible time trial that won't require the fabrication of multiple rationalizations ranging from that cold you had two weeks ago to your forgetting to de-ionize your disc wheel before the start? Well, I guess there are a few things I would offer as advice in addition to the obvious, which is to train your ass off:

1. Get a good warm-up and don't miss your freaking start. This has been the downfall of many a good rider. You need a good, serious warm-up, and I don't mean riding up and down the road at 15 mph commiserating with your friends about how much you suck at time trials. I'm talking about a good half hour that includes short but intense efforts that get you to the start line loose, warm and with an elevated heart rate. Hopefully a start list was posted. Know your start time and check your watch or computer so you arrive at the start three or four minutes before your start time.
2. Don't start too fast. In order for this rule to work, you have to understand up front that you are probably going to start too fast anyway. Those first 500 meters are going to feel great. You'll shift into a huge gear and the fist time you look down at the computer it'll be showing something like 33 mph. So unless you are running a power meter and know what those numbers mean for you, you're going to need to start out slower than your brain has fooled you in to thinking you can go. Give it a couple of minutes. By then your breathing will  have caught up with reality and you might possibly be able to get a handle on what you can actually sustain. 
3. Stay aero.  I can't emphasize this enough. Assuming you can still breathe, you need to stay in the most aero position possible. It will not be comfortable, but it will work. I remember the difference the first time I did a time trial in a skinsuit as opposed to a floppy jersey.  I also remember the difference the first time I did a time trial with aero bars. There was no comparison. Glenn Gulotta, who was the first local rider to go under an hour back when what is now the 40k time trial was the 25 mile time trial, back before aero bars or aero wheels or aero bikes or computers or power meters, used to ride time trials with his head down looking just at the white line on the edge of the road.  Of course there was that time he hit a dead armadillo he never saw and crashed, but that's a whole other story. 
4. Don't screw up the turnaround. Coming into the turnaround is your only chance to sit up a little and coast a bit. Rather than hammering all the way up to the traffic cone in the middle of the road and then slamming on the brakes, skidding the rear wheel, over-shooting the turn, riding over the rumble strip, and having to stand up in your highest gear and accelerate from practically a dead stop, ease up gradually, shift, focus on the apex, and make the turn smooth, fast, and in control like you would in a criterium. 
5. Keep the pressure on all the way. Your head is going to tell you to ease up. It'll try to convince you that if you ease up a little and recover you'll be able to ramp it up later and go faster.  Your head will lie to you.  Guaranteed.

If none of the above work, then maybe you should consider getting an Official's license or becoming a time trial promoter. Worked for me.