40k best time - Page 2

AP=average power. I was wondering what your power output was.

You must at least be using aero bars, right? Even so, 55-56 minutes with a regular road bike and open pro's is pretty fast. You must be a beast leanman!

51:58 on a single.
46:47 on a tandem.

Andy,

Damn!

AP?

40.6km course in 1:00.10 in 1988 Merckx position. Beaten for U19 Regional title by two guys on aero bars

__________________
Hamish Ferguson: Cycling Coach
http://hamishferguson.blogspot.com/

Which is roughly equivalent to saying if you can't win a Cat 5 crit on a cruiser bike then you shouldn't buy a race bike because you clearly won't be able to win a Cat 1 race without more fitness...

I haven't raced a TT in full 'Eddy' mode since the mid '80s and I'm sure my times were dog slow then regardless of the gear but I managed 58 minutes on a stock road bike with clip on bars and no other aero goodies a few years ago. My best time on a full TT rig is 56 minutes to date.

Fergie's example above is a good reason to make at least a nominal investment in aero gear, at least clip on aero bars if you're going to sign up for time trials. I guess if you're really not worried about the results then it doesn't matter but it'd be pretty frustrating to nail a killer 57 minute 40K in Eddy mode and miss the podium to some 54 minute guys who paid attention to aerodynamics.

The other reason not to put off aero bars is that it typically takes a while to optimize your aero position such that you can hold it for the duration and don't sacrifice too much power. Bummer to top off your fitness on your road bike, get below an hour in Eddy mode then find out your power drops by 20% in the aero bars because you didn't train at those hip angles or can't stay in the aero bars on race day since you didn't spend time training in that position.

But in terms of the really big investments like a Zipp Sub-9 and a top end TT frame, yeah I can see his point. Probably makes sense to do a few TTs to figure out how much you enjoy them before mortgaging the house for a couple of minutes on race day.

Good luck,
-Dave

Since both races were at 6200 ft altitude, not that high, i.e., 268 W and 565 W, respectively.

A 51:58 from 268W?

Do you have the frontal area of a flea? Was it an out-and-back course?

If I am not mistaking (which could be the case), I remember having read few years back that he once managed to perform a 40k TT in 60min flat on a 220w diet.

Powercranks maybe?

A CdA of less than zero will do that. The air sucks you along.

Good job, Andy!

Actually, I made a mistake in my original post - my official time was 51:52. I would have finished in ~51:45 if not for being hung up behind a slower rider at a critical moment. That's still 1:10 off the 50+ record I was chasing, though.

No - just short legs and narrow hips and shoulders for someone 6 ft tall.

Yes.

Would that have been a Kent Bostick record?

Amazing time, congrats - but I still find it hard to believe that a 51 can be done with less that 300 watts but it's something that gives me hope for the future! Nice to know.

Back in 1996 I was tested on my time trial bike with a threshold of 340watts (BCF test rig - kingcycle and also on a calibrated 'treadmill' at a sports science lab) and never broke 56 minutes. I think the few time trials I did ride I managed to get all the 'hard' days. I did manage to crack 21 minutes for a 10 mile TT that year - and on a course with plenty of roundabouts.

I may not have had the best bike (531 'no butted' tandem tubed frame) and Campag Shamals but the rest of the kit (Bell Vortex helmet and USA team issue derived Descent ribbed "batsuit") was among the best kit out there at the time - as seen in my tiny avatar. Position was similar to Boardman in the 92 Olympics. I too was thin and skinny - 5ft 11 and low 140's lbs.

Wow - nearly 51 flat is a great time! I've never gotten close to that.
The numbers sound fishy to me, as the avg. power for that time doesn't match.
My 54's were on a flat course, no wind assist, really as aero as one can get [Lotus, rear disk, front Cosmic, skinsuit, etc.). My avg power for that distance at the time pushed 300W, so.....
I am above average size for a cyclist, which would be a negative for me aero-wise. But you're 6' as well, only ~3" shorter than I am. Not much diff. there. I'm pretty confident in my position, having worked on it for years on end, so I don't suspect much diff there either.
I suspect either your time or your power measurement was off. The numbers just don't add up.
Was the 51 time and low 200W range power readings repeatable? Or, was this a one-off? If so, a favorable wind shift during the race could explain this.

Andy, I would be keen to know what the average power for each run was the day you did three 40km TTs in a row. Appreciate the Tandem ride may be difficult but what were the other two?

__________________
Hamish Ferguson: Cycling Coach
http://hamishferguson.blogspot.com/

The tandem run was a national team-record breaking time, with location and conditions chosen specifically to give a good chance of actually breaking the previous record. From his comments about missing the record during his single run, I would expect the same level of preparation was done.

Working from memory, the 1st (a low 53 on a flat loop course) was just under 300 W, and the 2nd (a low 55 which started about 20 min later) was some 7-8% lower.

The 3rd was as the stoker on a tandem, so I don't know my (or even our combined) power for that race, but I suspect the drop-off was even greater, as by that point the heat was getting pretty intolerable for even a skinny, acclimatized guy like myself (one rider died and two were hospitalized that day with heat stroke).