The Flash! said:
1. I've ridden about 10 of them, none with power....I usually look at pace per minute.
2. Only practice ones, not race situation....
3. Ultra Flat....Florida...
4. 15k - 9.27miles
5. Usually at least an hour of spinning and high intensity shorter efforts...
The problems with my current pacing is that it does not take the conditions into account. If I want to do a mile in 2:30, that's fine if there is not wind and flat, but if I try to do that onto a slight uphill or into a headwind, I can pull that off but I've blown my load for the race....
Now that I know what I can hold from a power standpoint, how do I leverage it on race day?
The Flash
Okay - here's my opinion:
1. Determine from training/past races what you can realistically hold for a well-paced 15k TT. If this is 20min, there can be quite a variation by individual in terms of %FTP power (from ~1.03 to ~1.15). Don't guess based on FTP alone.
2. I'd use the PT in average power mode. Nothing worse than chasing an erratic power display IMHO.
3. Start off with a short 2/3 to 3/4 of max power sprint for maybe 10 seconds to get your mass accelerated (NOT 20-30-60 seconds, keep it short).
4. Check your average power every minute or so and ensure it does not significantly exceed your target power for the duration. 1st min will be a tad high due to the sprint start but that's okay. Things should be settling towards target power after 2-min. Make sure to rein yourself in despite how easy it may feel for 5-6min.
5. Out & back course: take the turn as safely and efficiently as possible, get out of the saddle and get in another short sprint (~5s) to get back up to speed.
6. On the way back, the AP that formerly felt like a joke should start to bite
. If not, let PE dictate how much you can gradually push it. In the last k, don't look at anything except the finish line
Wind is just too unpredictable to really plan for. I think it's important to develop/tune/calibrate your PE so you can adjust to conditions on the fly.
But roughly speaking for modest length legs (~10k) and headwind out/tailwind back, I'd suggest trying for Target_AP + 5% into the wind and just hold what you can coming back. Much more than that and you'll likely blow on the outleg and just grovel home. It takes time to get this down - when in doubt err on the conservative side.
That all being said, I check my SRM for power over the first 4-6min of most TT's and then just ride it by PE after that.