Strategy for Fastest hilly TT?

[Onno]

I hope this is not a dumb question. Every once in a while I like to get out and do a time trial--ride a circuit of about 22 miles, trying to beat my previous best time. It's a way to get in a short and high intensity workout, and also, I suppose, to measure my fitness (though I haven't yet been systematic enough to write down my times!) I don't have a power meter. The ride is not flat, but it has no huge hills. It has a long gradual climb at the beginning, some rollers in the middle, and a long and fast descent at the end.

I find myself thinking a lot, as I ride, about how best to apply power. Should I aim for a constant sustainable output for the whole ride (or as close to it as I can)? Or should I hammer the uphills and ease up on the downhills to recover? I find I inevitably do the latter, though I keep telling myself to strive for the former. Presumably on a perfectly flat ride one aims for constant output. But what's the best strategy for getting the best time on a hilly course?

[RPS]

The latter. The question is to what degree to "hammer" and "ease up" compared to your average power.

[regularguy412]

The latter. The question is to what degree to "hammer" and "ease up" compared to your average power.


I'll concur with this assessment.

You almost never gain on the downhill , as much as you lose on the uphill. So, it's better to make the 'hard part hard' and do a little recovery on the downhill side. If you're trying for the best time, pound the uphill.

The last 40K time trial I did was in June 2008. Our State TT course is basically flat. However,, there is a slight, gradual rise, on the order of maybe 2 percent, that occurs in the last half mile before the 20K turn around point. Try as I might, I just couldn't quite get my heart rate back up the last 3 or 4 beats during that little downhill stretch after the turnaround. I was already grinding the 12 and it just wouldn't come up until I hit the truly flat portion. Spin was gone. Only thing left was mash.

When 'your' course flattens out, then concentrate on a constant, sustained power output.

Mike in AR:beer:

[false_Aest]

Some cat a while back told me not to bury it when I'm going up rollers because I'll use the downhill too much as recovery.

His exactly words were like, "blah blah blah pedal just as hard on the backside." or something.

[fogrider]

on the day of the tt, there is nothing left but go hard. but keep your heart rate to to 80% of your max until the final climb. when you get to within 60 seconds of the crest, go all out. you should be able to go over the crest and start the descent and get to full speed before starting your recovery.

[dogdriver]

+1 all of the above, plus keep pedaling over the top of the roller. If you ever borrow a power meter, I'll bet you'll discover that you're letting up over the top a lot earlier than you think you are...