Have you a power meter?

Start at FTP, hit average FTP over the 40k, but go slightly higher than FTP on inclines, slightly lower on declines.

Iso-power. FTP.

Edit: Shg101 said it better.

I agree, *if* he plans on finishing in roughly an hour.

However, if the OP is considerable faster or slower than that...

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Steve

"If you ain't first, you're last." Reese Bobby Talladega Nights

I would just start out at FTP and keep it pegged there for the hour (assuming you are planning on finishing within an hour). Also, you can get some recon of the course in via google maps and mapmyride.

this

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

As people have pointed out, you need to have an idea of how long the course will take so you can meter your effort out. Go harder when the course is hard... headwinds and hills and go easier when tailswinds and downhills. Steady on the flats. ~5% over/under

Oh, and hang your balls out and suffer. Race angry and enjoy the hurt.

Are you racing with power? If so, how are you measuring FTP? I'd start under ftp (2-3%) the first half and then see what you got coming home. Adjust for wind or course conditions. I often see people suffer a slow death heading back into a wind because they went out at ftp (or worse...higher).

And when you are 5k from the finish pick up the pace so you have nothing left when you see the line. You'll know you are pushing it when you see a new max HR. : )

Full gas.

+1 on the previous two posts.

Iso power for flat relatively low wind courses, usually staring a few percent or at least a few watts under FTP or at least not over (which is typical at the start as you feel so good and neither RPE nor HR respond immediately to the starting effort) for at least the first five minutes then you can start trusting RPE but FTP is still a good target if you've got more in you on a stellar day you've got plenty of course ahead of you to pick it up in the second half.

On hilly or higher wind courses, still don't go crazy and kill the start, and overall FTP is still a good target but up to 5% or so over FTP on the hills or headwinds and up to 5% or so below FTP on the descents and tailwind sections. Basically harder where the course is slower and you can make up more time on your competition and a tad easier where the course is faster and you pay a bigger price for a relatively small speed increase but still keep it near FTP so don't go 30% over on the uphills and coast the descents.

-Dave

Pacing is key, power meter is very helpful if you know how to use it. Raced my 40k last year and nailed the pacing. In the last 2-3 miles I passed about half a dozen guys who were all blown up from going out too hard. This leads me to state the three rules of time trialing.

1.) Don't go out too hard
2.) Don't go out too hard,

and the most important,

3. Don't go out too hard.

Thank you, everybody, for all the good advice. No power meter, so pacing will be key. What is ISO?

On a similar note, how much faster are you with race wheels? I rode 1:05 in 2006, my first year of cycling. This season, the wife approved purchase of a pair of zipp 404s. Assuming conditioning is at least the same, will that get me under an hour?

No.

one would hope after 5 years, conditioning would not be "the same", unless you are adverse to actual training

Breath. Go. Keep Going. Finish. Throw up. Done.

Seriously.

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@rhyspencer

True, and I am faster now, but things like the job and having a baby have meant less training overall in the last year...

What kind of speed will it buy, then?

"iso" is a greek prefix meaning "equal".

Is this a UCI straight up or in an Oly?

I found for a solo ITT my best bet was to slowly build near anaerobic to the turn around and then just know how hard I can kill the last 12 and change so that I basically fell off at the finish. The key aspect of feel I want is almost like I left a smidge too much in the tank when I hit the turn around....just barely....then lay caution to the wind on the way back. Tried all kinds of % of HR, cadence, speed approaches but never had my best results. Feeling as though I was about to redline as I approached the half way and then barf home was my best.

Highly unscientific, but worked for me.

"....I rode 1:05 in 2006, my first year of cycling. This season, the wife approved purchase of a pair of zipp 404s. Assuming conditioning is at least the same, will that get me under an hour?..."

The wheels alone will probably make a couple of minutes or maybe 5% difference, that's just a guess as we know nothing about your overall position, bike setup or other equipment such as helmet and skinsuit. For instance if you're sitting up tall on a road bike riding the brake hoods the wheels will probably have less total advantage as your aerodynamic drag will be dominated by the poor position. Unfortunately this stuff isn't additive in the simple sense, it's the system drag that matters so you really want to take care of the big items first and work down from there.

In terms of big items if you're riding aero bars in a reasonably aggressive but still reasonably comfortable position where you can sustain good power, the next big things might be:

- Work on keeping your head low and out of the wind as much as you can (learn to turtle and focus on it, especially in fast sections or strong headwinds)
- Wear an aero helmet (in low yaw or headwind and or calm day conditions this can be more important than your 404s and in crosswind conditions it can still be a big factor)
- Consider a plastic wheelcover for your rear 404, that's relatively inexpensive speed, tape the cover on with electrical tape around the edges so it doesn't flap and turn into a parachute. Wheelsmith sells covers custom cut for 404s. FWIW, my fastest 40k TT yet was set with a covered rear 404 and I haven't beaten that time yet (56 and change) with an actual disc wheel.
- Wear a skinsuit or at least your tightest fitting jersey with the rear pockets taped closed but a skinsuit is much better and you can pick them up used here or on ebay all the time. Tighter is better and it aint about looks, it's about speed and low times.
- Wear shoe covers, not big neoprene wet weather covers but something slick and aero that covers up the straps and buckles of your shoes.
- No gloves or a pair of the super tight and slick long cuff aero gloves like these: http://www.realcyclist.com/...la&mr:adType=pla

But of all those things the lowest time, money investment is to make sure your aero position is good in both an aerodynamic and sustainable power production sense(without a PM you basically have to try to maximize speed over known training courses and try to find a position that feels fast, powerful and reasonably comfortable so that you can stay in that position for a full hour) and then keep your head down! That and of course pace as everyone on this thread has suggested which means the first five minutes will feel steady hard but much too easy and then you can start building on that effort or at least maintaining it.

Good luck,
-Dave

Honestly, your experience with TT's will go a long way in determining a strategy. If you have relatively few TT's under your belt, your perception of "going out easy" will mean something very different than it would to someone who has raced at a high level for years. I have known many cyclists who took out a race too hard and blew up, and some that went out too easy and felt they could have gone much faster. I have done both as well. The ratio of too hard to too slow is probably 50:1 over a 30 year period.

Maybe try to break it into 10km segments, and start out at 85% effort (I cannot make correlations to power, my experience with being competitive ended before they were available, I didn't own a HR monitor either, they were not waterproof and they were bulky), and after each 10 km, bring it up a notch so that you are going as hard as possible for the last 10km. The national TT champion at the time, I think it was Tom Doughty, used to say you want to "parcel out the effort" so that you have enough to give it for the last 10km. It helps to know the course. Our district TT course had a section in the last 5km that was slightly uphill and always had a stiff headwind. If you didn't know it was coming, it would be devastating. So if you have some familiarity with the layout, take that into account with your plan.


Hope this helps a little, unless you did the race this morning, in which case...hope this helps next time!


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"Maybe you should just run faster..." TM

Most importantly, keep things under control. You want maximal results but you will also be out there for roughly an hour. Monitor your efforts and if you feel like you are really hurting, back off a touch and let your hr recover a little bit if the features of the course don't do this for you.

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Head Coach Grn Mchn Multisports Coaching, LLC
http://www.grnmchnmultisports.com

http://www.socalttseries.com/...cing-time-trial.html

"The ability to pace a time trial correctly is a challenging yet essential skill for a competitive time trial cyclist to master. For flat and low wind time trial races of durations between 10 miles and 40 kilometers, I often break the event into four parts:

1. The start. Rolling a good start will lay the foundation for a confident race. With five minutes to go ......"

you forgot aero bottle setup.