I sure I am not the first to find that the painted white/yellow line along the side of the road is smooth and fast. Is this something that experienced time trial people know and exploit? It seems to require great attention to a smooth pedal stroke.
might lower rolling resistance some for sure just stay well clear of them on a wet day (just ask a few of the Posties about that)
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I do that all the time…Dont look at it…but make sure you see it and think to yourself “that is where I want to be” - somehow you end up there. I think it is more about feel than steering to be on it…
BUT - avoid that at all costs if it is wet.
Your bike WILL go where your eyes go. Look at the line about 15 feet in front of you. Keep the line in mind and you’ll stay on it about 90% of the time.
Next time you see an object in your path that you wish to avoid, look about 6" to the left or the right of it and you WILL miss it!!
I practice riding the white lines nearly every time I ride. I’ve also done it with a 2x4 and my mtn bike. Ride a 10ft length of 2x4 (layed on the ground) by looking at the far end of the 2x4 and you’ll ride right where you look everytime!!
This is one of the reasons drunk drivers hit some many people on the side of the road. They steer to what they are looking at. Your body follows your eyes.
Absolutely. Like you said in another post (paraphrase), “I’m learning that the seconds add up.”
Ride that line.
I have another motivator I came up with today to help me maintain focus–“you can never get a pedal stroke back”.
On riding the line–its harder to stay on it if you mash.
I’ve heard training on rollers makes it easier to ride the white line, I can’t speak on this from personal experience though I’ve never been able to get the hang of the damn things.
ride the shortest distance, let your bike steer itself
depends on the course, but riding the white line is not a good idea in my book, takes concentration … which is something I want to use to focus my effort at or above red line, not use it to navigate my bike … TTing is very focus demanding
Hi Monk,
Staying on the line is not only a function of a smooth pedal stroke but also bike control, i.e., being able to ride in a straight line. This is another skill that many cyclists develop and improve as a result of riding in pacelines on group rides and another reason to join a bike club and participate in group rides even though one is a triathlete and not a roadie. This skill also can be developed and improved by riding on rollers.
Those who wobble from side to side, even though it may only be 3 or 4 inches on each pedal stroke, are investing a portion of the power they are producing in moving from side to side instead of just moving forward.
Another trick or secret is that cutting the tangents on the corners is the shortest route but sometimes it is also the rougher or more coarse surface as a result of limited traffic running over it to compress it. Therefore you often find that the smoothest pavement/surface is in the “ruts” (tire tracks) where the right and left tires generally run in the lane. even though the distance on the tangent is the shorter path, it often takes more power to sustain your speed over it and that by taking the slightly longer route, it is easier to maintain a higher speed.
You are generally less likely to flat if you keep off the shoulder or out of the gutter when taking the corners as well.
I generally tend to run between the centerline and the line on the shoulder and don’t get obsessed with experimenting on the other side of the line on the shoulder. After you flat or start losing tire pressure, your race is pretty much over anyway.
Have fun. TT can be infectious besides helping one to develop economy to attain maximum speed. This can then be translated to economy to promote speed for endurance.
FWIW.
I only ride the white line when I am going around a right hand bend in the road.
Another trick you can learn is to take a few pedal strokes easier than others. the mini-rest amounts to no loss of speed, and helps me maintain focus.
I do 16 strokes on and 8 off.
-SD
#1 mistake (and biggest by far) from triathletes doing time trials:
Warm ups are WAY too short!!!
I’ve seen guys that ride well in tris, come and warm up for 15’ for a 10mi TT!
Good warm up is critical. I’d ride at 1h (sometimes a bit more) for a 40km TT, for a 20km, I’d warm up for 1h30’. OK, I warm up very slowly, but 15’ for 10mi is way too short.
I agree with this even though I haven’t done a 40k TT not in a triathlon yet. Yesterday, I went on the Shiner Bash which is a 90 mile ride followed by a festival in Shiner, TX. I rode with some of my friends until around mile 65. At that point, I took off and probably had a sub 1 hour 40k pace going on for the rest of the ride. I mean, I was passing people like they were sitting still. Yes, they weren’t racing, but I was hauling ass. A couple of guys actually hopped on behind me for a minute or two but I soon dropped them. The main reason why I did it was because I wanted to see if I could ride 60+ miles (my longest ride before this was 55 miles) and I wanted to see how much I could push myself after going for so long. I was running near redline the entire time. My legs were going to explode. It felt great.
But the reason why I was able to push so hard was because I had a 3:45 warmup ride before that.
It’s good on a rough chip road, but it’s more important to straighten the course. In other words the line marking the shoulder is usually shadowing the edge of the road and therefore not the shortest line (staying legal of course). I would echo what others have said stay away from them in the wet, unless you wish to practice road rash treatment on yourself!!
except that science says that you only need 10-15% of your total workout time as a warmup (and coincidentally, 10-15% cool down as well…)
not sure how fast you’re riding 10 miles, but even @ 30 minutes…10’ is plenty of warmup, providing it gets your HR up and muscles/joints active and lubricated
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One thing you have to look out for is that the road debris gets swept to the sides, and that’s where the line is. Another aspect is that riding right at the edge of the road gives the signal that you’re insignificant and motorists can pass by without a second thought. I prefer to ride a few feet away from the edge - more noticeable and a bigger presence. The theory goes that motorists then will respect your road space.
If its a choice of saving a few seconds vs safety - I know what I’d err on. Probably anyway.
I agree about the debris but assumed that common sense would mean that one would not ride through it. As for the command postion I would err on caution as I feel it better for traffic to be able to go around within out a delay, that way they are less likely to be agressive toward you. Just as you said.
I remember reading a long time ago how the RAAM riders figured the decreased rolling resistance of the white line would save them ‘x’ amount of time over the distance.
That said, Monk, I am not so sure riding the white line on this course is a good idea. The pavement is new, and I noticed a decrease in effort if I was way to the left. Basically where the left wheels of a car travel. This was as a result of the camber of the road being much less severe. I find if I ride anywhere near the sholder, it is like going the wrong way around a track. Constantly steering uphill.
:note: that road is pretty deserted on a Sunday morning and you can hear cars approaching a mile off.
Kevin,
I find the older I get, the more I need to warm up. Not quite as severe as Francois, but, I have to ride at LEAST 10 miles just to have a chance to feel warmed up…twenty is better for me…I don’t think it matters to me the distance I am going to race, it just takes me about an hour to get all systems on “go” so that I can crank hard. In fact, the shorter the race, the more I need to warm up! I don’t think I’d do much more than a light spin and stretch before racing 100 miles, but riding at least 20 miles before a 10 mile TT would be my minimum warmup.
Every time the pedal comes up, push it back down.
I dunno, man. Where’d you hear that? I find that I TT far better with a nice, long, easy warmup (with some quick speed intervals thrown in). Starting after only 10-15 minutes of warm-up is a sure-fire way for my legs to feel flooded with lactic acid within the first couple of miles. The general rule of thumb is the shorter the TT the longer the warm-up.