The Barnsburg Time Trail has been going on now since 2005. This is a rolling course, eight miles in total length. Riders leave the start line, ride four miles out, turn then ride four miles back.
From 2005 until the close of the season, 2010, thirty-seven timed events have been held, not including the team even held last fall.
Seventy-one individual cyclists have posted at least one time at an event. Four Hundred Ninety Two times have been recorded. The fastest male time recorded is 18:02 The fastest female time recorded is 22:59 Of all 492 times posted, the average time is 23:23, or 20.5 MPH.
Here is a link to all of the data colleted and analyzed starting in 2005 until the close of 2010:
https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=tC0nvk6W-sl5qSHzBwpHIXA#gid=0
Our course is not an easy one in terms of time trial courses. It is undulating, with about 200 feet of vertical relief. There is a hard, 180 turnaround smack in the middle, and it is a nearly perfectly east/west trending course (there is always wind).
Many of our competitors use this event for training and measuring. Many of our club and sport cyclists use the event to gage personal fitness.
There are many reasons that ANY CYCLIST should post times in our event. If you are considering posting a time, or multiple times this year, please remember, only one rider will harvest the fastest time. The rest of us never even know who rode what time.
Since 2007, I have posted many times. I have also conducted topographically analysis of the course, and I have developed a strategy for this course which has allowed me to do well, from time to time. I will share my ideas with you now so long as you now. (Other, successful riders do not share some of my ideas, but if you are new to time trialing, you might as well start with my suggestions).
I have developed a strategy that works for me. It is an online spreadsheet and all you have to do is enter your target time, then navigate to the second worksheet and print out your mile assignments. Once I get my assignments printed out, I tape them to my handle bars to see if I am on track or not, for my target time. Here is the link to the “beta” version of the sheet:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ar4bROd73Tu5dFpHeGplM0JvUUxpczk0RHFUQWQ3TWc&hl=en#gid=0
Here are other suggestions for this time trial. Take as many of them as you feel necessary, and throw the rest away.
BEFORE THE EVENT
1) Try not to drive to the event in the cloths you will wear in the TT
2) Try to arrive about an before “first rider off” so you can dress, and warm up
3) Warm up slowly. Raise your level of effort as your start time nears.
4) Once fully warmed up, conducted max 10 sec max efforts in tt position, Rest. 10 sec in upright. Rest. 10 seconds out of the saddle. Rest. Do this as close to your start time as you possibly can. This TT is only eight miles. You will not exhaust yourself warming up, no matter how hard you go. The harder the warm-up, the better you will do. JUST BE SURE TO WARM UP SLOWLY! By the way, when any human being warms up for a race, they always feel like molasses in winter.
5) Try to get a time that is suitable to your level… You don’t want to be passed too soon. You also don’t want to be passing too many riders.
6) Never ever be in a hurry to do anything before the event (from the time you wake up that day). Plan your time, or your entire day, if necessary so that you will never feel in a hurry or rushed. The more hurried you are before the event, the less quick you will on the course. It is a Law Of Nature!
AT THE EVENT
1) Arrive at the line at least three to five minutes before your time to go.
2) Once at the starting line area, relax. Get off your bike, lay it down…. Meditate. Be funny or be yourself.
3) It is just eight miles. You will start soon, you will ride and it will hurt. It will be over soon; it will end and when it ends, you will be happy and glad you did it. Don’t thing about how fast or how slow you are going to be at this point. Think about how wonderful it feels to be a cyclist, and how thankful you are to be healthily enough to have a starting time at a timed event. Empty your mind of the effort to come as completely as you can. After all, you are probably not going to be the fastest or slowest. You will most likely “fill the pack” And with that, trust me, comes great comfort and anonymity.
4) Support others who are doing exactly what you are about to do.
5) When it is your time to go, get a “hold” if it is available (Have somebody hold you up while you get your cleats in). Take off in a sprint lasting no more than 10 seconds. Settle in to a comfortable position on your bike, then DAIL IT ALL BACK!!!!!!! FORGET ABOUT BEING UNDER THE CLOCK. <<<<<<
6) Take the entire first mile at a pace far less than you could do. Even if that mile costs you 4 minutes! Absolutely no more than 75% of your possible effort.
7) Once you’ve climbed the first mile to the Church, you will go through miles two and three. If you have done all of the above, you are now primed to lift your effort to your absolute maximum, and receive the benefit. Because of the nature of this course, you will only be able to lift your average pace on miles two and three and seven. All other miles (of the eight) you will most likely be loosing average speed. Don’t panic!
8) Once past the church, CRANK IT UP – go down the hill and into the flats as fast as you possibly can. These two miles will make you or break you. (BE VERY CERTAIN THAT YOU CRANK IT UP SLOWLY…. NEVER EVER SPRINT)
9) At the mile three mark, try to relax a little, and get some recovery, just a few seconds.
10) From mile three to four (to the turnaround), the course is curvy, and up and down and up). Don’t completely relax on this mile, but remember, your going to climb and turn. You will not achieve or miss your goal on this really screwed up mile of the course. But do remember, it is a relatively hard climb up to the turn. You will be going slow. Don’t worry about that. However, you don’t want to spend more time than necessary on portions of the course which are naturally slow. As such, be sure you get some recovery before you get to the climb to the turn so you can get that slow part done efficiently (notice that I did not say quickly). . Yes, a slow pace (and everybody is slow going up that hill to the turn) is very damaging to your overall time. But everybody is getting damaged. The smart ones, the most efficient ones will fare the best. Not to fast; not to slow, but just right.
11) Once on top of the climb, you will descend slightly to the turn. STOP RACING NOW! Look behind you for traffic – BE AWARE OF EVERY THING EXCEPT YOUR SPEED. This is the “clock-time” you simply throw away. Your safety is at stake, and the safety of others. Leave your ideas of personal records aside, coast into the turn, and be smooth and safe.
12) Having coasted into the turn, you are now recovered and ready to sprint back up to a good speed. Do so will all your might for no more than 3 to five seconds. After that, accept the speed you are at, and look forward to the down-slope coming your way.
13) Once you’ve sprinted back up to speed, get a good tuck, and use that down hill for more recovery.
14) RECOVERY RECOVERY RECOVERY!!!! Any chance you get to coast at a speed above what you current average is will only benefit you.
15) Be sure to make maximum use of the yellow line rule on your way back, because your time back will probably be slower than your time to the turn. Our course is basically down out and up back. It is also typically downwind out, and upwind back.
16) You are half done now. It hurts bad. You have entered survival mode. The average speed you gained on the way out is going to decay. DON’T PANIC. Tuck yourself into a comfortable, low profile position, and crank it off. Remember, you must take time to recover.
17) Only recover when your speeds are above your current average speed (you have to have a computer on your bike to do this)
18) You are certainly now dealing with slow upgrades, and probably headwinds as well. What ever your average speed was at the turn, consider yourself in “preservation mode”. Preserve that average speed. But at the same time, recover when you can.
19) Miles five and six are good; mostly flat with some upgrade. But probably some wind; Tuck in, preserve, and get some recovery when you can. By now, you are suffering. Your mind is telling your body to stop. But your spirit can tell your mind to keep going. The suffering will not last much longer. Just a few minutes at most…. Less than five minutes more.
20) At mile six, you will climb back up to the church. The same hill that gave you so much average speed is now going to get it back from you. This mile curves to the right… no yellow line – but put yourself all the way over as far as you can get to the right…. The less time you spend climbing this hill the better. RIDE ON THE RIGHT EDGE OF THE ASHPHALT IF YOU HAVE TO. Climbing back up to the Church will be slow, and a loosing derivative of your effort. No other mile hurts as much as this one. By now, you are getting an idea of what your time will be. And you are probably right on the dividing line of what you wanted to do. The less time you spend on this part of the course, the better…. So get over to the right as far as you can. Consider it an anti-yellow-line rule.
21) After climbing the hill up to the church, and a little beyond is the hardest part of the course. It seems flat or even down, but it is hard to get your instant speed back up above your average speed. This is because you’ve stunned your body, and it is flooded with the debris of your effort so far. JUST TAKE IT EASY, AND BE CONSISTANT AND GRINDING. Don’t try to accelerate more than you can, but slowly ride yourself to the downgrade that you know is coming.
22) It is only after you pass the church when you begin to go back down hill toward the finish. You feel the Earth release Her hold on you and you start going faster and faster. It is a nice mile long down hill, so you can actually pick up some average speed. Just bare in mind, the speed you do in the last mile, will only have 1/8 effect on your overall speed. Use the Center line when you can! NOW YOU’VE GOT NOTHING TO LOOSE SO OPEN’R UP – FULL UP, PLUGS OUT, NO RESERVATIONS.
23) Arriving at the finish, sprinting will probably do no good at all. That is, unless you and some other cyclist have posted nearly exact times. If you are able to sprint to the finish line, it is a fact, that you left too much effort over the course now behind you.
24) When you pass the line, pedal through, and soft-pedal for a few moments. YOU’VE DONE IT. You have placed yourself under an official clock, and you’ve ridden eight miles. Your time does not matter. What matters is that your had the emotional strength first, then the physical strength to put yourself through what, just moments earlier, seemed like insane pain.
25) Remember, and this is very important: Unless you are the fastest time, nobody will even know what your time was! So if you believe that you’d make a fool of yourself by posting a time, you need to find another excuse!
26) Do every Barnsburg Event that you can. That way you can gage your progress and your fitness. You will also develop your own strategies that may differ from mine.
END OF THE RACE
Be sure to hang around for a few minutes to share you experience with other club members. Tell them about how you rode the course… your strength’s and your difficulties. There is something very special about speaking about an experience. It quickens our learning.
Try not to gloat about your quickness, or pout about your disappointment. Either of these will prevent you from either learning from everyone else who just did what you did, or teaching them something. TRUST ME HERE! Every rider who does the course for time has something to learn, always… and something to teach, always. Your fellows want to hear about your experience, and that also want to tell. You may hear something in the aftermath that you didn’t think of – you may also say something that somebody else didn’t think of. Don’t deprive yourself or the rest of us by feeling above or below anybody else who rode.
Be proud of yourself for putting yourself under an official clock. That is not an easy thing to do. The founders of this event designed it to aid in personal growth. Each and every person who posts a time is important to our club and our team. Not because we have more data to report, but because you represent another cyclist who feels physically, and emotionally strong enough to “benchmark” yourself.
Please join us in the 2011 Barnsburg Time Trial Series! We will conduct an event about once every month. START NOW, so you can monitor your fitness!
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