 |
 |
 |
Club Sections - Time Trialing
Time
Trailing is a long established cycling discipline, as the name suggests
it is a race against the clock for either solo riders or riders competing
together as a team, this could be in the form of a "2 up" were
a pair of riders race together, or "3 up" or "4 up"
were riders race in teams of three or four respectively. The minimum distance
is generally 10 miles but shorter races are permitted in certain circumstances.
Most races are of fixed distances namely; 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles, but
you can have fixed times of 12 hours or 24 hours (the object here is to
ride as far as possible in the allotted time).
For
solo time trials, the rider must cover the distance unaided by any other
rider or vehicle, when a rider is overtaken by another rider, then the
regulations require the overtaken rider, to fall back to a distance were
no shelter can be obtained from the faster rider.
For
team time trials, riders are allowed by the very nature of the event,
to seek shelter from the wind by "drafting", this is a term
used when riders follow each other leaving only 2 or 3 inches between
front and back wheels. But like solo they must not gain assistance from
any vehicle.
Taking part in Solo Time Trials is an excellent way of starting cycle racing, by the very nature,of an individual racing against the clock it makes it a personal "race of truth", a race whereby a rider can "benchmark" their progress through the racing season by recording personal bests times, this gives the rider a goal to try to break a personal best time, and in doing so can chart the progress made from the time and effort of training. My first year back in cycling consisted mainly of time trailing, I saw my time for a 25 mile drop from 1hr 26mins to 1hr 8mins, and my 10 mile drop from 30mins to 25mins.Throughout the season I was encouraged by turning out personal best times at nearly every ride, overall performance for the year had seen a 20% improvement on times. By John Cawley
