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Rain And Time Trial Bikes Just Don't Mix
- By Jodie Batchelor
- Published 14-Aug-08
- Time Trialing
- Unrated
Jodie Batchelor
Jodie is the current Victorian Vets Criterium and Road champion in her age group. She has been racing for several years now and likes any event that involves sprinting and not too many hills. She initially used cycling as an important part of her rehabilitation from a mountaineering accident in New Zealand. She then got into racing as a replacement for martial arts in which she represented Australia and won Gold, Silver & Bronze medals in the Martial Arts World Games in 2000.
View all articles by Jodie Batchelor
I came across a great article on time trials in the rain by Chris Carmichael and thought I'd pass along and comment on his great insights.
To maximize power output, riders have as much leg extension as possible. On a Time Trial bike, this means a high saddle position. But it's also important to have a reasonably large hip angle, which can be challenging to achieve when your upper body is low over the front of the machine to reduce aerodynamic drag. As a result, you have to move a rider's hips forward in relation the bike's bottom bracket (where the crank attaches).
Between optimizing the position of a rider's hips to generate more power, and bringing the arms forward and close together on a set of aerobars, you're also moving the riders weight toward the front of the bike. A high centre of gravity located closer to the front of a bicycle makes time trial bikes more difficult to steer and particularly corner than a conventional road bike, and that problem is compounded by wet roads.
You might think that getting out of an aero position and riding with your hands on the outsides of the handlebars would be helpful for staying in control, and to a point that's correct. But time trial bikes have become so specialised that they are really designed to handle best when the rider is in an aerodynamic tuck. When you're riding more upright to have access to the brakes, your hands are far closer to your body than they normally are on your road bike, and this makes for skittish steering.
The standard setup for a time trial also calls for very high tyre pressure to minimise the amount of rubber in contact with the road, and hence reduce rolling resistance. But when it's raining, having more rubber on the road increases traction in corners. For a long time trial in the rain, you have to try and find the right balance between traction in the corners and rolling resistance for the long straightaways; and if you get it wrong you can have a hard time keeping the bike upright.
If there's any upside to crashing in the rain, it's that the same water that reduced traction for your tyres also reduces friction when you hit the pavement. As a result, you slide over the road more easily and tend to lose less skin. But you still lose time, and that is what's critical in a race against the clock.
When riding a time trail in the rain a rider needs to decide whether to push the pace and take the risk or Ride a little more cautiously on the wet roads and risk losing a little time. It is best to know the circuit so hat you can be cautious through the more dangerous parts of the course and put down the power on the safer, straighter portions.
I would like to thank Chris Carmichael for permission to publish information sourced from here.
To maximize power output, riders have as much leg extension as possible. On a Time Trial bike, this means a high saddle position. But it's also important to have a reasonably large hip angle, which can be challenging to achieve when your upper body is low over the front of the machine to reduce aerodynamic drag. As a result, you have to move a rider's hips forward in relation the bike's bottom bracket (where the crank attaches).
Between optimizing the position of a rider's hips to generate more power, and bringing the arms forward and close together on a set of aerobars, you're also moving the riders weight toward the front of the bike. A high centre of gravity located closer to the front of a bicycle makes time trial bikes more difficult to steer and particularly corner than a conventional road bike, and that problem is compounded by wet roads.
You might think that getting out of an aero position and riding with your hands on the outsides of the handlebars would be helpful for staying in control, and to a point that's correct. But time trial bikes have become so specialised that they are really designed to handle best when the rider is in an aerodynamic tuck. When you're riding more upright to have access to the brakes, your hands are far closer to your body than they normally are on your road bike, and this makes for skittish steering.
The standard setup for a time trial also calls for very high tyre pressure to minimise the amount of rubber in contact with the road, and hence reduce rolling resistance. But when it's raining, having more rubber on the road increases traction in corners. For a long time trial in the rain, you have to try and find the right balance between traction in the corners and rolling resistance for the long straightaways; and if you get it wrong you can have a hard time keeping the bike upright.
If there's any upside to crashing in the rain, it's that the same water that reduced traction for your tyres also reduces friction when you hit the pavement. As a result, you slide over the road more easily and tend to lose less skin. But you still lose time, and that is what's critical in a race against the clock.
When riding a time trail in the rain a rider needs to decide whether to push the pace and take the risk or Ride a little more cautiously on the wet roads and risk losing a little time. It is best to know the circuit so hat you can be cautious through the more dangerous parts of the course and put down the power on the safer, straighter portions.
I would like to thank Chris Carmichael for permission to publish information sourced from here.
