DOWNHILL AND UPHILL/HEADWIND PACING IN TIME TRIALS

Here's an interesting article  by Tracy Matteson, reproduced from mycyclingpower.com. We all know that feeling…. you are grinding into your TT, and the course goes straight into the wind. Up ahead in a few miles you are going to turn around and come right back. So how should you pace yourself? Will you blow up if you go too hard? How should you divide your effort up?

Is it possible to apply the same amount of power into the pedals on the downhill (tailwind) as the uphill? Will I make back the time I’m losing on the headwind (uphill)?

First of all, let’s start with some facts: a. In a tailwind, it’s very difficult to produce watts at your FTP (Functional Threshold of Power). This is because you generally will be spinning your gears out. b. Headwinds or hills tend to cause riders to ride above their FTP. This forces them to ‘recover’ on the downhill – especially if they blow up. What we need with our nifty power meters is a rule of thumb for how much over our FTP we can go during the hill/wind.

Here are some things to try: a. For a hill that is less than 1 minute long and very steep, you can pedal much harder than a hill that is 5 minutes long and more gradual. A longer hill will take more time to recover from while quick hills will allow for a quick recovery. For a 1-minute hill, don’t be afraid to go to 120-130% of your FTP. b. When you hit a hill that will take longer than 3 minutes, because you are riding at your FTP, you will probably be at your absolute limit. Be careful not to ride more than 5 to 10 percent more than your FTP. A good rule of thumb for hills/headwind would be to pace yourself at 105-110% of your FTP. c. On the downhill where you are spinning and going very fast, even the best riders are typically only able to generate 90-95% of their FTP during this portion. This means you really need to focus on keeping turnover high (something to prepare for in training) while keeping your watts as close as possible to your FTP. If you have not overextended yourself on the headwind/uphill, you should be able to get back up to your FTP as you turn around very quickly. This is a portion where races are lost. d. If the downhill is so steep that you won’t be able to get any power into your pedals (you are spinning out), consider upping the percentage even a little more on the climb/headwind. If the hill is longer than 3-mintes, I’d think about getting up to around 120% of your FTP, full well knowing you will be recovering on the downhill.

Here’s is a great quote from Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan, “On the headwind section of the course, the rider with 340 watts can ride at 22mph for the entire 20km, and the rider with the 320 watts averages only 20.5 mph for the same section. This give the rider with 340 watts at FTP a 194 second advantage on that portion of the course. This shows that, all other things being equal, the time trial could be won in the headwind”

There you have it. The mentality of the winning rider while going into a hill or wind will be “This is my chance to gain time on my competition” – not “I just need to get to the downhill/tailwind so I can pick up my speed”. Remember. It’s all relative. It may feel slow in certain portions of the course, but everyone has the same conditions…