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…

Warren Muir	Top Gear		27' 18”	12	p.b.
Don Gillmore	MIVA	M	27' 29”	10
David Strasser	Russ Hays/Accent Inns	M	27' 56”	9
Emile de Rosnay	Russ Hays/Accent Inns	M	28' 00”	8
Matt Allardyce	MIVA	M	32' 00”	7
Janna Gillick	MIVA	F	32' 47”	12
Adam McConnell	MIVA	M	34' 00”	6
Jason Hare	MIVA	M	34' 29”	5
Corey Friesen	HCTC/MIVA	M	34' 57”	4	p.b.
Kirby Villeneuve	MIVA	M	35' 05”	3	p.b.
Katy Condon	MIVA	F	35' 10”	10	p.b.
Patrick Burnham	MIVA	M	35' 26”	2
Lorrie Baildham	MIVA	F	35' 28”	9
Colleen Weorek	MIVA	F	40' 36”	8
Abigail Hare	MIVA	YF	46' 50”	12	p.b.
Aiden Hare	MIVA	YM	53' 28”	12	p.b.

MIVA 20km individual time trial, Nanaimo River Road. 120809 Temp.:25 C., sunny, Wind: gentle breeze.

Another fast evening with a number of the participants posting personal best times. The top four riders were all very fast only forty-two seconds separating them.

Then there was a four minute gap until the next fastest but this gap will doubtless get smaller as more riders start to train specifically for time trialling.

Top woman was Janna Gillick, with a sub thirty-three minute ride, just over half a minute outside her best time, placing fifth overall. It was great to see two youth riders – Abigail and Aiden Hare – do their first twenty kilometre t.t., both posting respectable times for their ages.

Thanks to Simon Kubacki for doing a great job as holder, and to the Gilmore kids for counting down to each start in both English and French (adds that Europe flavour)

Next week is a twenty km. Two person team time trial. I suspect that the first two teams may both break twenty-six minutes so come out and cheer everyone on.

We'll be starting out at the Tim Horton's in Chase River on Monday night. The ride will start with a bit of a climb out to White Rapids Road, but the remainder of the ride will be flat with a few rollers as we head out towards Cassidy. Arrive a few minutes early. Ride departs at 6:30PM sharp. No drop format but ride will be >30km. Everyone prepared for that distance welcome. http://goo.gl/maps/poNMO

Looking at the criterium series stats. (to August 7th.), some significant facts should be noted re. the different categories CRITERIUMS

Youth:

15 riders total of whom 10 are boys and 5 are girls. Best turnout 11.

Seniors:

45 riders total of whom 42 are men and 3 are women. Best turnout 21 (20 men and 1 woman

TIME TRIALS

Youth:

5 total (3 boys, 2 girls). Best turnout 5

Seniors:

44 total (30 men, 14 women). Best turnout 15 on 2 occasions (5 women, 10 men)

The time trials have a higher average attendance, especially for the women, with about one third of the total riders for the series. The criteriums have a base of about 12 riders, with one fifth of the total series riders competing regularly. This figure is helped by the high percentage of youth riders coming to race, even though the majority are from the Courtenay/Comox area.

The new venue at Arbutus Meadows Equestrian Centre already shows signs of attracting more participants (and is a lot easier to set up!). The addition of a variety of track style events should attract even more riders. Look out in the near future for points criteriums, elimination races and flying laps.