Not as difficult as normal for a TT

April 10, 2003 CClinton

Not as difficult is probably not the way to describe today’s TTs, but TTs in general are hard to describe anyway. Most team mechanics don’t care for TTs. We discuss it incessantly. It requires an enormous amount of equipment, and enormous amount of time for such a short amount of time/distance of the race itself. Not to mention if the course is not a typical flat TT. In a flat TT, the equipment choice is easy. Fast and aero bike with fast and aero wheels. In a hilly TT it gets really crazy. Riders discuss with each of their teammates and even with riders on other teams what to use. Do they use a TT bike with fast wheels (disc wheels, etc.), a TT bike with light wheels (non aero but light). a Road bike with fast wheels, or a road bike with light wheels? Lucky for me my riders easily chose their T T bike with normal fast/aero wheels.
Today’s TT was about 19 kilometers. The winner clocked in with a time of about 26 minutes and change. Compared to a 100 mile road race, a TT like today’s could take almost twice the time in terms of work on the bikes. But, it would only take 1/4th or 1/5th the time spent on the bike (including time for riders to warm up).
The directions to the TT stage were a little off. OK they were a lot off. I normally like to arrive about 30 to 45 minutes before our first rider wants to warm up. I like to get things like trainers set wheels out and a few minutes to relax before they arrive. But, due to the bad directions we ended up just barely getting there before our riders did. Eric, Dave, Paula and I tried to get things set up as fast as possible without looking like we were panicking. The TT requires a lot of mental focus from the riders on this particular aspect of the race so I try to make their stage go as smooth as possible. I try NOT to be stressed. They can sense stress and that takes something away from their job.
With the exception of getting to the TT stage with little time to set up, it went pretty darn smooth in my books. For sure it was not as difficult as it normally is for a TT.