TT Basics

I have sucked at TT efforts this year.  It's mainly becuase I haven't trained much on the TT bike (funny how that correlation works out).

Here is a nice summary of an old-school, non-technical method of setting up and training for TTs.  I stole the Andy Coggan quote from Stuart Lynn's blog.

If my goal were to set myself up in an aero position with minimal drag and I didn't have access to a wind tunnel, I'd just drop the elbow pads far enough down below the saddle that my shoulders (acromion process) were within a couple of inches of being level with my hips (head of greater trochanter), move the elbow pads in to where my arms were as narrow or perhaps narrower than my thighs when viewed from the front, tilt the aero bars up ever-so-slightly, and keep my head down. I'd then go out and ride the bike - hard - in that position and see how far foward (and thus up) I needed to move the saddle to where my thigh-torso angle was similar to the "working position" on my road bike. I'd then ride the TT bike for at least one hour - hard! - each week for at least 6 weeks before any race. Sounds crude, I know, but for a flat TT this neandrathal approach will probably get you to within about 1 km/h of your maximal speed.

Since we're talking old school, here are a few shots from my triathlon days in the early '00s: