Last year cycling lost one of its iconic figures. Laurent Fignon is remembered for many things including the blond pony tail, the big glasses and the sweat band that made him look like a dancer from Olivia Newton John's single let's get physical. The last two things you may remember him for can test to see if you are an optimist or a pessimist. Do you remember him as the man who lost the tour of France to Greg LeMond by eight seconds (pessimist) or the man who won the tour twice (optimist). He was one of the few people to win the Tour at his first attempt beating Bernard Hinault. However you remember him you will remember how exciting he made cycle racing. He also took back to back wins in 1988 and 1989 in the Milan St Remo classic amongst many others. His defeat to LeMond is seen by many as the greatest tour ever. Fignon began the final 25km time trial with a 50 second lead but, unfortunately, a sore on his backside as well that made him suffer. LeMond used a radical new set of triathlon bars that gave him a 1 second per kilometre advantage. The rest is history. Interestingly though the bars were illegal and banned in other races though Fignon never complained or appealed. Fignon went on to other races but found the battle against EPO to much to compete against and retired. He remained involved in the sport for many years as a race organiser and commentator until his untimely death of cancer. His nickname in cycling was 'the professor'. Not because he had a PhD but because he thought about studying for a degree! How times have changed and now many cyclists are involved in the science of the sport. Thanks Laurent for the memories.
So why the professor link? Late last year I blogged about a new lady in my life 'Trinity'. A giant time trialling bike. I also said I would test the bike to see if it was worth while. Why the link to Fignon? Well I tried to test the bike in laboratory conditions hence me as the professor and I bought my first set of tri bars after watching Fignon lose the Tour. The difference with those bars was they were just that. Bars, the gears and everything else remained the same. I love time trialling. Known as 'the race of truth' it is you against the clock. Even if you lose you get a result. Fantastic. The time trial bikes of today are the 'bling' of the cycling world. Aerodynamic they push you into the optimal position for wind efficiency and pedal power.
I wanted to find out how much faster than a road bike they are. To do this, any professor will tell you test conditions have to be the same. I decided on a ten mile route and earlier in the week I went out on a windless day, completed a one mile warm up, 10 miles, and a one mile cool down. Today after a gentle ride yesterday I decided to try the Trinity for the first time. Same food before hand, same drink for the route, same time of day. Perfect? No.... the gods conspired against me. It was blowing a force four straight off the Irish sea and had just started to rain. I decided to go for it anyway.
Straight after the one mile warm up as the 10 began I hit a traffic jam that slowed me down for 750 meters. Then a straight road, and wow, I had a wry smile on my face after yesterdays blog - when did the bike become too fast? This bike is fast. It has a 53 ring on the front and off it went hovering around the 30mph mark with no extra effort (I thought). I soon realised the bike was carrying me away with it and I loved it.
Don't get me wrong, there were problems. The bike is more twitchy due to the narrow handle bars designed to round your shoulders. The gears are difficult to get used to being so far away. This left me powering up hills in the 53 when I should have dropped a ring. I also found it difficult to reach the drink from the tuck position. Also it is difficult to use the bars to power up hills with the narrow width. I only used the tri bars twice. I want to get used to the bike a bit more first. The end result of all this was I ran out of energy round about the 9 mile point and slowed down, My average for the second half was 3mph less than the first half, something that didn't happen on the road bike.
Overall though I have to say this was so much fun I am hooked and can't wait to go out again, consider this force 4, rain, traffic jam, first go on the bike and the mistakes made, I dropped a whopping 59 seconds off my ride earlier in the week, nearly a full minute faster. I would expect to get that to at least two minutes when I work out how to ride the bike properly. They are pure speed. There is no sitting up on the bars you are sculpted to fit the bike and achieve the fastest you can. Incredible. I'm going to read up about riding the bike, ask questions and build my skills on the machine. It is going to get better!
People often talk about things to do before we die. If you are a cyclist, whatever your age or experience you have to have a go of one. If like most cyclists you love to talk about your times you won't regret a time trial bike. So, to answer my earlier question 'when did bikes get too fast?' The answer, 'Today when I couldn't keep up with it!'
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