Have you ever wondered which bike is faster, road or TT and if so by how much?
Now normally this is an obvious answer and 99% of the time it would be the TT bike however if the course is hilly and technical then this may not be the case.
12 hour time trial
I am competing in a 12 hour time trial this weekend and although the majority of the ride is on a fast flat route it ends with a 12 mile finishing circuit. You complete this as many times as necessary until your time is up. There are time keepers every mile so they know exactly how far you have completed. The clock obviously does not stop but you can change bikes or wheels as you see fit.
The route itself is a little twisty with some up’s and downs. So ahead of the event I wanted to know which bike was faster to aid my decision on the day depending on my level of comfort.
The test
So the idea was to ride at the same power on each bike for an entire loop and time how long it takes. Anybody who rides with power will know this is easier said than done! I went for around 210 watts which is around my endurance zone.
The Results
Road Bike – 38 minutes 13 seconds with power of 219 watts
TT bike – 37 minutes 22 seconds with power of 214 watts
So overall the TT bike was 51 seconds faster for 5 watts less power.
More in depth data
I am just getting started with Training Peaks WKO5 so not all my old data is accurate but I am loving the new smart segment feature and ilevels! For any data geeks out there check out the charts below
