Getting ready for the ahem "flattish" TT at Trento

As the flattest continent on the globe, we Australians are at odds with Europeans when using the words "undulating", "flat", "hilly", "mountainous".  So when the organisors of the World Masters  TT Championships in Italy declared they had managed to find a flattish TT course our understanding here in Oz was ...well.... different from theirs.

On checking out the course on www.mapmyride.com and other similar websites the truth became evident....the course was flattish for a coupla kms only alongside the lake.   As I have previously discovered ..if a whole race profile indicates 8-10% max, in truth it will be waaaaaay more than that in places and is in fact up to 20% or  so mapmyride tells me.

It was at this point I decided it would be a very good idea to drop quite a few kilos in order to improve my strength /weight ratio and also try to find a road that is at a 20% gradient  to get used to that steepness.

However it wasn't until I was watching a video  of a mountain TT, where all the pro racers were using standard road bikes with TT extensions that I decided to do the same. A light bulb shone brightly in my brain with 2 phrases brightly illuminated.... "bike weight" for the uphill heave at the north end of the course  and "bike handling" for the steep downhill hairpin bends at the south end. The thought of travelling with only 1 bike was also very attractive.

Having made that decision, the next thing was to decide how to make it work and after lots of  decision making and breaking this is what has transpired:

1 frame, 2 complete set ups of:

• bars complete with levers and cables  
• seat/seatpost combo 
• another set of light weight wheels with standard size rims ..still being created by TWE

Of course, I could have just attached extension to my bars but then every gear shift would involve a change of postion from aero to non aero and I do  alot of gear changing even on a flat course.

I've tried the set up on the ergo,  will get out on the road today but the real test will be on Sunday  at the Kew Boulie TT.  More on that next post.