2019 Cruzbike Summer Time Trial Challenge

I plan on doing a rolling start and would advise everyone to do the same. If you try and roll up to the start of your segment Strava may think that you have started it if you get to close to where it starts. I have had this happen to me on a segment someone created that I wanted to take. they started it on the front side of a stop light and if you got stopped at the light then the first 30 to 60 seconds were standing still. Figuring that out after that ride I slowed up a block before so I could time the light at full speed and took it. Tonight is the first night that it has not been raining when I get off so hopefully I can get it in tonight. As for the doing this on the same bike I do plan to do every week on the Vendetta and then after the final week I will take the nocom out and see if I can smash my PB.

I do have a new question that I don't think has been asked yet. If it has been addressed I apologize. What happens if the state decides to close a portion of my route (hypothetical). Would we be able to get special permission to change the route. I ask because a few years ago a half mile of my planned route was completely torn out and repaved. they are currently ding that to another road in the area which changes the route that I was going to take to get to my segment. Just thought I would ask.
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
same here, I'll miss at least a week whilst riding around the inner hebrides,
We'll all probably miss at least one week. I will be in France for almost 2 weeks at the Worlds there, and will at least miss one week.
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Hi All,
We are off to a great start of this years Cruzbike Summer TT Challenge.
Right now I have had 18 people say they will participate and already have 10 results for the 1st week. I know we have at least one person from UK participating, maybe more. We also have 25+ members from the Outerbanks Cycling club who will be joining us and submitting their 12-Mile TT rides in the mix. The have been doing their own "live" version of this Challenge now for about 5 years and this it what I patterned our Challenge after - They let me participate remotely by submitting my ride to them, then I will go there for their "final". They actually do it for 25 weeks and have been going since May 2. They got rained out this week, so I probably will not get any rides from them this 1st week, but expect them to be regulars in our group after that.

There is still time to "join" the challenge. All you need to do is pick and ride a 12-Mile TT before end of the day on Sunday. See the beginning of the thread for the "rules". Even if you miss the 1st week you can still participate as there are 14 more weeks to go, and most of us will miss at least 1 week in the summer due to vacation.

Thanks and look forward to a lot of fun and seeing everyone improving in their TT skills as the summer goes by!

Feel free to share this Challenge with anyone: Here is the link to the thread on the Cruzbike forum: https://forum.cruzbike.com/threads/2019-cruzbike-summer-time-trial-challenge.12929/
Email me with results or questions: larryoslund@gmail.com

Be safe - have fun!
Larry
 

Bill Wightman

Well-Known Member
Actually, I have become quite good at it. It's the unclicking that is a bug bear. But that is the same with all my bikes whether I'm using SPD's or Looks.
I just put some new replacement Speedplay Zero cleats on my shoes and have the same unclicking problem at the moment. I must have clicked in and out 100 times last night trying to find the magic combination. A normal high load panic mode does not seem to work, I have to sit up, pull on foot, and rotate to reliably get the foot out of the pedal. I think another 25-50 times and it will be reliable muscle memory. I just put on a more leg-restrictive handlebar last night and did a low-speed dinosaur crash starting out while starting in a turn. Would not have been so frustrating if I could have got a foot out in time to catch the fall. A little road rash memory keeps me alert. Made hamburger meat out of my right rubber brake cover again. It is held together with CA and electricians tape. Should get a new cover.
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Here are the results after the 1st week. If I can count, there are 20 of us right now - What a diverse group of riders! Just a little disappointed there are no women in the mix yet!
The group of 25+ from Washington, NC (and they have a good deal of women riders - maybe 10) who are joining us got rained out this last week, but 2 of them went ahead and rode their Segment later, so next week we should have over 40+ riders in all!
We are of course all tied up at 1 point a piece since that is what everyone gets their first week since no data to rank everyone, and now we each have our Personal Best to try and beat this week. The real fun starts now!
Mike Mowett wins the 1st week with the "fastest time", but unfortunately, all that gets him is 1 point like the rest of us! Great job Mike!
The real fun starts now! - If you haven't joined yet, it is still not too late - everyone will probably miss at least 1 week over the course of this 15 week Challenge.

2019 Cruzbike Sumnmer TT - Week 1 results.png
 
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I'm in danger of not getting out this week as well, massively behind on a work deliverable to a government timeline, and I'm firefighting to help others out at the moment.

I'm hoping some semblance of order is restored by Friday.
 

McWheels

Off the long run
I've given it a go and there's no flat here. Strava's caught up with what I told it, so we're good. I couldn't put Bathford hill in that route, it's just too grim when you're this mediocre.
 

NeaL

Guru
I like how the participant with the fastest time is right next to me on the list.

My 2nd TT last night was improved, at least. I replaced the left Zefal Spy mirror on my S40 with the B&M CycleStar that was on my Sofrider.
Both are good mirrors but the positioning of the handlebars on my S40 means that the Zefal is seeing too much of my shoulder. I need something higher if mounted on my bar.
That gave me a lot more confidence in taking the lane instead of riding in the grass and on the rumble strips as much as I did the first time. I managed to completely stay out of the grass yesterday.
Good thing I had that mirror, too because I noticed a truck coming up behind me wasn’t moving to the left lane, nor slowing down. He was actually coming right at me. I moved to the shoulder and missed being hit by him.
It was a long enough of a straightaway for me to see that he was wandering all over the place. He was driving a little slower than most other traffic and a couple cars seemed to be trailing him as if they were too afraid to try and pass him. Effectively, that mirror swap probably spared me from a serious accident.

Let’s all be safe out there.
 
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LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Here are the week #2 results:
We had a total of 32 riders this week (12 new) - and 35 participants - so 3 people did not ride or did not submit rides to me.
13 people had PR's from last week. Congrats to everyone.
Neal Brooks wins top honors for beating his PR by a total of 574 seconds! Wow - see if you can do that again for week #3!
Have fun everyone and be safe - Maybe Jim & Maria will join us now that they are back from their touring vacation


Cruzbike TT week #2 results.png
 

Osiris

Zen MBB Master
Wow, I hadn't even seen this thread until now. It so happens that I've been using a 12 mile Strava segment on a local bike trail to gauge my own performance. My first KOM on it was 28.30 minutes. Several weeks later I improved that to 26.44 minutes. Did I win? :p
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Wow, I hadn't even seen this thread until now. It so happens that I've been using a 12 mile Strava segment on a local bike trail to gauge my own performance. My first KOM on it was 28.30 minutes. Several weeks later I improved that to 26.44 minutes. Did I win? :p
Send me your ride from last week and stick it into the challenge and ride it each week. We have 13 more weeks (including this week) left in the challenge.
 

NeaL

Guru
I got my 3rd Time Trial done last night.
New Time Trial Ride, new misadventure. A little something happens each time. I might just turn out to be an experienced cyclist someday after all, if I manage to live that long.
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
I got my 3rd Time Trial done last night.
New Time Trial Ride, new misadventure. A little something happens each time. I might just turn out to be an experienced cyclist someday after all, if I manage to live that long.
Neal - It would be helpful if you would send your results directly to my email: larry0slund@gmail.com - Thanks
 

Chris H

New Member
Here are the week #2 results:

Neal Brooks wins top honors for beating his PR by a total of 574 seconds! Wow - see if you can do that again for week #3!

If Neal can maintain that rate of improvement then by the end of week #7 he'll be riding negative minutes and his bike will have turned into a time machine!!
 
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NeaL

Guru
If Neal can maintain that rate of improvement then by the end of week #7 he'll be riding negative minutes and his bike will have turned into a time machine!!

Ha! Beginner's luck.

That first time was a fresh-off-the-couch ride. After 12 miles I was ready to die.
My two Zefal mirrors were seeing too much of my shoulders, I swapped one out with a B&M Cyclestar mirror so I could see directly behind myself more clearly to watch traffic coming up behind me.
This allowed me to be out on the road more during the 2nd time, instead of rattling across the rumble strips along the shoulder, or wandering completely off the asphalt and into the grass.
Before the 2nd TT ride, I also put in 6 miles going around a running track trying to focus on keeping it straight instead of wandering so much to the left & right.

The 3rd TT ride took off a little more than a minute from the 2nd one. I weigh over 300lbs so I'll be surprised when I get that 12 miles in less than an hour.
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Week #3 Results:
We only had 15 people submit rides this past week. Possibly because of July 4th Holiday. I know I had to sneak a ride in early Sunday morning because I had been at the beach all week.
Great results from those that did ride.
12 PB's out of 15 riders!
Robert Onishi had the greatest improvement with 177 seconds off his PB.
Welcome new rider David Sommerfield.
Neal Brooks still holds first place with 46.5 points.
Congrats everyone - look forward to week #4 rides!

Results sorted in order of total points through week #3 (updated)
2019 Cruzbike TT - week4.PNG
 
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Still some huge improvements going on there, well done all. I'm wondering when law of dimishing returns, or the 80:20 rule kick in

I'm curious, you're going with time differentials for your points, vs % improvement. I'd think that skews things towards those that start off with slower times, and make rapid improvement vs those that start faster, and improve relatively slower in time differential. It may all even out towards the end, who knows.
 
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