Why do I time trial?

Every time I finish a time trial, I ask myself this question. Time trials are a form of self torture. But it feels really good when it is over. But then, so does any form of self flagellation. Oh my god, I hope these words don't attract the wrong sort. Anyway, this is not the reason I time trial. That would be lame. I once knew a guy who became a bit of a cyclist who always said the best part about riding was getting off the bike. Kind of funny but not a ringing endorsement for cycling. I want to improve of course. There is always that hunger to do better. But there is another benefit. Although time trails are painful, I look at them as a mental challenge. TTs are a test of your fitness level; but beyond that, they test you mentally. It would be oh so easy to quit. To just stop pedalling and the pain would be over. So the challenge is to keep going to the finish line, keep going as hard as you can go. Push, push. Step on it. Keep going. Ah! Get mad, win the battle, cause you ain't gonna win the race. That's it, that's all.

People say to me, "you gotta do them every week, you have to do more, that way, you will be guaranteed not to miss a 'good night'". And you get used to the suffering. You get to the know the course. All good, valid reasons. But I have good, valid reasons for only doing them the few times I do. A couple in June, none in July because we're away on vacation - getting fitter - and then all of August except maybe before going to Lake Placid. Then a couple in September until they wrap up. That's what I can do and that's what I do do. Not likely to change.

Oh yeah, and for those who say TTs are fun. They're lying. Sure, it's fun to go fast but it hurts. So there is a element of fun riding down the road by yourself, maybe chasing someone, maybe getting away from someone behind you, at full speed on a fine summer evening. But I think it pretty much hurts everyone, regardless of how fast they go. Some get to go alot faster for their suffering, so the payoff, including their time, is bigger. Again, I get why the fast people do it. This brings me to team TTs. In a team TT you get to go a lot faster than you would alone, and you get to rest a little. So team TTs are more fun than ITTs. However, if you do them behind a faster person, and just try to hang on for dear life, without rotating, the level of suffering is the same, but you do get to go faster and you get to have a better finish time than if you rode it alone.

That's the skinny on why I TT, alone and behind a faster rider.