TTT Rules for Friday
About the event
Although we are calling this a TTT, it's really more of a hybrid between a TTT and a Hare and Hounds event. A pure TTT would just see each team head off at 1 minute intervals and ride as fast as they can. We've put in 3 minute gaps to add a chase element and if it all works out perfectly (it won't), then all teams will be close together as we near the line. Hopefully, that will add something that's both competitive and social to the event.
Registering for the event
@bridgy will be sending out the Meet Up invite for 19:00 this Friday - 15 May at 19.00. Accept the invite as normal and you're in.
Join the Meet Up as normal. The teams are colour coded in my table and
@kipster has set up 4 new Discord channels for us to use. Thanks Paul. More about Discord below.
Teams are as follows:
- Yellow is the A/B group
- Red is the B group
- Green is the C group
- Blue is the D group
Even though this is a TTT, we'll all be riding normal road bikes. TT bikes don't work in TTT events as they don't allow drafting and therefore the team can't work together.
I've not checked the Zwift garage, but it would clearly be good if each team could wear the same colour jerseys, especially if there are Yellow, Red, Green and Blue jerseys.
Starting the event
After we've joined the Meet Up, the countdown to 19.00 will continue as normal. Then we start to ride as follows:
- At 19.00 the D group start riding and leave the Meet Up start point
- At 19.03 the C group start riding
- At 19.06 the B group start riding
- At 19.09 the A/B group start riding
Don't forget to stop pedalling if you're in the C, B and A/B groups at least 15 seconds before the 19.00 Meet Up start time, otherwise you'll roll off at 19.00, make a false start and screw up your finishing time on Strava. If you want to keep pedalling to stay warm, then go to the pairing screen on Zwift. You can do this by using the A key on a laptop. On an Apple TV select Menu and then the pairing screen. You can now happily pedal away without your avatar moving. It's best to do this after 19.00, so that you can set any timer you are using to count down to your team's start time.
Don't forget to give yourself enough time to stop pedalling before leaving the pairing screen to make sure your avatar remains stationary and then exit the pairing screen to return to the Meet Up start point.
There are 2 ways each team can ensure they all leave together at their start time:
Either, use the way my TTT team does it in the WTRL event. Nominate one of your team as the Captain. The Captain uses a stopwatch or mobile phone timer to count down to their group's start time. They give a 30 second warning, then count down from 10 seconds and then shout Go (as many times as you want!) when their timer reaches zero. Obviously, for this to work you all need to be on Discord.
Or, each rider sets their own timer and watches the Zwift screen and all riders try to leave at the correct time with the rest of their team mates.
If everyone doesn't have Discord access. we will have to use a combination of the above methods.
Racing
Once a team is on the road, the idea is to try and keep the team together for as long as possible. The simple reason for this is that the team will move faster as a group of say 6, than a group of 3. This is actually part of the challenge and fun, as it requires the faster riders to help the slower riders and challenges the slower riders to push harder to stay with the team. Again, using Discord to communicate and keeping a watch on where your teammates are is part of the challenge and fun!
When one team catches another team, the slower team should not try to tag on to the faster team and draft them. They should allow them to pass and allow them to gain a small gap to allow both teams to keep riding as separate teams. Likewise, if a rider gets dropped by the faster team as they pass the slower team, that rider should not try to stay in the slower team and draft them. They should back off enough to let the slower team move ahead of them. This latter problem can happen if you don't pass with enough power and get caught in the 'sticky draft' of the slower team.
During the race, it's likely there will be points where individual riders may be struggling to stay with their team. Teams will then have to decide whether to pace a rider back on to their group, or whether to ride on as a smaller group and let the struggling rider go. This is normal for a TTT event and again its easier on Discord to agree what to do, rather than trying to bash out "Please go on. I'm dying" on your keyboard whilst the struggling rider is, er....... dying! Apart from having Discord, it's a little easier if you have a Captain to make that call rather than trying to organise a real time vote via your keyboard!
By this process, you may arrive near the finish line with less than your full team intact. Remember, it's the time of the 3rd rider across the line that decides the finishing order of the teams, so it's not wise to arrive at the line with less than 3 riders in the lead group of any team.
Finishing positions
We'll have to use a Strava segment to decide the finishing times for individual rider times and team positions, where the team position is based on the time of the 3rd rider across the line. I think this segment will work having ridden this course last Saturday. The segment name is Figure 8 (Zwift Insider verified):
https://www.strava.com/segments/12118421?filter=overall
I could gather the data and publish the individual rider times and team finishing times and positions, or maybe our master statistician
@peterob would be happy to do his usual excellent job? Thanks if you're willing to do this Pete, but if you don't think you'll have the time, just say and I'll collect the data and publish. Of course, it will help if each rider posts their finishing time up here at the end.
Discord
@kipster has set up 4 new Discord channels for us, following the Yellow, Red, Green and Blue team colours.
Each team can log on to their own colour channel, and use Discord to coordinate their departure time and tactics during the race.
One small piece of advice, which I've found more important during a TTT. Either keep the volume of any music you're listening to low or turn it off during the TTT. I've been using bluetooth earphones. They're good and I can hear and talk to the rest of my team, but they don't do a great job of cancelling background noise. In the end, I decided that knowing what my team was doing was a bit more important to me than sharing my Spotify playlist with them.
Latest table is below. Give me a shout if anything is unclear, or you have any questions.
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