Time Trials | How To Achieve a Personal Best | Project 49 | Cycling Weekly

In 1978 the great Alf Engers became the first person to break 50 minutes for the 25-mile time trial. Fifty minutes is still an important yardstick, not least because it requires an average speed of over 30mph. | Subscribe to Cycling Weekly here: https://www.youtube.com/user/CyclingW...

Engers’s record lasted an impressive 12 years. These days, thanks to improved technology — principally, tri-bars and disc wheels — going sub-50 is within reach for well-equipped, ambitious amateurs. Could a mere mortal like me crack this once-hallowed benchmark?

I have always been drawn to the purity of the time trial. It captures my imagination; I love how it’s uniquely British, with its own quirky sub-culture. To the unacquainted observer, it is a ridiculous spectacle: people in Spandex onesies and silly helmets congregating like flash mobs outside village halls.

I will never be an elite cyclist. Alas, my biological inheritance did not include a heart the size of Shergar’s. Never mind. For me, time trialling is about measuring myself against my own parameters and willpower — doing the best I can do.

The question in my mind was this: using all the modern technology available to me — sports science, coaching and nutritional advice — could I, a non-elite cyclist, break the coveted 50-minute barrier? Could a modern donkey be whipped into shape to gallop like a Seventies racehorse? Could I go as fast as Engers?

When this question first entered my head, my 25-mile PB was 53:18, set on the R25/3H Wales course in decent conditions, equating to a power output of 275W. If I was to ride 25 miles in 49 minutes, I would need help with every aspect of my riding: fitness, nutrition, bike-fit, equipment and aerodynamics.

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