Tempo means time in Italian. Riding tempo means riding steadily, like a metronome. It is an important skill to have and since it’s Italian, it sounds cool. What it does not mean is riding at a constant speed, half-wheeling or killing it at the front. Riding at a constant speed is like having cruise control on in a car; the car seems to accelerate on the uphills and rides the brakes on the downhills. One would never purposefully drive a car or ride a bike like that. Riding tempo means riding at a constant effort, ticking over the pedals. Without getting back into the topic of power meters, riding at a steady wattage would be a good starting definition.
Tempo predates watts or heart rate or even the V-meter. If you are good at riding tempo, then you are good at keeping a group moving along as a group, eating up the road but not shelling riders on every hill the road offers up. Tempo implies some amount of pace. Riding piano is how every flat stage of the Giro d’Italia used to unfold. Riders would roll off the front to visit family waiting on the side of the road; riders would abscond with trays of pastries to be passed around the peloton. Then, with forty kilometers to go, the pace would accelerate endlessly until some Italian threw his arms up in victory. It was as predictable as today’s formula: break escapes, leader’s team rides tempo for a few hours, sprinter’s teams then ride hard tempo to catch break, and a field sprint ensues. I like the first formula a bit more. It is now a rarity for a rider to discuss his personal agenda with the Patron and then be allowed to ride solo off the front for a teary roadside reunion with mom, dad, family and cousins as the race passes through that rider’s village.
Riding tempo should be a sustainable effort. When your teammate asks you to go to the front and ride hard tempo, that is a different thing all together, or maybe not all together. Someone is going to get hurt now, most likely you, unless you have a few friends to share the work.
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@ChrisO
Actually, shoe covers are a controversial item. Apparently only very few models actually save any time, and quite a few even increase drag. The ones that tested faster than the baseline (read: no cover) were the smooth rubberized rain covers: Notably, Pearl Izumi's, which are hot as hell. A few other models broke even (or insignificant difference), while most "aero" covers actually made the rider slower. A cycling shoe is not a bad shape to start off with, especially in the case of wire-closure shoes.
A rule to live by: Aero is weird.
@tessar
Source? I'd like to read the article, if only to give me more ammo to mock people who show up to crits / club rides / sportives in shoe covers. FFS.
@tessar
This.
Read the book Faster, and realize no one knows anything. The author was wind tunnel tested by Simon Smart, and when he asked why something sped him up Smart replied that it was because that's what the wind said. He could look at it more... but that would cost thousands of dollars.
He also pointed out that many pros (esp. Sky) have stopped wind tunnel testing because CFD plus power meters plus real world riding is more accurate.
Shoe covers should be worn in two situations;
1. Cold weather to keep the tootsies warm
2. A time trial, where whatever the actual aero gains are, are compensated for by the psychological benefits of believing you are more aero.
@Fausto
I don't have a specific (single) source, but several people who operate testing facilities (A2, San Diego LSWT, Jim from ERO Sports and Andy from AlphaMantis) all said the same. For example. The AeroCamp (and 2.0, which was in a tunnel) also tested that.
@wiscot
The lower ventilation speeds up the time until you start dripping sweat from your chin, which looks pro as hell!
I hadn't realised how good our bunch was at riding tempo until there was a road safety initiative that started with a bunch ride. It was poorly attended and was populated by "easy" bunch riders, those of a more recreational nature. This guy ended up on the front and decided that the 28km/hr posted average needed to be the speed they sat on the entire ride. Result? Smacking it up hill and imploding the bunch every time, then riding the brakes down the other side whilst the bunch regrouped.
When I made it to the front I started riding tempo that the bunch could hold and boy did he get cranky when I would ride at his pace up the hills and rode away from him on the back side. I tried to explain what he was doing to the bunch (killing them!) and yes, by the end it was no longer a bunch ride but he didn't understand.
Glad I don't have to put up with that on a weekly basis.
@Gianni
The guns have been shaved as of two weeks ago. VLVV. Done in the middle of winter too, so that makes me double-hard.
@ChrisO
Yeah, the aero frame thing was a bit tongue-in-cheek. I ride a BMC SLR02. I toyed up between a TMR01 and the SLR02 (I preferred the 02 model) and went with the SLR. It's not flat here by any means and I'm fat... so whilst I'd crush the descents and flats on the TMR, I would suffer (well, suffer more) on anything that has a positive gradient.
I work on the following: shoe covers are worn when it's wet or cold, aero lids make the head look like a penis and to cheat headwind or wind resistance when pushing harder I use the drops or lay over the bars.
Essentially I am a wombat. Wombats aren't aero; we're rugged, determined and stubborn. I just work with what I've got.
A power meter has been a great investment though, even though I barely put out enough watts to power a lightbulb.
@Gianni
Always had a problem with men in white shoes and socks. No matter how funny or fast.
@Owen Crikey, bitter much?