The Timanfaya Time Trial Tutorial
- The original Lanzarote Time Trial
- Official timing by Garmin/Strava
- Competion opened 364 days of the year
We have the Ironman Lanzarote, the 70.3, OceanLava and the Volcano triathlon, the Travesia swim competition and countless running events like the Music Maratona and the WineRun but there used to be not a single TimeTrial event on the island !!! A very s
trange sitiation indeed and, needless to explain, completely unacceptable. Something had to be done !!! Because fastest bike split doesn't count. Yeah you saved yourself in the swim didn't ya... Strava A-B segments don't count. Well, not on Lanzarote where wind is a dominant factor. Wait for a hurricane blowing in the right direction and then, happy KOM-sniping...
So, what we need is an Individual Time Trial from point A to point A. The wind won't help so all efforts throughout the year will be comparable. We do have a few rules though... first of all the attempt should be on a bike (duh). Non-UCI bikes are allowed (for the triathletes!) but no velomobile or HPV please. We will create a separate leaderboard for HPV if so requested. Second rule, this is a strictly non-drafting event. That's why they call it an individual time trial, get it? Third, be a sport. Play fair and don't cheat. No GPS hacking, don't do what Nibali did in the TdF, don't clutter the leaderboard with group efforts and no drafting behind buses or cars. Start is just outside Mancha Blanca at the Tinajo sign, to the first roundabout in Yaiza and back. Track length is 24,4 km, elevation gain 315 meters, steepest incline 9.8% (just before the summit @ km 6,5). The track is open all year round except on IM saturday. The Strava timing system can be operated through most GPS devices like Android phones, iPhone or Garmin EDGE. Check the Strava website for details. Garmin have now released the LIVE segments feature for EDGE which works rather well. Want to go for an all-out effort: outside the opening hours of the National Park (from 9:00 h to 17:45 h) there is very little traffic through Timanfaya. Wind speeds are generally a bit lower in the early morning. So, what are you waiting for? Get your bike out and get your 40+ minutes of fun. Enjoy !!!
