Quest for TT's online time trial champ underway

THE RACE to become TT’s first ever national online time trail champion pedalled off at Indoor Cycling Works on Mucurapo Road, Mucurapo, on Friday.

Former national mountain bike champion and triathlete Jason Costelloe kicked off the TT Cycling Federation sanctioned Virtual Time Trial and headlines a heavy cast of local riders gunning for the inaugural crown.

Also expected to hit the bikes on Friday are seasoned road racer Adam Alexander and up-and-coming female cyclist Makeyla Hernandez of Arima Wheelers.

The 20km e-cycling event continues daily until Sunday.

Founder of Indoor Cycling Works, Joshua Alexander (former national cyclist) will be assisted by Ed Moyz and the TTCF team to command this event and ensure all covid19 measures are observed.

The time trial will utilise the Zwift online platform. Zwift is an online cycling programme which enables users to interact, train and compete in a virtual world.

The Virtual Time Trial is carried out with a bike on a smart trainer that connects to the Zwift online platform. Each cyclist will attempt to complete the virtual 20km course in their fastest time.

The course is entitled Zwift’s Richmond’s “The Fan Flats”. It is one of the flattest routes on the app, with only 13 metres of elevation gain per 5km (3.1 mile) lap. Riders will complete approximately four laps of this course. The estimated time to complete the distance is 35 minutes.