One rider, one bike, one clock — the most honest discipline in cycling.
Character. Solo effort against the clock. Standard club distances: 10 mile (16 km), 25 mile (40 km), 50 mile (80 km), and the hour record. Everything comes down to marginal efficiency — aerodynamics, position, pacing, and a chain that isn't costing you watts.
Conditions. Dry tarmac by design — events reschedule if the course is wet. Usually early-morning or evening starts to avoid wind and traffic. Short enough that weather variability rarely matters for lubricant choice.
If you wax — ZFC-recommended path. Total wear barely accumulates in a 40 km TT — what matters is the lowest-friction chain coating you can get. Freshly-applied top-tier immersive wax the night before and don't think about it again. Cost and faff are effectively zero factors for a sub-hour race.
If you're on oil — pragmatic equivalent. Friction matters here — even a few watts saved over a sub-hour effort moves the time. Best you can do without switching is a fresh, clean application of your oil the night before, with the excess thoroughly wiped down. For race-day-only optimisation, a hot-wax chain dedicated to TT use is a real upgrade — but that's a future conversation.
when: Road riders who want one wax blend that covers training, racing, hot climates, and cold winter rides.
#1 because: dry road is clean riding, so ZFC's Block 1 wear is the only axis that matters. Cyclowax Race Wax is eligible after scenario filtering and its wear (0.000) is the lowest in the eligible set, which — given your priority weights — edges out every other eligible lube.
#2 inside the ±5 % variance band on Block 1 (clean baseline): effectively tied with Cyclowax Race Wax on wear (0.003 vs 0.000). Cost and maintenance scores broke the tie.
#3 inside the ±5 % variance band on Block 1 (clean baseline): effectively tied with Cyclowax Race Wax on wear (0.000 vs 0.000). Cost and maintenance scores broke the tie.
#4 inside the ±5 % variance band on Block 1 (clean baseline): effectively tied with Cyclowax Race Wax on wear (0.000 vs 0.000). Cost and maintenance scores broke the tie.
#5 inside the ±5 % variance band on Block 1 (clean baseline): effectively tied with Cyclowax Race Wax on wear (0.000 vs 0.000). Cost and maintenance scores broke the tie.
#6 inside the ±5 % variance band on Block 1 (clean baseline): effectively tied with Cyclowax Race Wax on wear (0.000 vs 0.000). Cost and maintenance scores broke the tie.
#7 inside the ±5 % variance band on Block 1 (clean baseline): effectively tied with Cyclowax Race Wax on wear (0.006 vs 0.000). Cost and maintenance scores broke the tie.
#8 inside the ±5 % variance band on Block 1 (clean baseline): effectively tied with Cyclowax Race Wax on wear (0.000 vs 0.000). Cost and maintenance scores broke the tie.
#9 inside the ±5 % variance band on Block 1 (clean baseline): effectively tied with Cyclowax Race Wax on wear (0.000 vs 0.000). Cost and maintenance scores broke the tie.
#10 inside the ±5 % variance band on Block 1 (clean baseline): effectively tied with Cyclowax Race Wax on wear (0.020 vs 0.000). Cost and maintenance scores broke the tie.