Time Trial Speed Part 2
Posted by fenner on July 14, 2011
I suppose as I am injured the NSW titles are out this year, a bloody shame as I was going to race Elite this year and I think it would have been close Peter ;o) After looking at some refinements to the CUBE Aerium I thought today we could look at some measured stats for a number of different pieces of Time Trial equipment. This was posted on cycling tips blog and by calculations in field testing it is pretty good.
The following chart shows the aerodynamic savings according to what www.aerosportsresearch.com calculated for Velonews
How much time does your $$ buy?
These numbers are calculated for a rider over 40kms at a time of 48minutes.
So then although we can spend heaps of $$$ on the small bits and pieces for the bike the speedsuit is one of the biggest bang for your buck items for TT speed. This is followed by the tri bars and obviously this is governed by their overall set up and position as discussed yesterday. Areo helmet and time in the wind tunnel can bring about similar benefits, but, the costs are massively different!We are always looking at wheel and in my research it will depend a lot upon conditions. A deep 90mm + front wheel will in most conditions be faster than a shallower wheel or a tri spoke, but, various yaw angles and wind speed will have differing effects upon this relationship, so , trial and error along with experience of handling the wheels in wind will play a part. It is no good having the fastest wheels on for the day, but, being scared and blown about the road not being able to actually ride and concentrate on pacing and power production. Look at the results for shoe covers!! big gains can be had for sure for little outlay. Last but not least the frame, small, but, meaningful gains can be made with the slipery framesets if you have the money.
It is easy to see then why when I turned up for the Masters State RR Champs with my team mate and associate coach Damo Mason on that windswept day in we both had on our Champion Systems FTP Training speedsuits and overshoes isn’t it;o)
Cheers
Fenz
