Bicycling.com has published an article worth reading. It is about the Massachusetts Institute of Technology cycling team who train in the wind tunnel to optimize their aerodynamics. Wind tunnel optimization is used of many of the professional teams at the Pro Tour. Mark Cote worked with the former Team CSC captain Ivan Basso to optimize his aerodynamics through optimization in the wind tunnel. 

In the interview Mark Cote answers questions related to wind tunnel optimization and team time trials:

On aerodynamic wheels :
“Most people don’t realize that a non-aero helmet creates four times the drag of a non-aero wheel set. So you can spend two thousand dollars on a wheel set, or spend two hundred on a helmet and be faster. How you put your race number on matters more than having an aero wheel; today, we glued on our numbers to get them to fit flatter. Then there’s water bottle placement: On a round-tubed frame, having a bottle on your seat tube is more aerodynamic than not having one at all, and it’s much more aero than putting it on the down tube. And wearing gloves in a time trial will slow you down more than using a non-aero front wheel.”

On shaved legs:
“Shaved legs? I think they’re faster, but we haven’t really tested them in the tunnel. I did try to convince Ivan Basso to shave his head when he came to MIT. He wouldn’t do it, even though it was for science.”

Read the full interview at Bicycling.com

Optimization of aerodynamics are no longer limited for pro cyclists. Take a look at my description of how you can optimize your body position using a power meter. It’s a comprehensive guide to your own trials without visiting an expensive wind tunnel.

Here is an interview with Dirk Friel who is a co-founder of TrainingPeaks.com. One of his jobs is to help professional riders and coaches to analyze data from power meters. Since one of the biggest topics here on Training4cyclists.com is power meter training, it is a pleasure to get some additional info from one of the experts into analyzing of power meter files. This interview is quite long, but I hope you enjoy it, there are several good points waiting for you!

Training4cyclists.com: “I guess many pro riders have a SRM or PowerTap mounted (at least to look a bit serious) as a part of their bike equipment, but I’m not sure how many of these riders actually spend time analyzing their performances. Dirk, you have been working with several pro riders so how will you describe their look on power meter training?”

Dirk Friel: “It seems today’s pro’s either embrace technology and will do anything to leverage the latest advances in hardware and software to their benefit, or they resist the new school of thought and hold onto the traditional ways of training. Some pros ride with a power meter just to give the illusion they are analyzing their performances, when in fact they’ve never actually taken the time to download their power meter.

I try to get riders into the routine of downloading and saving files daily as part of their job. Call me crazy, but if you are being paid to ride a bike you should take it seriously and not waste your time. There is immense value in collecting and analyzing data over time. Maybe even more value than analyzing files daily. Spotting the historical trends and manipulating future training to take advantage of those trends is of huge benefit to those who take the time.”

Training4cyclists.com: “One of the athletes you have been working with is Levi Leipheimer. He performs well in time trials and during climbing, but how did you help him to develop these skills and how do you track his progress?”

Dirk Friel: “Let me clarify. I do not coach Levi and I don’t prescribe his training. That is the job of legendary coach Massimo Testa. My job is as a consultant to Massimo and Levi so they can analyze and view reports which track Levi’s progress. We’ve created reports within TrainingPeaks which are in essence a dashboard that compares this year’s data to last year’s. This provides a daily snapshot which quantifies Levi’s fitness, fatigue and overall form.

Levi can also spot when he sets new personal best records which directly affect his training intensity as performed in intervals. Levi is truly on the cutting edge of training analysis and is leveraging technology to gain an edge. TrainingPeaks is also the data management system which allows Massimo and Levi to efficiently monitor, analyze and plan training and racing.”

Training4cyclists.com: “When you analyze results from a stage race, what key points do you look for in the power meter file?”

Dirk Friel: “There are a number of things a power meter can show you, but it all depends on the rider and their goals within the stage race. One rider may be trying to conserve energy during a stage, while another is trying to be aggressive or work for the team.

One of the primary metrics we track is a value called Training Stress Score (TSS). The Training Stress Score is essentially a way of assigning a value to a ride to quantify the amount of work performed, relative to the individual’s threshold power. The TSS value can give the athlete an indication of how well they may recover for the next day and beyond. Because TSS is directly tied to the individual’s threshold power comparing the TSS value between two riders is a good way of seeing which rider may have worked more than another. This is also very valuable when teaching young riders how to improve as a stage racer since the better stage racers know how to conserve energy for the crucial stages.”

Training4cyclists.com: “Pro riders who are going to make top performance in time trials often visit a wind tunnel to optimize their aerodynamic position. Lots of readers here on training4cyclists.com are serious about their performance in time trials, but don’t have the opportunity to save seconds in this expensive way. What would you recommend them to do to make their aerodynamics better?”

Dirk Friel: “With my little knowledge of aerodynamics I can only advise getting a time trial helmet and aerodynamic wheels. I’m not an aero-dynamic specialist but I do advise riders get a yearly bike fit which has direct benefits when it comes to economy and the ability to time trial well. Racing with a power meter is also of great benefit for those riders who are still learning pacing strategies. Most riders start out too fast and blow up the second half of a TT. Proper pacing can dramatically improve your time trials.

Beyond that it comes down to flexibility to hold an aero position and targeted workouts to improve your muscular endurance, anaerobic power, strength and economy. Improving strength, flexibility and simply riding more in the TT position are probably the most under-rated ways to improve your time trialing.”

Training4cyclists.com: “Training hard and dedicated is important, but reducing the amount of training before a big event is also a major concern. The perfect tapering protocol is a topic many riders works on for many years. Peaking at the right moment at the championship or specific stage race should not be based on a lot of random factors, so heart rate and power meter data files offer a great opportunity to increase the success ratio of such projects. I guess you won’t show us the specific tapering protocol from
one of the Tour de France heroes, but can you describe the basic principles you use to calculate peak performance when you analyze data files?”

Dirk Friel: “There are three basic metrics you need to track and be aware of– fitness, fatigue and form. In general we all know what these are, but most riders don’t do a good job of managing, or objectifying them. A power meter with the proper software can allow the rider to track these metrics daily. The perfect taper will allow for the maintenance of your race-intensity fitness, reduce fatigue and allow the form to rise. I find
that most pros don’t allow themselves enough recovery time and therefore show up to important events with too much fatigue. It is hard for most riders to back off and allow fatigue to drop and their form to rise. It simply doesn’t matter how fit you are on race day, if your fatigue is higher than your fitness level then you won’t perform at your true potential.

This is why a power meter along with TrainingPeaks software can be so valuable. The TrainingPeaks Performance Management Chart will allow any cyclist with a power meter to track accumulated workloads over time and graphically view fitness, fatigue and form levels. Once you can do this it becomes a whole lot easier to taper and peak.”

Training4cyclists.com: “Planning a tapering protocol is also about looking in the mirror to see what has happened in the past. TrainingPeaks WKO+ offers a feature to measure acute and chronic stress. How will you describe this feature and how is it calculated?”

Dirk Friel: “Chronic Training Load (CTL) and Acute Training Load (ATL) are the technical terms for fitness and fatigue. The last remaining piece to track is form which is also known as Training Stress Balance (TSB). To calculate the three metrics (CTL, ATL, TSB) the rider needs to first track daily Training Stress Score values. We then take the 42-day rolling average of daily TSS to calculate CTL, 7-day rolling average of daily TSS for ATL and the difference between CTL and ATL is the Training Stress Balance.

Training Stress Balance is what the athlete wants to see rise as their highest priority event approaches. Ideally CTL, or fitness, is near the highest of the season and ATL, fatigue, is low in order to have the form rise.

The screen shot of Silence-Lotto’s Mario Aerts Performance Management Chart which shows his CTL (in blue), ATL (pink), and TSB (yellow) between January and March 2007. You can see his TSB rose to its highest levels as he entered the Belgium classics season, which is exactly what he wanted. The three spikes in ATL are races in Australia in January, then a hard training camp and finally the third spike is the Tour of California.”

I made a short interview with Gonzalo about his impressive results in the Power Meter Project: 

Your 5min maximum power went from 357Watts in week 1 to 416Watts in week 12. What impact has this increment had on your performance?

Gonzalo: “No, because I haven’t done any short races since then. My wife had a baby and I couldn’t race for some weeks, since then there have been no more races, I hope the second part of the racing season starts soon.”

How will you describe your progress through the project?

Gonzalo: “My short time power increased dramatically, my recovery from short efforts also improved, which was what I was looking after: changing from endurance races to ‘criterium’ style races.”

What is your opinion on power meter training now?

Gonzalo: “More or less the same as before, but some things have changed: I don’t focus that much on the powermeter when riding endurance sessions, and I listen more to my body, if I feel Im reaching a physicall and mental limit I rest for a week. But all in all I believe power traing is THE method to use.”

Have you adapted some of the ideas from the power meter project into your daily training?

Gonzalo: “Not now, but I will. Now Im riding endurance races, but in two weeks I switch again to short races and I will follow some ideas of workouts I did during the project.”

I had a short interview with Marc Moeller about his participation in the Power Meter Project. If you haven’t looked at his results yet, read the full results here.

Your maximum power tests indicate that you are significantly stronger, but what impact has these increments had on your performance in races?

Marc: “This has been my best racing year yet in Category 3 and I plan on moving to category 2 in August!  I’ve race quite a bit and always felt I had a chance to win, not just finish as middle of the pack.  My lowest place in Cat 3 has been 12th and I almost always can finish in the top 5.” 

How will you describe your progress through the project?
 
Marc: “Well to tell the truth I do feel quite a bit stronger this year than last, which is due to the program structure and my sticking to it. Being motivated and focused has helped tremendously.  I have a suspicion though that I may have reached a peak a bit early this year and I don’t know if I can get my power levels up quite as high as I had them in early April.  I have even resisted doing the tests because I don’t want to know my current max power outputs as they might be discouraging to my present training.” 

What is your opinion on power meter training now?

Marc: “There is nothing better than power training. How else could you ever incrementally increase your work load on a bicycle?  I think the ability to do repeatable efforts at different percentages of power is critical to progress on the bike.  It also is great for letting you know how your legs are “feeling” as you warm up or towards the end of a long ride you know where your relative fitness is.”

Have you adapted some of the ideas from the power meter project into
your daily training?

Marc: “Undoubtedly, the thing I have used most is a range of power intervals from short burst to longer sessions that work different energy systems.  For me what I have used the most is the four minute interval, the one minute, and the shorter recoveries at 40 seconds on, and 20 seconds off.  Those have helped me the most.”

While I am waiting to receive the results from the maximum power tests, I have done some interviews with the participants in the Power Meter Project. Gonzalo Vilaseca did the 5seconds and 1minute critical power test yesterday.

Here is my interview with Gonzalo after four full weeks of wattage controlled training.

Yesterday you have completed your critical power test for sprint power and anaerobic endurance after 4 weeks of training in the Power Meter Project. What is your reaction to your performance in these tests?
Gonzalo: “Overall, I expected some improvement in every critical power duration because I had been a few months without training before the power meter project. My guess was that the largest improvement would be seen in 1 and 5 min test, moderate improvement in 20 min test, and little improvement in 5 sec sprint.

As I said, after looking at what I have exercised in my training I expected little improvement in the 5 sec power but a good improvement in 1 min power, and it has been as expected, I’ve improved my 5 sec sprint by 3,8%, but my 1 min power has increased an 8,4%, which is more than I expected. I didn’t expect an increase of 47 w in such a short period of time.”

In what way have your training been different during the Power Meter Project?
Gonzalo: “Compared to this period in past years, during the project I have performed short intervals and LSD days (long steady distance) have been longer.

On previous years I did endurance rides with some moderate intensity (Zone 3) work, but no intervals of any sort. During the project I have performed short intervals twice weekly, and that is far more stimulating than just endurance riding.”

Before we know the results from your vo2max and threshold tests: What are your conclusions so far?
Gonzalo: “My conclusions so far are that I have regained fitness faster than expected, but this should be confirmed with the 5 and 20 min test.

I’m not surprised about my test results as I know Im not at my peak (and I don’t want to be now) and I need more training, but Im really surprised at how good I have assimilated the training load and how that has translated in fast improvement.”