IT SOUNDS pretty straightforward. You, your bike, and the clock, riding in splendid isolation as quickly as you can, away from the rough and tumble of the peloton. In theory, a time trial should be a simple test of your ability to ride your bike as fast as possible over a set distance. But if […]
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1. Know how hard to trainUnderstand the terms’ overreaching’ and ‘overtraining’ and use them to improve your performance. Distinguishing overtraining from overreaching is essential because overreaching is a very natural process when we train. That is an advanced use of the super-compensation principle. 2. Make a training planPlan your training and set a goal for
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Image by Luca Pedroni An individual time trial is a specific discipline used as an introduction to cycling races in many countries. After a short introduction to the simple rules, beginners can ride a fair time trial. Nevertheless, time trials are challenging to master, and even professionals can significantly improve their trialling. It’s hard to
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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
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If you are a time trialist or triathlete, one of the benefits of using a power meter is optimizing your aerodynamics. A better position on the bike supplied with aerodynamic equipment can help you to save seconds or even minutes in a time trial. Now I will show how you can use a power meter
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Your body position and the bike’s aerodynamics play a big role in time trials. A couple a years ago I read a comparing of different body positions and what influence it had on the finishing time in a 40k time trial. I am not sure, but I think I saw these results back in 1997, so this is not breaking news, rather nostalgic news.
An interesting question is how much time you can save by using expensive aero wheels, an aero frame or saving some pounds? There are probably more precise answers to these questions than this report calculates for you, but it gives you an idea of what difference these changes can give you.
One of the interesting findings is that slower riders will benefit more from a lighter bike than top riders will, while aero wheels and frames will give the biggest advantage to faster riders. This is probably because the aerodynamic drag requires a relative larger percentile of the workload at high speeds.
Optimized aerodynamics is better than weight savings
The conclusion for this report is that the biggest changes in aerodynamic drag and in cycling performance come from changes in body position. A more aerodynamic body position can improve your 40k time trial by over 6 minutes (that is really something!) The report also concludes that improving the bike’s aerodynamics is more important than weight savings. A pair of aero wheels can reduce you 40k time trial time with 1 or 2 minutes.
Read the report about cycling aerodynamics
Report about time trial aerodynamics Read More »