Aero/Gains Thread

Soldato
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Thanks guys.
I might enter that as my GF's sister is near Lancaster so it's not that obscene a situation for me to ride it and could visit family to justify going down.

I thought there might be a 100 fastest and 100 slowest but it is only the one I linked showing for that weekend, no other events. If it's based on slowest, a Scottish time shall be of advantage for a change :p The PB time I put down for a 10 will be from Scottish National at this point, so they can't really turn their nose up at that being a valid PB for a 10 purely because it was Scottish Cycling rather than a CTT event.
 
Soldato
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Yep down in Pompey BennyC.



I'd say whats the harm in entering and putting in your 10PB up in Scotland. 100 slowest riders is usually when they have a multitude of events on the same day 100 fastest 100 slowest, to allow people to ride a fast course that never usually would.

Details will be added nearer the time about HQ etc, this far out that sort of stuff isn't even settled yet!

I had a shocker of a ride yesterday 241w/250W NP, injury definitely got to me, not got any league or Opens planned in now for about 5 weeks so going to get my focus on 2 hour CX race in 2 weeks, and then a solid training block, may enter a few club events depending how I'm feeling and really focus on second half of the season once I'm back from the Alps in July.

@Thomas. PLease. saw your time for Saturday, almost under the 20!!! Spoke to Gary yesterday, same power as normal for him on his new bike to give him the win (370ish). You've got big aero gains to be made.

Bit of annoying one that, power pb at 361w, but I went straight on at the turn back on to the DC so had to u turn and lost about 25-30seconds. Could have been a short 19 almost. Still at least I know now, and glad it wasn't a pb with a wrong turn!

Nice course though, will be back on a faster day for sure.
 
Soldato
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Bit of annoying one that, power pb at 361w, but I went straight on at the turn back on to the DC so had to u turn and lost about 25-30seconds. Could have been a short 19 almost. Still at least I know now, and glad it wasn't a pb with a wrong turn!

Nice course though, will be back on a faster day for sure.

Made that mistake on the 25 before at the roundabout when doing the slightly different courses a week apart... Nice work you'll be flying on a float day, sub 19 for sure.
 
Soldato
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Went out for a very lumpy 9.6m segment I'd made a year or two back that takes in some of my regular climbs. Should note this is on my roadie carrying spares, bottle and not a single bit of 'speed' orientated kit in sight :p

Previous best was : 26 Aug 2016 16.9mi/h 162bpm 253W
powermeter-59b5701259ed3151417b206b64da0432.png
- 34:21 (did actually manage 10s less with 20w less power in favourable conditions)

Yesterday I managed: 9 May 2017 18.5mi/h 165bpm 277W
powermeter-59b5701259ed3151417b206b64da0432.png
- 31:28 ( Slight tail wind in places 2m44s quicker)

Felt I paced it fairly well, my highest power splits all falling towards the final few miles. NP was 293w so fairly consistent output. If this works (Comparison vs previous KOM) it's interesting to see that in places I had quite a gap.

On lumpy courses with descents how should you approach them from a power or speed perspective? Output enough power once crested to achieve & maintain the target speed for the course overall and then just coast in excess of this? Coast fully once over the crest and just let speed build gradually and conserve energy as much as possible? The former seems logical given the diminishing return on power output vs speed gained at higher speeds.
 
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Soldato
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Depends how long it is, short courses I'll hammer it into the red and recover on the descents steady spinning, btu this again depends on the descent, if it is very fast and straight its usually better to get aero.
 
Soldato
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Should I spend 25 quid on a disc cover for the rear wheel? I'm not setting the world alight with a current 10mile pb of 25 minutes something but now I have a tri/TT bike I'd like to beat that... Although not sure why as I'm targeting longer tri distances...
Planet x stealth with vision 35mm aluminum clinchers.
 
Soldato
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Sounds like a good bang for buck upgrade. Wise tyre selection to ensure the lowest RR and to match your rims to reduce drag further will also pay dividends over that distance and is relatively cheap too.
 
Soldato
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Well I guess it makes a huge difference over 112 miles!
Cheers, I'll get one ordered :D

Perhaps, but not if you're like a lot of the riders I saw on my Ironman who had full pointy aero helmets but couldn't actually hold their aero tuck for 180km! Riding 'on the hoods' will negate your disc cover and aero helmet. I practised a lot to ensure I could ride on the TT bars for most of the ride, except for climbing.
 
Soldato
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Perhaps, but not if you're like a lot of the riders I saw on my Ironman who had full pointy aero helmets but couldn't actually hold their aero tuck for 180km! Riding 'on the hoods' will negate your disc cover and aero helmet. I practised a lot to ensure I could ride on the TT bars for most of the ride, except for climbing.

Yep I've noticed that, and Lanzarote of all places is where aero makes a huge difference... Last year on my Allez heading into Famara I pretty much stopped dead as I turned 90° into the wind dropping down from Teguise... My friend on his Cervelo came cruising past. Broke my heart watching him ride away with little I could do other than worry about the run :D

I'll stick to to aero road helmet/clothing etc for comfort as opposed to going full TT/ironman for speed.


Interesting reading thank you :)
Seems the GP4000s II on the other bike could be worth switching onto the Stealth then. Fwiw... I'm still not even comfortable in the aero tuck for more than a few miles at the minute though so I have plenty of work to do.
I've just acquired an Adamo saddle that should hopefully help a bit, its the pressure on the gooch that's making me sit up..fingers crossed I get on with it.
 
Soldato
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Might be worth adjusting your saddle angle slightly if you're not used to riding the drops/extensions and have it set up for comfort or the tops? If the only thing causing discomfort is the saddle not breathing difficulties, hips or neck then I'd play about with position. Try sitting a little further back to spread some of the load so you're comfortable.

I should think being further back and potentially a little less powerful but aero will trump being further forward and popping up regularly, and also uncomfortable ;)
 
Soldato
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Floatiest of floaty nights on our club 10 course tonight so of course there are no events on it! Last night was good too - I didn't ride but a guy I know did a minute PB to pull off a short 20 on a rickety Cheshire single carriageway effort. Unfortunately it wasn't even good enough to win on the night - Ian Stannard turned up and beat him by 20 seconds!
 
Soldato
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Might be worth adjusting your saddle angle slightly if you're not used to riding the drops/extensions and have it set up for comfort or the tops? If the only thing causing discomfort is the saddle not breathing difficulties, hips or neck then I'd play about with position. Try sitting a little further back to spread some of the load so you're comfortable.

I should think being further back and potentially a little less powerful but aero will trump being further forward and popping up regularly, and also uncomfortable ;)

I have already dropped the nose of my current saddle a touch which helped slightly and also took 5mm off the height- begrudgingly seeing as I paid for a Retul 2 weeks ago... Yeah my neck is struggling but that's just from lack of mileage this year... I've been focusing on running more so far and only cycled 290 miles this year with 101 of them last Saturday.
I do agree about being aero though... For the same HR my tuck is worth around 1.5 mph from a couple of rudimentary tests on Tuesday :D
 
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