Aero/Gains Thread

I came 5th in the end, 12 seconds faster would have put me 2nd it was that close!

I don’t think I had 12 seconds in me, I still feel tired today and my backside hurts from holding the TT position for an hour.

Good speed/power though as two of the four faster than me put out 20 and 50w more respectively.

I have another tomorrow, not sure I’m going be fully recovered in time, but this was more to just check the course out ahead of the club race on the same route next weekend.
 
Berger said:
264w average and HR of 184! Hot weather not helping at all when I Can do 305-310 for 20 mins, dropping more than 10%!
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Heart rate drift is to be expected, especially if you're not used to performing in 32 degree heat. The recent hot weather will have been more draining than anything and not really much of an 'acclimatisation'. Over the course of a week it adds up when we're not used to it.

That said my Sweet Spot efforts earlier in the week were fine but I used a slope rather than a climb so I didn't completely cook and was still moving relatively fast to benefit from some cooling.
 
Make sure you know the course.... at a double roundabout I turned at the first one today which is the 10 mile course... should have gone to the second one for the 25 mile so 400m short.... my fault should have triple checked but Marshall’s waving arms around didn’t help! Bit silly having to loop.

Not downloaded it yet off the Garmin but I got my warm up spot on, food right and pacing good. :o

23c, 273w and an average HR of 174 so 10bpm less than Thursday and 9w more. Could have gone a bit harder at the end but knew it didn’t really matter, was closer to 280w for most of it. Ah well I was riding as a familiarisation ahead of the club 25 on the same course next weekend.

Was getting a bit of hand numbness in one arm, the bars are both setup identical.
 
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60t Peek ring just ordered. Chain came off for about the 4th time this year despite now having a chain guide in place. If anyone is interested in a 130BCD 58t arc ring you know where to find me.
 
Give Tony Martin a call, nobody else can push a gear that big..... can only spin out my 52T osymetric with a tailwind!
 
One More Solo said:
All about chain line.

I’ve only used my Fibrelyte ring for one event but no drops on crap Cheshire roads and that was without a chain guide. Pretty impressed.
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A larger chain ring reduces the distance between the cassette and chainrings which in turn would make the chain angle more severe?

I’d have expected it to work the other way, a larger distance, less severe angle would reduce the chain dropping.

Different brand rings have slightly different tooth shape perhaps?
 
Yeah but a larger chainring means you spend more time in the middle of the cassette hence straighter chain. :)

The Fibrelyte rings are designed to be run as single ring so have a slightly longer tooth profile to reduce chain drop issues.
 
Club 10 tonight: I was nearly late after a bin truck rolled over and blocked the road and I had to detour! Then I was having a few gear issues, when I put my bike in the car on Sunday the bars must have rotated and it pulled the cable outer out of the routing through the frame and it didn’t reseat correctly. I hung the bike on a low tree branch and fixed/tuned it before the start!

It was cooler than it has been and the wind was relatively low: A solid 22:03 305w average and 181bpm.

The first 8km I felt a little fatigued but I expected this after two hours on the turbo on Tuesday. Had good luck with the first two roundabouts then had to slow to 18kmph for the U turn one :( had some good luck for the remaining ones and I was feeling strong the back half of the circuit (those 25 milers helping here!). Held my power well or maybe even a little higher for the second half. Think I got fastest club time but the course record was broken tonight with a low 19, bloke must have been absolutely flying, 380w+!

Unfortunately there was a faller right at the finish. I didn’t see what happened or the rider, a lot of people gathered round at the end. It’s a little rough seal and a couple of farm and field entry’s but nothing too bad.
 
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Club 25 today, roads nice and quiet as we started an hour before the football!

Good job I was early rolling to the start as there was a Fiat 500 on its side, I was able to walk past on the pavement fortunately!

Started off feeling good, came to the bypass where we go up & down twice. Massive block headwind one way!

Started passing people after 20 mins or so, power was holding good at around 290w. Slowly dropped to 280w over the next 20 mins, tried to recover with the huge tailwind on the bypass second time round. I had to hold on the last 10km to the finish, this is where I lost most of my time over the winning guys.

29c, average HR 182bpm I lost 2.5kg weight while I was out today & wondering if I got a bit of sun through my skinsuit. Average power 275w which is an equal power PB for me over 25, with the hot weather and high wind I’m pretty happy with it.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/100713057@N05/41452092750/
 
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I have no clue what my max is. Without some proper testing it would be difficult to know. Using the 220 minus age gives me 188 max so over 95% of my theoretical max using that formula, but I have seen over 190 as a single reading before.

Usually hit over 180bpm within 5 minutes of the start and it stays there for the duration!
 
Cyclingnews galleries needs to GITS.

Massive pulleys save you watts but then cost you the same number because less aero....

Good discussion on cyclingtips podcast with zipp and silca (current owner) on the TTT tech. The bottles and skewers used by Sky might have cost them the seconds they lost the stage by...
 
As could BMC if they'd bothered to pin their numbers on reasonably, or had a number pocket. Lol at the massive pulleys costing watts.

Its a fairly well understood that the average high level UK TTer is far ahead of the world tour in terms of kit choices. Seems like they're only just now starting to catch up.
 
I think it's more to do with position. A cable is one of the first points of contact. A pulley is one of the last, and behind the disruption of the the chainset, feet, pedals and frame. Not to mention there's no difference whatsoever in frontal area.
 
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Got my sub 22 last night with a 21:57, a little cooler and low winds.

I felt pretty good and the power numbers looked good for how I felt. I felt ontop of the gear for the first 18 minutes and like I was nice and smooth, just getting a little ragged the last few minutes from home.

Good roundabout luck, only one small hold up with someone overtaking me and then stopping at an empty one...

Pushed 311w so a good power jump over last week, I expected this to make more of a time difference, maybe air pressure or some other factors influenced the time, as that’s a 3% increase in power for only 7 seconds time which is 0.5% of the overall.
 
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