Two Wheel Blogs

I had such high hopes for this new position tweak. It had everything going for it. I was comfortable riding in this position. It looked fast. It felt fast. My intuition said this was the best combination of power and aerodynamic profile yet.

Unfortunately it was only an illusion. Aerodynamics is tricky stuff. As the chart shows, the position I thought was so fast turned out to be a step backward from the best I've found so far.

So now at least I know of one other thing that does not work.

Results in perspective
So how much time are we talking about here? Over a 40 km TT the difference between my initial aero position and the best I've found so far amounts to nearly 2 minutes. Yesterday's trial, if I were to do a 40 km timetrial in that position, would be approximately 28 seconds slower.

What does this chart mean
The three curves represent my first test, which took place in mid-August; my "most improved" test, which happened in mid-September; and yesterday's aero test. Each curve shows the watts required to generate any given speed. The differences in the curves are the effects of various timetrial positions on bicycle aerodynamics.

Using these curves I can determine how fast I can go at my current power level for each of these three positions.