Two Wheel Blogs

I got up early again this morning. This time to do a little more aero testing in the local wind tunnel. I had a couple of position ideas I wanted to check out.

But that's not why I'm writing this. I thought you might like to get a look at the Centaur Wind Tunnel I keep writing about.

First, just so you know I really did get up early. I took this shot shortly after arriving at the Centaur Wind Tunnel. Note the fine construction and attention to detail.

By the time I had my bike together and the tires aired up the sky had started to lighten up. In a few minutes it would be light enough to ride through the tunnel. It's generally not a good idea to ride through before light. You never know whether the shadows in the headlights are just leaves, or something much more menacing to high zoot timetrial tires. It's also very common to see critters in the tunnel. Hitting a deer at 30 mph isn't a great way to start out a Sunday morning aero test session.

The blue dot? That's the parking lot light at the cement plant.

Andy wasn't along for the testing this morning. He's in New Mexico. Got an 8:34 start time tomorrow, I see. He usually brings his hand held weather meter. It doesn't measure wind below a certain speed though.

We usually rely on the bits of construction tape tied to nearby fences, or the tips of tall grass to tell us whether there is much air movement. Today I had a much better indicator.

The leaf is about 8' above the pavement just outside the entrance / exit to the wind tunnel. I'm very grateful to the spider that hoisted that leaf up there for me.

Last but certainly not least, this is a pair of shots from inside the Centaur Wind Tunnel. One looking east, and one looking west. See if you can guess which is which.

As you can see, it's a pretty good test facility. If only it were open more hours for testing.