But what’s your point? Where do you draw the line for when a gain is significant enough based on the athletes standard to justify obtaining?
As has been shown, it’s a benefit to all, so if people want that “free” 5 minutes (after spending the money on the equipment), then who is anyone to say whether that 5 minutes is of significance not? 5mins might be huge to someone who has chased a sub 12 for years, whereas 1 minute might be the key gain a top AGer is looking for.
Also, as was shown by Nick’s calcs, the percentage gain was basically the same. 5.6% v 5.5%
Yes, where do you draw the line. Should a 6 hour marathon runner have a pair of £250 Nike % fluro go fast shoes?
I don’t know. I suppose you could add a bank account coefficient into the equation somewhere. I do know that I think that aero should be the icing on the cake of performance and if you are only doing a >12hour ironman there are other gains to be had (unless you are very unusual, which can exist but be rare) I don’t think the % change is the same, other than in extremis.
Yes they should, more so than the elite athletes, the elite competition should not be impacted by differing financial abilities, it should be all about physical ability, the 6 hour folk can do what they want.
I think you’re all right. It’s about what you thinkis right for yourself rather than others though. I don’t have loads of money to spend on aero kit so I don’t. For me, I cannot justify the espense of a disc wheel on the lowly Watts I put out. I have made a bargain with myself that if I can get them up to a certain point I can buy aero wheels as I will be travelling faster and it might be worth it (for me). I remember passing someone at HPP in the club tri relays and they had zipp disc and 50-60mm front and thinking what is the point? But if they have the cash it isn’t for me to decide or judge how they spend it.
My son is looking for an aero road lid (on a budget) and I need suggestions. My Spesh Evade is too small for his bowling ball head so we will have to buy something.
Not wishing to labour the point regarding rear discs but is there a point at which you wouldn’t use one. I’m talking about weather related issues here. I understand that rear discs are banned at Kona, due to high winds.
I get the issue with front wheels and side winds, but what’s the score with the rear discs?
In winds, rear disks are actually generally more stable unless you get hugely pulsing winds, so coming into a gap in the lava a disk moves more sideways due to the surface area more than it otherwise would, the descent at hawaii did have horrendous cross winds, and sudden exposed bits.
In steady winds though it’s completely fine, and possibly more stable with the bow wave of a truck passing you.
Ok … i’ve been thinking again and am hoping for some further guidance.
So i now have my TT bars on the Endurace. I’ve started to get as much time on them as possible to train the back, shoulders, elbows and neck etc. Now i’m in the tweaking (not twerking) phase.
I think i said before, i like the bars being angled upwards in a more praying mantis style. That seems to drop me a tad lower, and pull my shoulders in a tad as well. Looking at a video from the front, i dont think there’s much more i can do to get any narrower. The bars are as close as they’ll get to the stem. So i think i’m ok there.
I’m certainly not cooked spaghetti flexible (to steal @Hammerer swimming analogy) like i used to be, but i’m far from being raw. I can get to the point on the current setup where i’m as low as i can possibly be and still be able to see where i’m going (whether or not i can hold that for 2.5 hrs is a point i’ll deal with later in my training). But when i do a side on camera view, i’ve got quite a curved back still.
I think this is because the saddle to handlebar ratio isn’t very large. I raised my saddle by a couple of mm yesterday to see if that was still comfy, and it seems ok. Don’t think i can go any higher.
So my question is … do i take out a couple of spacers and get those handlebars dropped down a few cms? At the end of the day this isn’t a TT bike or an aero road bike, it’s an endurance bike with endurance geometry i.e. am i just trying to polish a turd here? Can the turd be polished to an extent, or am i wasting my time trying to get aggressive on a bike that’s not really designed for that?
I wouldn’t say you’re wasting your time but it’s always going to be a compromise on a bike that doesn’t have the right geometry for a TT position.
The arched back could be also be a lack of reach so you’re arching to drag your arms back towards the saddle. You can go longer stem or move seat back if that’s the case but moving seat back will slacken geometry even further away from a TT bike setup.
As already said, it’s almost impossible without pictures, grow some and throw yourself to the wolves. You can’t be any worse than me and I did it!
