I did a sprint yesterday, and my bike performance was a huge disappointment. I did the exact same race and bike course in the fall. I expected to ride significantly faster this time, but instead I rode almost a minute slower. I rode with exactly the same power in both races. Though, that was not entirely intentional... I was aiming to ride higher yesterday, but did not focus heavily on watching the PM on my Garmin. These are the details and changes between both races:
I cannot remember my tire pressure in the fall race. It could have been 100 PSI or 110 PSI. So, maybe higher pressure in the prior race was a factor.
I could blame the cockpit upgrade, but I did a 60 mile bike check ride about a month ago. I averaged 21.4 MPH, including at least a couple dozen (mostly brief) stops at intersections. I was wearing a regular bike kit with a non-aero helmet. That ride should have been the lower end of my speed that I would see this season. I held my position very well in the sprint, but somewhat poorly in the check ride. Unfortunately, both my PM and my HRM crapped out for that ride, so I have no effort metrics to look back on. But, it was not as intense an RPE as the sprint.
Based on the aero improvements, my current fitness, my check ride last month, I expected to ride around 23 MPH. 21.5 MPH was a massive disappointment and it cost me winning my age group-- I finished as the first loser in my AG (2nd place).
The first things I checked after the race when I saw my time was brake rub and tire pressure. Both were fine.
The only defect I can think of is that I noticed early during yesterday's ride that my handlebars were off-center by a few degrees. It happened in transport, and I decided not to stop and correct it during the ride, because I figured that the time to stop and correct it would be greater than the impact. Do you think that <5° handlebar angle offset could have cost me more than 1 MPH in speed?
Can you think of anything else that might have cost me significant speed loss? Could a 5° F lower temperature made that much of a difference?
- Distance: 13.8 miles, mildly rolling hills
- Temperature: 73° F (fall), 68° F (yesterday)
- Avg. Power: 252W (both races); 270W NP (both races)
- Avg. HR: 153 BPM (fall), 149 BPM (yesterday)
- Avg. Speed: 22.2 MPH (fall), 21.5 MPH (yesterday)
- Tire Pressure: 95 PSI (yesterday), I cannot remember for the fall race
- About 5 lbs. lighter since fall
- Fitter since fall
- Upgraded to Tririg cockpit from Bayonet 3 from the fall race
- Removed down tube bottle cage since fall
I cannot remember my tire pressure in the fall race. It could have been 100 PSI or 110 PSI. So, maybe higher pressure in the prior race was a factor.
I could blame the cockpit upgrade, but I did a 60 mile bike check ride about a month ago. I averaged 21.4 MPH, including at least a couple dozen (mostly brief) stops at intersections. I was wearing a regular bike kit with a non-aero helmet. That ride should have been the lower end of my speed that I would see this season. I held my position very well in the sprint, but somewhat poorly in the check ride. Unfortunately, both my PM and my HRM crapped out for that ride, so I have no effort metrics to look back on. But, it was not as intense an RPE as the sprint.
Based on the aero improvements, my current fitness, my check ride last month, I expected to ride around 23 MPH. 21.5 MPH was a massive disappointment and it cost me winning my age group-- I finished as the first loser in my AG (2nd place).
The first things I checked after the race when I saw my time was brake rub and tire pressure. Both were fine.
The only defect I can think of is that I noticed early during yesterday's ride that my handlebars were off-center by a few degrees. It happened in transport, and I decided not to stop and correct it during the ride, because I figured that the time to stop and correct it would be greater than the impact. Do you think that <5° handlebar angle offset could have cost me more than 1 MPH in speed?
Can you think of anything else that might have cost me significant speed loss? Could a 5° F lower temperature made that much of a difference?