I think many would view this front PI Octane as "ill fitting" (due primarily to the # of wrinkles visible on the arms/shoulder) but it saved its owner 10-13 watts (0-15deg) at 25 mph (obviously more at 30mph) in the wind tunnel (A2).

Having seen you all on the bike in a race environment. Your suit is not terribly different fitting on your body than any of the others in aero. Pretty easy to pull up some photos from the races and take a look as well.

power was 225 NP, and at 5lbs heavier than Steve but with a slightly cleaner setup (P5-6) you would think it would have been a wash. I see we biked the same at Kona this year.

Only thing different between Kona and now was that in Kona I rode in a Small PI suit and used my older Medium for Kona.

I do note that Steve used GP4000s 23mm tires, which at the crazy yaw angles we likely saw in AZ may have helped him quite a bit.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

that's all well and good, insofar as it goes, but we both know aero is highly individual... could that suit have saved him 20 more watts if totally tight? If so, he's "losing" watts relative to that virutual race split achieved with the imaginary super tight suit.

At any rate, I'm just using deductive reasoning. All signs point to a 4:45 for me. Biked 4:59. What changed between Kona and AZ, other than getting spanked by Rob Gray's awesome race :)

Only differences were a Turbo Cotton 24mm front tire and a small vs. medium PI suit, and that the medium is a bit stretched from when it was new. Well, also a disc vs. 808. I'll check the bearings ;)

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

wow - imagine if he wore one that fit tightly!
Even the back one seems a bit loose. I need to pull up the data from Jim, but I think it was about 18w savings vs my sleeveless tri suit.

Here is a pic of my octane. Pretty tight - just a few wrinkles from me waving my hand (which is not a very aero thing to do is it!)

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Well I am wearing the only size that fits me, a small. I saw no gain from using that suit (or any sleeved suit) in a fair amount of tunnel testing. Even a body paint 3 skinsuit was only a miniscule drop in cda.

To Eric - you raced for the first time in the pro field. You, presumably, had a slightly different race than you've had in the past in terms of where you are in the race. That makes quite a big difference.

ETA - and not always a tangible one

Thanks for the great race report, i like your self analysts before during and after the race. Couple of questions if I may,

1. You said" . I knew that a 3:15 was about as good as I was going to run, so running faster than that would just be a very poor pacing decision for me.
Why did you feel that way ?was that a during the race decision or a prerace pace plan. And looking back at that moment would you have made a different choice.

2. I can see why you were AG focused as you were looking for a KQ slot ,do you think it helped or hinder you as far a overall race performance goes ( I see you did PB congrats on that) what I mean by race performance if you looked at your race and the prerace plan you had ,would you say the race was almost perfect ( your words :) ) but could have been better. Shit let me try to ask this one more time.
Did your race go according to your prerace plan or did you modify it during the race to make sure you were able to get a KQ.
Thanks for the race report.

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"Be your best cheerleader , not your worst critic.”

For further disturbing thoughts, I biked 4:38 at 215W AP/220W NP. I think I'm a bit smaller than some of you guys though, at 5'9" and 68-69kg. From what I recall, BBS predicted low to mid 4:30s but I can't imagine that wind was factored into that. From testing, the suit (older one) gave me very little over a sleeveless suit but I haven't found anything better yet. I got a new one for this race but definitely still get some wrinkles on the arms.

This is a LONG report.

Well done and congratulations.

This may be the most micro-detailed RR, I've ever read on the ST Forum.

So much information.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I would second this. Especially the first loop where winds were cranking from the right and in the pro fields there wouldn't have been any competitors on your right to shield you.

Being fresh off Kona helped know exactly what I could do. I went out at 7:30 pace in kona and was able to sustain that most of the way, but then fell apart in the last 10K (I think just because it's kona - it seems to do that to you). But on a flat course like IMAZ I thought I could sustain it the whole way. Plus if I stuck to it, I would PR the run (my previous best was 3:18 in Cabo). I still think I'm capable of running 3 hours at some point, since I am very comfy running 6:50 pace for a long time. Just not at my current fitness level. I think I made the right decision, since I arrived at the finish line pretty much spent, but I didn't feel like walking once during the run.


It went perfectly according to the pre-race plan. The extra competition just provided me sufficient motivation to stick to the plan and not drop off. This is pretty important. When you're suffering on the run, it's easy to make a new deal with yourself and "downgrade" your goals on the fly. The high level of competition stopped me from doing that. The 3 things that didn't go according to plan were 1) the chain breaking 2) the windy conditions made for a slightly slower bike split (I was expecting 4:40) and 3) my power was lower than expected on the bike (I adjusted that on the fly and just rode according to feel, based on my experience at this distance). Riding at my expected power just felt too hard.

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your position is really good. When I was riding behind you I was thinking "holy crap this guy is aero". but yes, even with that position, 4:38 on 220 is pretty amazing. I originally didn't think body weight would have played such a big role on that flat course, but maybe with the beeline uphill combined with a headwind, lower weight plus reduced body surface area made a big difference

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I was middle of the pack, but I am one of the 20 with the PI Octane kit out there. I think I had some wrinkling in the shoulders, but I am 165 6'1" and had a medium on. I have no clue how some of you were able wedge into a small at 170 lbs. Thats insane. I almost needed to dislocate my shoulder to peel it off.


Image added for courtesy bashing/input from ST Forum Fit gurus ;)

Awesome report! Man, this fires me up. I wish other age groups would do this too, I think it would be super-interesting to hear what the approaches and issues of the 40-44, 45-49 etc. age groups are. Anyway, the chain issue was of course the worst but then also I remember it was brand-new as in "Never change anything before race day"... :-) Big congrats!

Am I missing something, or is cutting the swim course buoys legal if you think it's straighter?

I've always been told by race officials that the only ones the matter what side you go around on are the turns. The rest are mere suggestions and false markers of the "best" line

Just seemed odd to me, all of the loop races I've done always specify to keep all of the buoys on one side.

Every WTC race I have been to have said the buoys that mark the course are general markers....they have kayakers to push you back towards the buoys if you veer to far away (for example, in Lake Placid you used to have to stick to the right when it was a counter clockwise loop, now they want you to stick to the left given that it is a clockwise loop. For a clockwise loop they will let you veer to the right of the buoys provided you go all the way around the turn buoys. For a counte clockwise loop, they will let you swim on the left side, again, provided that you go all the way around the turn buoy. In Kona, on a clockwise loop, there is a line of kayakers that keeps you pretty well on the buoy line....you barely get to swim a couple of feet to the right as the kayak and paddle board guys keep you on track.

Great report, awesome race. Looking forward to racing you in Kona. The good/bad news is that you don't have to race Adam again, he ages up.

You also reminded me why I keep a miltitool with chain tool and a masterlink in my spare kit for IM... not usually 70.3. Crazy.

Congrats on the KQ... looking forward to racing everyone in Kona.

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TrainingBible Coaching
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Yes, you only have to go around the turn markers. Although you do have to stay within any limits the course workers set as well, for safety.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

your fit is a lot like mine except I do a better job of turtling my head, and of course I'm wearing a helmet that tested well.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

thanks Mike - it's nice to have a long time to prep for Kona. congrats on joining TB

Zucco and Sam Gyde both age up. However Stubleski is exactly the same age as me so I'm stuck with him forever. Maybe I'll smash him when we age up to 60-64 ;-)

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

I got my bike back from TBT today. Upon closer inspection, it was the teeth of the large chain ring rubbing on the inside of the front derailleur. It's applying a lot of pressure, so it "bumps" with each tooth that goes past, creating a lot of noise. I'm still not quite sure how this all happened.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

By the way Rob, I stumbled on our watts/speed thread from Kona 2013 and it looks like you made some real adjustments to your position from your Shiv to your Dimond. Cool when discussions like that lead to real change :)

Eric

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Could just be how you're built in the shoulders. I tried both the small and the medium and they fit nearly identical, so I went with the small and was able to strip out of it while running to the change tent in T2 without difficulty. Do you have a front angle shot to share? Here's me for reference:

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Steve Johnson
DARK HORSE TRIATHLON |