In my experience, riding at 22 MPH for 3 hours on a 0 aero road bike is extremely powerful and fast. A friend of mine on flat Florida roads does around 22 on a 0 aero bike at about 225 W average power. In my area, with more typical rolling hills, it takes me about 260W to get above 22.

On my TT bike in Florida, I ride around 22 MPH on around 200W.

So, really rough guessing from going from slow everything to fast everything would be around 2-3 MPH.

Are you riding solo or in a pack with other riders? How hilly or flat are your rides. What is the wind situation?

29 mph.

30. Speed.

I am solo, I come from running and don’t know cyclists yet. It is also a bit windy, but very flat, I’m in the Midwest.

I'm in Midwest. You will be faster so totally worth investing it. Most of all, it's going to be fun to ride, so you will want to ride more and more and eventually be getting better and stronger.

haha this made me laugh so hard

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Honestly you're going to get to 23mph-25mph and then anything above that requires a lot of power and perfect aero.

I think switching from Gatorskins to GP5000s gives you at least 0.5mph.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Now that group riding is somewhat dicey, I find myself alone on the Trek SC almost exclusively. I would guess that it adds about 1.5 - 2.0 mph. I can do 155-160 watts for 2 hours which gets me to 21 mph on a closed course. You have a lot more power to use and would be much faster than that. I've never regretted buying another bike!

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"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
- Lionel Sanders

For me difference between “road bike, no aero” and “TT bike, full aero kit” is about 3 mph (same power)

Not trying to derail the thread but is wearing a loose tee shirt and baggies slowing me down by any significance on pavement and pretty smooth gravel? Would a gravel/cx bike be much faster than a HT mtb with 2.25 XC tires? I'm thinking the 2 changes (lycra kit and g bike) would get me at least another 1-2 mph to my average pace (usually around 16mph with 100ft climb per mile). I ride solo fwiw.

That depends on your definition of “by any significance.” I have to believe You already understand that it slows you down more than a tight-fitting kit.

2-3 mph assuming your fit is spot on. I bought a "faster bike" with my fit being wrong and I was slower. I finally figured out the problem, got a professional fitting and it made a HUGE difference. The bike finally did what I paid for it to do.

yes, I know that it is slower, especially at higher speeds. So say I'm averaging like 15mph with the tee shirt and baggies, would going to a lycra kit (everything else is the same) have much benefit? 1-2% improvement would be insignificant to me, 5+% would be huge and I'd consider a new kit.

Considerably. On a normal, flattish course with a Max aero TT bike, 808s/disc, gp5000s, skin suit, aero helmet, I need about 210 watts to go 22mph. With my road bike, normal clothes, 404s, gatorskins im doing about 19, maybe 19.5mph...

I’d say 24-25mph, if you have a comfy position that you can stay aero and deliver the power

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Randy Christofferson(http://www.rcmioga.blogspot.com

Insert Doubt. Erase Hope. Crush Dreams.

Is this \pink?

The win tunnel did a few videos on apparel; here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmNGQLi36xc

It suggests that going from a slightly loose to a form-fitting jersey is worth 90" over 40k -- so at your speeds this would be ~1.6%. If the clothes you are wearing are flapping about much more than the "loose" blue jersey shown 40" into the video, then I would guess you could see substantially bigger gains. Probably not 5+% on speed, but I'm guessing in the 2-5% range.

Also, jerseys have really useful back pockets that t-shirts don't, and bike shorts have padding -- both should be more comfortable by a lot than what you are wearing right now, as well as faster. Just buy some and see how it goes.

I agree with all the posts about 2-3 MPH faster. I ride the same loop for my long weekend rides and I see a 2 mph difference between my road bike on the drops vs tri bike. You’re faster than I am, so I think you’ll see a bigger difference.

I did not want to derail the thread, but I don't understand what I am doing wrong. The OP is cruising along at 22 mph for a three hour ride. I did a 20 minute FTP test last week on a flat course, windy but not crazy, and averaged 305 watts. My average speed: 21.0 mph. I have a new Tarmac with the tires that were sold with the bike. They are not fast race tires, but not slow gatorskins either.

What am I doing wrong to be so slow with that amount of power?

Bad fit and loose clothing.

Weight?

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Remember, I did say I use clip ons. Also, I’m 140 lbs, 5’9”

I am 6’ and 176 lbs.

The aero bars and the wind would probably make up the difference then.

It has to be the air drag. Maybe it was just an odd crosswind day. You have to look at averages over many periods - its hard to nail down certain things on just one day of data. Could be your aero form needs work.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

I'd actually quite suspicious of your power meter accuracy if 305w gets you 21mph.on a flat. That's really bad and I barely even optimize my aero.

A few days ago I rode the middle 90 minutes of a relatively flat ride at an average of 21.1mph on 251W. Road bike, 6'3", and ~195 lbs. Could be your fit, kit, or PM

I was wearing regular cycling shorts and a jersey, not a race kit but not a loose tee shirt either. When I bought the Tarmac in May, I also bought a Stages crank power meter and had it installed by the bike shop. I assumed it was accurate. Based on my P-1 pedals which I use indoors on the trainer bike, the power numbers on the Tarmac seem accurate.

My FTP has increased from 250 in the Winter, to 275 in early Spring, to now 285. I have been riding a lot and mostly hills and hard intervals. I have about 10 lbs to lose, so my realize that my w/kg is not great.

It's still not entirely clear whether you are using aerobars (which I reckon would have meant replacing the cockpit on your Tarmac since the base bar is probably not round, though maybe I'm behind the times on clip-on tech). And if you are, are you able to stay in them effectively...That's going to make a significant difference. Also you said the 20 min test was windy...headwind? Out and back course?

I was riding the Tarmac as purchased, no aerobars, riding on the hoods like a typical road bike. It was a loop course, but there was not much of a tailwind at all. Part of it was along the ocean, where the headwind was very difficult.

Still, I can't get any decent speed going with the Tarmac. I will have to calibrate my new PM and see if it is working correctly. The bike shop did it for me and told me that I did not have to calibrate before every ride.

What I should do is take my Tri bike (2010 Felt B16) off the trainer and do the same loop and see how much faster I am on that bike in the aerobars, and at what power.

For me to go from an aggressive and what is appearing to be a pretty aero position for road bikes or mimicking a TT position to my TT bike is about 30-40w to maintain the same speed and ~ 2.5-3.5mph

To go from training set up to race set up on my TT bike (kit, aero helmet, race wheels/tubes/tire optimized chain) is ~10-15w reduction

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Brian Stover USAT LII
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