I find training hard is a good 'cheap' speed upgrade...

Disc cover, latex tubes, waxed chain. Also look at your hydration set up.

Roger that!

Some of these might already be done... but just in case I’ll mention the even if they’re obvious.

Shaved body hair (a little over a second per a km according to Specialized)
Weight loss (assuming you can health wise even a pound is a big difference)
Speed laces on shoes
Work on transition (probably my biggest weakness)
BTA bottle

3 of these are free.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

Check on shaving
Check on weight
Check on speed laces
Transition is shite -need to work on it!
BTA check

Thanks!

Are you using tubes or tubless?
If tubes, what type?

Do you use tyre sizes and pressures appropriate to your weight and road surface?

You can go slightly faster than GP5000 if you wanted, depends on your preferences of aero/RR/reliability/durability/price?

How are you lubricating your drive train?

Are your available gears appropriate to provide an optimum chainline to minimise loses?

Ditto to the hydration recommendations. In particular:

1. BTA almost always adds aero if you are not using anything
2. BTS almost always adds aero
3. Deduct any bottles or cages from within the triangle

Where are you storing your tools and spare tube; in the draft box? If not, snag the draft box.

Also, the PRSix does not have integrated brakes, right? A Tririg front brake might improve some.

He used the word "Enve" in a thread about 'cheap' upgrades

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Speedplay Aero Zero

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

If you haven't done aero testing, then...

BTA and BTS check
Zero bottes in triangle

Spares in Q box -what do you mean 'snag the box'?

Will look at getting tririg front brakes. Back brakes integrated.

Thanks!

Not an option for me I'm afraid -I live in deepest darkest Africa!

Thanks, helps.

I use powertap P1 pedals... not prepared to waste them.. what can I say..

The problem with that is you're asking how to get faster with aero upgrades, but choose to use something that's costing you ~10 watts of additional drag! Good power meter for sure, but it slows you down when you're seeking speed.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

10 watts! Geesh, I did not know that. Might rethink! Thanks.

haha. I used snag as slang for "buy" a draft box. (I couldn't remember if the PRSix came with the draft box.)

In that case, you have the aero testing equipment you need.

What events do you do?

Start using molten speed wax for your chain.

Curious about your comments related to Speedplay & P1 pedals... Is the 10W cost unique to the P1, or are all pedals that bad relative to the Speedplay pedals.

I know that the Speedplays are minimalist and probably have almost no aero footprint. But, most clip-in pedals (including the V3 and Assioma) are way smaller than the P1.

Swim more so you're fresher getting on the bike.

;-)

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Lear to swim better, more efficient & with less stress. Then you can come out of the water not exhausted & use all your cycling toys...

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#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

I am so on board with Jim's recommendation.. I haven't seen 10W but I've seen 5-6 watts between Speedplay aero and newer Look pedals so 10W is completely plausible when comparing to power pedals and all of their 'sticky outie bits'

Don't forget tire, tire size, tube or tubeless setup and pressure selection.. you can easily give up 15-20 watts (or more) with poor tire/tube/pressure selection for your weight/wheels and road surfaces. (Edit, just saw that you have 5000's which are awesome, but still size, tube, pressure are key)

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Do you have any comparisons between the Speed play Zero Aero And the Look Keo Blade pedal (newer one with once piece bottom)? As I have a pair of looks and they look decently aero. So if it’s 1-2 Watts I won’t bother switching, but if it’s 5watts that’s likely worth it. As I would also want to switch to a shoe with a speedplay 4bolt sole

Our brakes will work front and rear on the PRSix.

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TriRig.com

Has disc cover been said?

Out of curiosity, are the Mavic Helium shoes really a cheap speed upgrade? Was there some aero data on these shoes, seem pretty big and bulky too me.

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I was just listing what I currently have, and asking what I could add.

I guess I should toss the Mavics!?!

What I've read is that most of the wattage savings are due to a narrower spindle/q-factor rather than the intrinsic aero shape of the pedals and cleats.

Do you have a source for that? As I thought q-factors were going to be the same across all pedals as fitters will add spacers to fit to a certain q factor based on bio-mechanics.

I typically see 3-5 watts compared to standard Look and Shimano, and 10 watts from P1's to to Aero Zero.

Within the month I'll be testing pedals more, and I'm interested to see what the numbers are for Speedplay-specific shoes and the Aero Zero. Lower stack, so should be a bit faster.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

If those results are going to be publicized, I'll wait for those before switching shoes/pedals. I was thinking a pair of Bont Helix's with Speedplay Aero Zero's unless something tests consistently faster without being exotic.

Maybe I'll make my way down for a track test. The fit you did on me 2 years ago was great!

Full iron and half iron distance. More half.

Will the brake then be mounted in the conventional place I assume?

Very cool, thanks for the reply. Looking forward to reading about your discoveries. It never occurred to me that pedals had that much of an impact.

This has been taking up too much brain space for me as I've been trying to get all the "free speed" I can find..

Right now I've got PowerTap P1 pedals as my PM, which I worry has an aero penalty, but I also have a Vision Metron aero crank which makes me not want to swap out for a crank based PM.. I'd go hub, but I can't find a good carbon disc hub based PM.

In the end I reeeally want to go Speedplay Aero Zero but I can't figure out the best combo.

Any Vision Metron users out there know if a L side only crank arm PM would work in this case?

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

I don't do tri, but if I did, I'd make sure at least once in a while I setup a mock T1 and T2 and use a stopwatch and try out a lot of different things. Or, if it's pretty good already, do it enough that it becomes second nature. Or, intentionally toss in a wrench into your practice to be crafty and able to adapt. Like a broken speed lace or a bike problem.

Given folks blow $3000 on wheels as an improvement I'd really really really hope triathletes are at least practicing the transitions at home a LOT. It's part of the race.

A G3 built into a deep wheel, and add a cover.

Its really not that hard---except the whole flying mount thing (which I don't do). I spent about an hour before my first tri working it out. Being quick in T1/T2 is just about keeping it simple. I usually spend about 30 minutes the day before a race refreshing my brain. But, if you keep it simple there isn't really much to do, or much to go wrong.

What seems to make more difference is RUNNING to T1. Soooo many people walk. With swim-exit to T1 often being 1/2 mile...walking adds a LOT of time.

This. More often than not, I'll pass 3-4 people just in the run to T1. Most people are delirious when they get out of the water after swimming hard, so running takes quite a bit of effort.

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Strava

I'm planning on taking my rear carrier off for the next few months (tri-rig beta), but I've been wondering if leaving it on would be faster.

Sticking an x-lab aero pouch 300 on it (possibly upside down) certainly *looks* like it might help fill the void behind me.

AeroCoach do a PowerTap Aeox disc.

The P1 pedals defintely slowing you down, and if you go to Speedplay Aero Zeros you'll pick up quite a bit.

By all means keep them if you have them. I don't like buckles and strap in general, they don't provide a clean aerodynamic shape and are surely slowing you down but then again they are a sunk cost already. However, shoes do wear out, and if you end up getting a new pair I would definitely check out the Giro Empire series of shoes. I took a pair to the wind tunnel many moons ago and they were fast. Test results for the Giro Empire SLX can be found here.

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This looks awesome! Just reached out to them. I'm not too familiar with track wheel differences, if any, so there's no reason this wouldn't work on a tri-bike right? And I'm not yet a tubular convert but I guess this could push me..

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

The track wheel won't work for you unless you want to run fixed, but they've built a few PowerTap road versions of the Aeox, so they should be able to do one for you.

Will do thanks TG