HeartRN wrote:
Question for you, Ben. I watched your video on tire pressure and downloaded the app you talked about before age group nats, because I was curious and the roads there weren’t as smooth as they advertised. I’m pretty consistently around 49-50 kg and it recommended I run less than 80 psi for both the front and back. I’ve run 110-115 psi pretty much the entire 6 years I’ve been in the sport. Now I’m running more like 100-105 for race day. I have 23 mm Conti GP400s on both my road and Tri bikes. I’ve ridden with my tires in the 70s-80s before (on accident) and I wasn’t a fan. It felt slow, especially going up hills. Suggestions?
Lets keep in mind that I am by no means an expert on this topic. I just seek out all expert opinions, research, and data and come to conclusions based on that.
Realistically the only difference between me and Mario S is a willingness to trust the science.
And youth. And speed. And good looks. Seriously though, I appreciate the skepticism and/or concerns of running lower tire pressures. Like you, when I saw how low it suggested I run my tires on that app (75/77), I couldn't bring myself to do it and ran 85 instead (knowing the pavement was in pretty good condition). The interesting thing about your observations about how you felt (slow, probably squishy?), is that that's exactly what we need to train our mind to believe is fast. Because it is. We're so used to feeling the vibrations of the road and thinking that's fast because that's how its always been. Instead we need to start telling ourselves that smooth is fast. My approach to this has been to slowly work my pressure down to the point where the right PSI feels "normal". Maybe try lowering your pressure by 5psi each week until you hit at least 85 or something. Realistically your ideal is something lower than that, but 85 will certainly be better than 100. Now I ride my trainer for 4 out of 5 workouts, but when I decided to take this low pressure leap, I would force myself outside for short rides more often just to get a better understanding of how it felt. Ultimately, for most of us right now, it comes down to being willing to trust the science more than we trust our bodies. That's super hard.
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