It is just incredible that a single piece of equipment could have that big an effect on performance -- in my case, roughly 2 minutes on a 40K TT.



1) Fastest clincher tires & latex tubes

2) Correct inflation; even after I switched to good tires, I was riding at 130+psi for years (at 158 lbs). I don't know how much this cost, but it was a probably a lot.

3) Raised bars. For years, I had a 15cm+ drop. Now it's more like 2. Beyond 5 cm, all I was achieving was a higher arch in my back.

4) Got narrow: narrow bottom bracket, narrow cranks, pedals. etc.

5) Got rid of the base bars.

5) The BIG one: Trained with aero discipline. Driving behind me in a follow car a few years after the wind tunnel photos, Cees Beers (aerodynamicist and owner of ADA wheels) observed that I consistently threw one knee far out to the side whenever I pedaled hard. I'll have to dig up a photo of it: it's really quite striking.

Unfortunately, it was only years after that, that (thanks to Robert Chung's famous method) I started to to do regular field tests. That helped me realize that my real riding at full power was nothing like my wind tunnel riding. So I Chung-tested at least every two weeks -- at full race power. The difference between thoughtful, disciplined riding (knees in, head at right angle, etc.) and thoughtless riding is huge. If you train that way for a while, you'll realize that you don't have to sacrifice power (or at least not that much) to maintain the discipline.

Even 17 years ago it was known that tufos are slow.

MrTri123 wrote:

No base bar.

Do you use mantis bars?

Do you still use it out or heavy sworn off them because of the problems with connecting to older stuff?

Thank you for the info Jens

Sorry, meant to say, are you using Etap or are you done with that because of their trouble with using old versions with the new stuff?

Lots of good guesses, but no cigar.

1). 320 watts in a hot wind tunnel & 291 watts @ 140 bpm (25 bpm below threshold).

17 years later, that threshold power is more like 235. Aging sucks.

2) 17 years later, I am only a bit slower with 85 watts less power.

That’s good right? Well, no. Just thinking about how things would have gone back then if I had known what I know now (e.g. never, ever use Tufo tubulars) kinda makes me sick. Equipment DOES matter. So does position.

I started with a simple "Aero or die" setup, which consisted of a sawed off MTB bar with aero clip-ons. Since then, I've been using these:

https://www.morf-tech.com/


Though I haven't had the guts to try to use them in races where UCI rules are rigidly enforced.

if you could replicate the new position on the old bike, I would be shocked if the drag difference would be greater than 25w

When I complained about them on this forum many years ago, there were still quite a few people who ridiculed me for it and absolutely denied they made a significant difference. I had a long-running dispute with the owner of one bike shop over the issue.

You wish that tiny silver helmets were still legal and available? That you had thought of painters tape as an aero solution to exposed cables? That it was still 2004 and we could root for Postal? That the San Marco Aspide was still available as a saddle?