Last week I was at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs instructing staff on proper aero testing techniques as well as working with atheltes on position and aero testing. I posed the following question to Gary Sutton, coach of the World Champion Women's Pursuit Team...If I could show you a UCI legal position which was 40 watts faster aerodynamically, but would take months of adaptation for the athlete's power to return, would you be willing to place your atheltes in that position?
This topic just came up in a thread about aero helmets and visibility. A pic of the op, Andrew, shows a pretty radical position, but it's a position he seems to find comfortable, powerful, and very aero. As a former client of mine, I know how much the op's position has changed over time; his position has evolved into something most of us would consider "going too far." It is by no means conventional. I've seen this before, and one only has to spend a short amount of time on the Time Trialing Forum to see what athletes dedicated to getting into the most aero position are capable of achieving. My personal aero hero is Dean Phillips out of Fitwerx in Boston. Without giving too much away, Dean is 6'3", 210lbs, but has the lowest CdA I've ever recorded for a male of any size. In fact, since I know the drag numbers, I can tell you he's easily 20 watts more aero than the last 3 Elite Time Trial World Champions. It's a position (UCI legal) he's worked on for many years, and if I recall correctly, he loses ~40 watts every year when he first contorts himself into it. Over the course of a few months, his power slowly returns.
Now, I can show people how to achieve these positions, and have had a few age groupers try it out with success, but they go into it knowing: 1. they'll lose power and have to work to get it back (but it does usually come back), and 2. it will take time to adpat for comfort. The issue is time. It will take time. Sometimes, though, it won't work, and so the time will be wasted.
So, how far are you willing to go? How much time and effort are you willing to give? Would you give up several months of results to possibly get faster in the end? Or, like Andrew, are you willing to evolve your position over time? Years? What do you think a pro rider would be willing to do? I'll tell you right now. They're not willing to give up that time. Not yet, anyway, and I can't blame them for being reticent. But if I showed them 20 athletes who achieved a drastic drag reduction, would that change their minds? I won't tell you the answer Mr. Sutton gave me, but I will say it's age groups atheltes who are on the cutting edge of positioning and aerodynamics. Don't look to the pro peloton or top triathletes. They're simply getting the most out of conventional positioning. They are by no means pushing the envelope of what's possible.
Jim Manton / ERO Sports
This topic just came up in a thread about aero helmets and visibility. A pic of the op, Andrew, shows a pretty radical position, but it's a position he seems to find comfortable, powerful, and very aero. As a former client of mine, I know how much the op's position has changed over time; his position has evolved into something most of us would consider "going too far." It is by no means conventional. I've seen this before, and one only has to spend a short amount of time on the Time Trialing Forum to see what athletes dedicated to getting into the most aero position are capable of achieving. My personal aero hero is Dean Phillips out of Fitwerx in Boston. Without giving too much away, Dean is 6'3", 210lbs, but has the lowest CdA I've ever recorded for a male of any size. In fact, since I know the drag numbers, I can tell you he's easily 20 watts more aero than the last 3 Elite Time Trial World Champions. It's a position (UCI legal) he's worked on for many years, and if I recall correctly, he loses ~40 watts every year when he first contorts himself into it. Over the course of a few months, his power slowly returns.
Now, I can show people how to achieve these positions, and have had a few age groupers try it out with success, but they go into it knowing: 1. they'll lose power and have to work to get it back (but it does usually come back), and 2. it will take time to adpat for comfort. The issue is time. It will take time. Sometimes, though, it won't work, and so the time will be wasted.
So, how far are you willing to go? How much time and effort are you willing to give? Would you give up several months of results to possibly get faster in the end? Or, like Andrew, are you willing to evolve your position over time? Years? What do you think a pro rider would be willing to do? I'll tell you right now. They're not willing to give up that time. Not yet, anyway, and I can't blame them for being reticent. But if I showed them 20 athletes who achieved a drastic drag reduction, would that change their minds? I won't tell you the answer Mr. Sutton gave me, but I will say it's age groups atheltes who are on the cutting edge of positioning and aerodynamics. Don't look to the pro peloton or top triathletes. They're simply getting the most out of conventional positioning. They are by no means pushing the envelope of what's possible.
Jim Manton / ERO Sports
