My LBS has kindly offered to let me race with a disc and deep dish front for this weekends race (Olympic distance) - needless to say I am very excited!! The course is mostly flat (with only few small rolling hills), so I am really looking forward to it.
I usually roll along at around 22mph over the 40km with my HR well manageable using training wheels (Mavic CXP-33’s) - anyone care to enlighten me on what I should expect? What will it feel like?
If you have ridden this course before, and know what your time was, I will predict you will be 4 minutes faster.
Part of this 4 minutes will be because the wheels are faster. The rest of the 4 minutes will be because you are excited about racing the new wheelset, you will concentrate just a little more to make sure you stay aero, and you will even sacrifice your run just a bit in order to make sure you were worthy of borrowing the wheels!
Well, here are my pre-race predictions, realistic but still an extension. The weather will be hot and potentially humid, but not traditionally windy.
Swim – 30mins. This takes into account that it is a tough surf swim, out and back, with no wetsuits. The swell to get out into the flatter waters can be a big, so this will be interesting… T1 – There is a long run up a very sandy (but beautiful) white beach, over the road and through a carpark to get to the compound, so this will conceivably put another 4mins on. Bike – The big question. I had hoped for a 1.10.00 bike split, but then the disc factor comes into it. Shall we say, 1.08? (Let’s go crazy!!) T2 – 1 min. Run – 42mins Total – 2.25.00
Promise to update you all when I come back. Sunny Queensland beckons, and I can’t tell you how nice it will be to take some time off work!!
The first time you use a disk, depending on which one the, noise can be a bit of a distraction. You will be able to hear every bump in the road and every click of a cog. If your drive train is not perfectly in line, you and everyone else will know!!
Time savings? I’ll leave that to the real aero gurus.
Hmmm. I like the noise. I think its cool. A for what it feels like: I’m a heavy weight at 170 pounds so I don’t feel too much crosswind interfereance. I am also a disk wheel believer big time. I think you do notice a pretty significant speed advantage, but no, I absolutely cannot quantify it. It seems like over 40Km bike course saving 2 minutes may not be asking too much. Like the other guys said, give it a try, get on it and pedal!