Well we could have the first tough day on the bike since 2004. For those out training on the Queen K and up to Hawi at moment on deep front wheels please do yourself a favor and drive out to hawi on Thursday and ride down the descent. Conditions at moment could not be better and no indication of what is normal.
Forecast raceday are gusts up to 30mph by Hawi. Even worse (or better depending who you are) is the wind will be east from town shifting to south in morning meaning no tailwind for much of the morning and then a headwind from Kaiwahe back (last 60k). Classic tough and slow day.
I’ve been living here since May and ride the queens k all the time. I’ve learnt that the forecast is pretty static and that what the forecast says may apply to a very small area.
I’ve had a tailwind from Kawaihae once. The rest of the time there is a headwind that normally let’s up near the airport. Generally there is a tailwind going north to Kawaihae. Training rides are interesting because we talk at normal levels on the way out of Kona and have to shout coming back in.
I think I’ve had cloud cover over the lava fields once so expect sunshine. If its hot you may want to stop to put ice in your water bottle if you’re not used to the heat. If its in the mid 90s in Kona, its hotter out there and the headwind can blow up hot air from the tarmac and just suck moisture out of you.
I’m 130-135lbs and normally only get blown about when there is a huge lorry that disturbs the air flow. Downhill from Hawi to Kawaihae is normally fine but in high winds I get blown about a little on the downhill after you turn right onto route 19 (the road back to kailua Kona). I’d recommend getting out of drops if its very windy and you’re passing.
The other issue with that descent is lost water bottles. A buddy of mine has a huge collection of them from previous years where people drop them and don’t want to stop for then. If you have a gorilla cage it’ll be fine but I had a profile design aero bottle that popped out a couple times there and I changed bottle cage because of it.
Well we could have the first tough day on the bike since 2004. For those out training on the Queen K and up to Hawi at moment on deep front wheels please do yourself a favor and drive out to hawi on Thursday and ride down the descent. Conditions at moment could not be better and no indication of what is normal.
Forecast raceday are gusts up to 30mph by Hawi. Even worse (or better depending who you are) is the wind will be east from town shifting to south in morning meaning no tailwind for much of the morning and then a headwind from Kaiwahe back (last 60k). Classic tough and slow day.
Should be fun.
I am 304 lbs, and I roll on alloy 32h beasts, but I’m going to advise my sub 120 lb gf that running an 85 or 90 in the rear and a 72 up front, while keeping a 58 in her special needs bag for swap in Hawi, where I’ll be measuring wind strength and direction to advise on swap. The plastic bag will hold a carbon clincher. This is truly the best solution to this vexing issue that has persisted for nearly 30 years.
Well we could have the first tough day on the bike since 2004. For those out training on the Queen K and up to Hawi at moment on deep front wheels please do yourself a favor and drive out to hawi on Thursday and ride down the descent. Conditions at moment could not be better and no indication of what is normal.
Forecast raceday are gusts up to 30mph by Hawi. Even worse (or better depending who you are) is the wind will be east from town shifting to south in morning meaning no tailwind for much of the morning and then a headwind from Kaiwahe back (last 60k). Classic tough and slow day.
Should be fun.
I am 304 lbs, and I roll on alloy 32h beasts, but I’m going to advise my sub 120 lb gf that running an 85 or 90 in the rear and a 72 up front, while keeping a 58 in her special needs bag for swap in Hawi, where I’ll be measuring wind strength and direction to advise on swap. The plastic bag will hold a carbon clincher. This is truly the best solution to this vexing issue that has persisted for nearly 30 years.Why lose time and swap wheels instead of just starting with the shallower wheel? What’s the projected time savings between the two front wheels over 112 miles?
Well we could have the first tough day on the bike since 2004. For those out training on the Queen K and up to Hawi at moment on deep front wheels please do yourself a favor and drive out to hawi on Thursday and ride down the descent. Conditions at moment could not be better and no indication of what is normal.
Forecast raceday are gusts up to 30mph by Hawi. Even worse (or better depending who you are) is the wind will be east from town shifting to south in morning meaning no tailwind for much of the morning and then a headwind from Kaiwahe back (last 60k). Classic tough and slow day.
Should be fun.
I am 304 lbs, and I roll on alloy 32h beasts, but I’m going to advise my sub 120 lb gf that running an 85 or 90 in the rear and a 72 up front, while keeping a 58 in her special needs bag for swap in Hawi, where I’ll be measuring wind strength and direction to advise on swap. The plastic bag will hold a carbon clincher. This is truly the best solution to this vexing issue that has persisted for nearly 30 years.Why lose time and swap wheels instead of just starting with the shallower wheel? What’s the projected time savings between the two front wheels over 112 miles?
Crashing is terminal. The wind algorithm developed by the engineering team at Cornell suggests the savings could be upwards of 43 seconds per 40k on the return. Or nearly a minute and a half total, given optimized clincher depth on the descent. I can share the modeling and white paper once I have the time to write the technical paper, but there is very real evidence that we should be switching clinchers in Hawi.
The Silca pump is also a critical item for transition. If your flimsy borrowed jawn spits out a psi that’s 5 or even 10 points off the truth, then you will lose more than you got with your swimskin. I will be bringing the pricey Silca pump and charging $20 per set inflated in transition, or $40 to calibrate or validate the inaccuracy of your regular pump in advance of race day. Bring cash or PM me for details. Or just ride at 80 psi and that could mean the difference between 11:59 and 12:01!
Well we could have the first tough day on the bike since 2004. For those out training on the Queen K and up to Hawi at moment on deep front wheels please do yourself a favor and drive out to hawi on Thursday and ride down the descent. Conditions at moment could not be better and no indication of what is normal.
Forecast raceday are gusts up to 30mph by Hawi. Even worse (or better depending who you are) is the wind will be east from town shifting to south in morning meaning no tailwind for much of the morning and then a headwind from Kaiwahe back (last 60k). Classic tough and slow day.
Should be fun.
I am 304 lbs, and I roll on alloy 32h beasts, but I’m going to advise my sub 120 lb gf that running an 85 or 90 in the rear and a 72 up front, while keeping a 58 in her special needs bag for swap in Hawi, where I’ll be measuring wind strength and direction to advise on swap. The plastic bag will hold a carbon clincher. This is truly the best solution to this vexing issue that has persisted for nearly 30 years.Why lose time and swap wheels instead of just starting with the shallower wheel? What’s the projected time savings between the two front wheels over 112 miles?
Crashing is terminal. The wind algorithm developed by the engineering team at Cornell suggests the savings could be upwards of 43 seconds per 40k on the return. Or nearly a minute and a half total, given optimized clincher depth on the descent. I can share the modeling and white paper once I have the time to write the technical paper, but there is very real evidence that we should be switching clinchers in Hawi.
The Silca pump is also a critical item for transition. If your flimsy borrowed jawn spits out a psi that’s 5 or even 10 points off the truth, then you will lose more than you got with your swimskin. I will be bringing the pricey Silca pump and charging $20 per set inflated in transition, or $40 to calibrate or validate the inaccuracy of your regular pump in advance of race day. Bring cash or PM me for details. Or just ride at 80 psi and that could mean the difference between 11:59 and 12:01!
I actually will take money to break even on that pump. It’s a slick piece of kit, and I’m not sharing it. Our LBS had pumps that were 4%-9% off. The rest is pink.
A whole wheel will fit in a special needs bag? Wow! I didn’t know that was possible.
I don;t see the savings being worth while. The biggest savings are at high yaw… on the return… and that’s when you’ll swap the wheel out. Just use the shallower front wheel.
More importantly: You can definitely get it back? At Chattanooga we were told that special needs bags wouldn’t be returned, so not to put anything valuable in them. Does that change from race to race?
I actually will take money to break even on that pump. It’s a slick piece of kit, and I’m not sharing it. Our LBS had pumps that were 4%-9% off. The rest is pink.
And just how do you know that yours is the one pump that is accurate?
More importantly: You can definitely get it back? At Chattanooga we were told that special needs bags wouldn’t be returned, so not to put anything valuable in them. Does that change from race to race?
Nobody steels at Kona. The median income is $200k there and taking other people’s 404’s is gauche and gauche gets. I leave mine leaning up against the sea wall every year when I do my warm up swim, just to see if anything happens.
I actually will take money to break even on that pump. It’s a slick piece of kit, and I’m not sharing it. Our LBS had pumps that were 4%-9% off. The rest is pink.
And just how do you know that yours is the one pump that is accurate?
I verified same in the Cornell aeronautics lab. The cost for the verification was twice the value of the pump, but again, you can never be too cautious when there are minutes on the line
I actually will take money to break even on that pump. It’s a slick piece of kit, and I’m not sharing it. Our LBS had pumps that were 4%-9% off. The rest is pink.
And just how do you know that yours is the one pump that is accurate?
I verified same in the Cornell aeronautics lab. The cost for the verification was twice the value of the pump, but again, you can never be too cautious when there are minutes on the line
And spending university money is a lot of fun and really easy, although I’m personally riding the cheapest, slipperiest Chinese carbon cruiser in Kona. Not that it matters because I plan to draft the whole way.
I really hope that everyone laughs at you when you tell them that you will pump their tires for twenty tires.
Good luck in the race though!
dollars? What is that piece of crap? Are you also riding a Trek Speed Concept stacked up like you’re star gazing? Or are you on the even more embarrassing IA?
I don’t need luck. I have propensity models. I would be willing to share them with you if you believe in the scientific method. And part of that belief is in the necessity of accurate data. MAPE > 200 bps is how races are lost.
I wish you luck, if you choose to wing it on one of those super bikes for dumb money. But I also wish that you would read the Fountainhead.
