I have an older LG Rocket helmet, but have been using a Specialized Evade in TTs recently because I have it and I heard it tested good. Now that I finally have a power meter, I have confirmation about how bad my aero is. I did 318 watts for a 22.8 mile (dead flat) TT this weekend for 25.1 mph (I weight about 72.5 kilos), using the Evade. Any thoughts on how much the Specialized TT might help? It’s $300 which is a little steep, but I’m trying to look at the low hanging fruit. I already have good wheels, disk cover, skinsuit, show covers, latex tubes on 25 mm GP 4000 tires, so I feel like I am mostly dialed out.
Total WAG ~20sec. It’s highly dependent on your position. Bigger issue: if it takes you 318W to do 25mph either your PM or your position needs some recalibration.
Or it might have been against the headwind?
Specialized data shows the Sworks TT helmet as 12 seconds faster than the Evade over a 40K TT. There are also faster tires out there than GP4000s.
Honestly though, resolving any position issues will provide more gains than buying a $300 helmet for ~12s.
The PM is calibrated and the numbers are consistent with what I do for a hill climb (it is a lot easier to do sanity checks against hill climb power). I believe the power is accurate, but are there other checks I could do?
I was fit on the bike at the top Tri shop in the area. I’m sure there is some room for improvement, but I am really struggling to believe my position could be so bad that I am losing 4-5 minutes compared to other riders in a 40k. I have no more than .25 inches of spacers in the front on 3T aural pro bars.
I think you have some position work to do. I’m a bit over 80 kilos. On a good day, I’m a 280w guy. That was good for 57:33 at Church Creek in 2014. It’s a dead flat measured 40k.
Perhaps your fitter set you up for power vs speed?
serious work on position to do and lots of room for improvement. on a meager 290w avg on a 20mi TT recently where there was nothing flat I went 27.4mph at 75kg. Master Nats TT( if I had done things right leading into it, it should have been 325w…oops)
I have no more than .25 inches of spacers in the front on 3T aural pro bars.
Spacers or lack of spacers doesn’t really mean much if you’re not in a good position. I had a fit this spring, and my seat height was increased along with my base bar height (only because I can’t increase stack by just raising the pads) to keep me in my same general position I had before. Increasing the stack on the front of my TT bike did not negatively impact me.
but I am really struggling to believe my position could be so bad that I am losing 4-5 minutes compared to other riders in a 40k.
By the numbers you posted in your original post, your w/kg for the TT was at 4.39. My w/kg for the day was at 4.35. w/kg is not really the appropriate measurement for a flat TT, but it seems we rode at a similar power to weight ratio for the TT. I don’t know what my CDA is currently, but I know for the effort I put out on Saturday, I was over five minutes faster.
I was fit on the bike at the top Tri shop in the area. I’m sure there is some room for improvement, but I am really struggling to believe my position could be so bad that I am losing 4-5 minutes compared to other riders in a 40k. I have no more than .25 inches of spacers in the front on 3T aural pro bars.
I would look at maybe getting fit somewhere else. Several years ago when I raced road, I did a time trial where I averaged 250 watts and averaged 25mph. Obviously this is a very N=1 study, but it shows how much position can change average speed. Unless you were in really windy conditions or the course was super hilly, I would look at your fit. For what it’s worth, I’ve had really good results with one of the Retul fitters in my area.