I’ve been busy dealing with TS Fay at work and have not been able to follow the Olympic Race much. But from the bits and pieces I’ve seen, no one is wearing TT helmets? Why is that?
Just a guess, but perhaps because it’s not a TT? Dunno, really.
not sure, but I noticed no deep wheelsets either. A few 58 mm rims, but no 808’s or equivalent.
I mean… I know it’s non-drafting and all, but I race on 808’s in all but the hilliest road races. There’s time to be gained.
Must be in the rules somewhere… shrug
The guys on the track are wearing “TT” helmets, and riding with 2 discs too…
I’d presume that riding the 40K in a tight pack, makes the aero helmet not necessary, rather use a light and more vented helmet.
Team Pursuit and team time trial are different events from a pack race. In the case of the TTT or Team Pursuit, your goal is to get the “pack” to the finish line as fast as possible. In a pack race, you don’t worry about how fast the pack gets to the finish line, just as long as you’re the first one in the pack to cross the finish line. So, for a TTT/Team Pursuit, there is an advantage to being as aero as possible. For a pack race, there’s only a benefit to being more aero if you’re going to successfully launch a solo/small group breakaway. There’s a slight benefit in a flat race to be more aero for the sprint, but it’s not worth overheating your head, and for a draft-legal triathlon, there’s very little to be gained in sprinting.
Just a guess, but perhaps because it’s not a TT? Dunno, really.
Neither is a Triathlon but I see them all the time at races…
Most of the races you’re watching aren’t draft-legal… so functionally, they’re supposed to be like time-trials. Of course, if your local races are anything like the races I do, you probably couldn’t tell whether they were draft-legal or not without actually looking at the rules… but since the Olympics are draft-legal, it’s a moot point.
Really?
And what is the difference between the Time Trial bike leg of a triathlon and a TT in a cycling event?
all the drafting that goes on in a non-drafting tri event??
At least in most of the cycling world, TT helmets and discs aren’t “mass start legal” meaning you can’t ride them when the race is with a pack. I would assume it’s all safety reasons: visibility, pointy helmets in the event of a group crash, wind gusts on a disk in the pack, etc.
Potts had 808s at Olympic Trials this year, and others rode an 80 or so deep rear. Also, weren’t the HED wheels in the pictures of Gomez’s olympic cervelo 80ish millimeters? I’m pretty sure you can ride them. I don’t know if there’s a 100mm cutoff, or if it’s just no discs.
And what is the difference between the Time Trial bike leg of a triathlon and a TT in a cycling event?
Well that’s pretty easy to answer. I’m not a cyclist but I have done road racing, crits and yes, actual TT events.
The difference between the bike leg of a tri and a TT cycling event that is when you are done with the TT event, you are done. Ergo, you can put 100% of your effort into that TT. After my first TT in Houston TX in August I nearly passed out! After the bike leg of a triathlon, you still have to run, so you have to have enough energy to run the distance, whether it’s a mere 5k sprint, a 10 Olympic, 13.1 or 26.2.
You could do some interesting game theory calculations with this, but that’s not my specialty.
Let’s say that you wear an aero helmet, and your competitors don’t. Let’s say, furthermore, you can have 2 positions at the pack - at the front, or drafting (don’t want to get into a big debate as to whether 20th position is much better than 2nd - it shouldn’t change the analysis much). If you’re out in the front, an aero helmet permits you to go a bit faster for the same effort, but that doesn’t hurt your competitors much, as they are drafting you (accruing a benefit to them). If you are in the pack, you aren’t benefitting much from the aero helmet - maybe a very slight savings of energy. So, you might be able to argue you have expended a tiny bit less energy than your competitors, but not nearly as much of a difference as what you save in a non-drafting situation, and certainly not as much as you could accrue simply by “sitting in” a bit more. But, you have the additional discomfort/heat of wearing a less ventilated helmet.
This also explains why they were using the wheels, but not the helmets (assuming the helmets are even legal for ITU - I don’t know offhand). Wheels may accrue a minimal benefit in a drafting circumstance, but they have no penalty (except maybe the extra weight for sprinting, and even that can be shown analytically to be minimal). An aero helmet, on the other hand, has less ventilation, which is a big potential liability if it really offers only minimal benefits in energy consumed.
My point was that one’s TT equipment is going to be of value in a TT that’s a part of another race, AND if you’re just doing a straight up TT…
Unless you’re saying that you’d gain less of an aero advantage because one is going slower in a triathlon and it’s more important to go with a lighter helmet in a Tri to save energy.
I would also ride more slack in both and stay in a position that would be slightly less aero then be very uncomfortable in an aero position and constantly rising up out of it. Since position is the most important component…
Sorry to jump in, but what station and time are these events?
OK, here is a question…
Even if you are riding in a pack, why wouldn’t it still be beneficial to have deep wheels? I mean, you will still be expending less energy to make them go round, regardless of if you are in a pack or in a breakaway, no? Why do people think the aero advantage disappears if you are drafting?
As for the no aero helmets, my guess is that for the short distance in the high heat, they probably figured it wasn’t worth it to overheat.
Its simple isn’t it? Draft-legal triathlon is a running race. You don’t see many runners wearing aero-helmets!
I would agree that, if cost is no object, areo wheels help slightly in the draft, and I think many of the riders used at 40-60mm deep wheels. The only possible difficulties would be handling and acceleration, and never having ridden really deep wheels, I can’t comment on whether that is an issue. Pro cyclists in mass-start events often use 404s, 808s, similar depth wheels, etc. But, in a draft, the difference is much less than if you are fully exposed. Maybe some of them didn’t use wheels that are too deep due to handling concerns, but since I haven’t ridden deep wheels, let alone in a pack, I can’t comment on whether that is a legitimate concern.
Given the hill climb they had at the olympics, and the pack riding, I guess I can see why one would opt for a shallow rim for reduced weight. If the course had been flat, I bet you would have seen more deep wheels. I’ve used 404’s and Easton Tempest II’s in road races, and never found them hard to handle in a pack.
TT helmets are warmer, less vents, and heavier, unless off the front solo in in a break, the benefits of cooling may outweigh the aerodynamics
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