Wind Tunnel Testing
The thought of going into the wind tunnel and being fitted on my bike appeals to me, although I'm still not ready to drop $300 - $1,000 on this venture. I was fitted on my bike a couple years ago, but that was a bike fit, not a wind tunnel fit. I've seen a company that has a mobile wind tunnel set up, plus a company in Scottsdale that does testing, as well as others and I'm kind of wondering what the advantages are. As far as an aero fit making a difference, I'm a moderately strong rider--I think I'm a bit under 4 watts/kg when I last did the computation. I have a decent bike, power meter, race wheels, aero helmet, etc. My race execution is better than it was before EN, and getting better. I have won and lost races on seconds, although in Ironman races I'm usually in the teens in my age group, but a couple minutes would put me in the top ten and.... Basically, I'm looking for free speed on my bike if it's there. Any experiences you can relate?
Comments
With this type of stuff, your cost is of course dramatically impacted by your location. Add a flight and bike transport into your mix plus your fit/tunnel fees and it adds up pretty quick.
That said, I know more than a few people down my way who have gone up to LA for ERO Sport's velodrome testing. It's not wind tunnel testing per say, but achieves the same results and I'd almost argue it does so in more realistic scenarios.
All the same, don't take my word for it, check out DCR's recent write up here: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/05/...ystem.html
True story: I know Alan Clack, one of the guys behind this system. We swam together at Emory and I recently interviewed him about his successful swim across the English Channel (!!). You can find the podcast in iTunes. He and I have talk about having camps here in LA and bringing people down to the velodrome (fookin' awesome venue) for testing.