Everything You Need to Know About Getting Aero
I really enjoyed the podcast from Fat Black called "Everything You Need to Know About Getting Aero with Mark Cote." Cote runs the wind tunnel lab at Specialized and shares his insights on aero. He's tested a bunch of Specialized sponsored athletes. Even though the findings from the Specialized Lab have been discussed at length on places like Slowtwitch, I thought it was interesting to hear directly from Cote.
Here are a few of the quick hits I remember:
- The hierarchy of aero (in terms of time saving): Helmet, wheels, bike frame.
- Don't buy a $10k bike and then tape your nutrition to the top tube. You'll lose tons of time in an IM. (I see this all the time at races).
- Only ride with a front wheel as deep as you are comfortable handling for the course based on how technical it is, crosswinds, etc. Otherwise, you'll be tense and less aero, or need to break aero position. Rear depth matters much less for handling, except a disk in severe crosswinds. I can relate to this as I did St George 70.3 last year with my Flo 30 up front instead of my 60 to have better handling on the technical course but still rocked my 90 in the back. I was more relaxed and probably saved time as a result. (Thanks to Tim for the recommendation!)
- You don't need a ridiculous drop on your aerobars. He said the average he sees is something like 4cm. He said it's more important to have optimized biomechanics so you're comfortable and can hold aero longer and run later.
- Shaved legs will save you something like an average of 75s per 40k. That is over 5 minutes on an IM. I guess I need to reluctantly shave after being a hippy runner the last several months. 5 minutes at IM Boulder is totally worth it.
- Tubulars vs clinchers. Clinchers are just as aero and have the same rolling resistance as tubulars now. Use what you're most comfortable with. He thought tubular would go away in favor of clinchers and eventually tubeless.
- Aero clothing is the next big thing. He mentions the LG and PI sleeved trisuits as ones he's tested with positive benefits. The sleeves need to be a textured material, so not all sleeved trisuits will make a difference.
- He hinted he's found shoes are a big deal but wouldn't share specifics. I'm guessing Specialized is working on aero shoes.
Enjoy!
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Comments
Did he say anything about where people put their heads? Every IM I do, I see a lot of people tootling along with a grin on their faces, their elbows low down, and their chins up above their shoulders.The hierarchy of aero *starts* with the human body - probably more than 80% of drag is due to our bodies, not our equipment. And the head, along with the hands and forearms, is the leading edge. Where you put it ismore critical than what type of helmet you put on it. Get that head down, people!
@William, good point. He said a couple centimeters doesn't make a big difference. I have a 10cm drop. When I got my bike fit at ERO, the guru Jim Manton said you shouldn't go beyond 10cm -- otherwise, it will be hard to digest food. I had it setup at 12cm when I brought it in because I was under the impression you should go for the most aggressive drop possible.
@Al, I don't remember him mentioning that. He did say that short-tail helmets were only effective if the rider turtles their head down. He didn't say what he meant by short-tail though, and pushed the Specialized helmets pretty heavily.
@David, sure, hope it helps! There are also a bunch of threads here on EN and on Slowtwitch if you search for aero camp. Look for posts by Jim@ERO. They're gold. I used the 3 hours of my bike fit with Jim to get a complete brain dump on aero. He recommended the following products as he's personally tested them in the velodrome:
(though I agree with all of the gear findings noted upthread!)
As far as shaving legs...I've never noticed a difference in actual races, either swimming or triathlon, the times I've done it vs not. I dont doubt the data, it's just in my real world there are so many other factors affecting pervormace that I regard it more as a psychological that a physical boost.
I'm just puttin' out a picture of 'low head' so we can get an illustration ... I try to use this as a reference when starting to get into real race mode and practicing head-down riding. Coupled with hunched shoulders, I think it's pretty fast.
A few things to point out here - (1) my elbows are pretty far apart, and I think this makes the position sustainable for more than a few seconds, and (2) I'm monitoring trying to keep my chin lower that the notch between my deltoid and bicep. (Not to even begin to put myself in his class, but Kienle's head position is a great example of the last point ... and he sustains this under ridiculous efforts.)
(disclaimer ... I'm not drafting here.)
[IMG]http://i67.tinypic.com/29f32uo.jpg[/IMG];
Wow, that's a great illustration picture! I love the contrast of you in a super aero position and the other riders sitting up. The rider in aero in front of you almost looks like he's upright in comparison. (He also clearly hasn't read a bunch of threads about aero, or he'd know not to have a bottle on the down tube and have it behind his seat instead)
What kind of drop do you have?
I have the 810. It tested poorly compared to other bike computers, although they were suspicious of the results because they thought the mount may have moved.
I'd say this is scraping the bottom of the aero barrel, but here it is...
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/03/specialized-wind-tunnel.html