Well not really with him, but using his extraordinary methodology to analyse the field-testing we conducted in our velodrome here in the university in cologne.
And with quite some success!:)
First was Nick Staggenborg, an aspiring swimmer who has fixed himself with some nice cycling legs (the running legs are in the works, I think he is using the latest beta version, release end of Q2 maybe early Q3...) where was I... Ah.. yes he will be shocking some people soon with some blistering bike splits!
Long story short, although I am far from having put together a perfect test protocol we already were able to save 20 watts from his original position (even 28watts, but he might not be able to hold it together for 90k's so lets say 20)! And he even should be able to hold this position as it is even slightly higher than the previous one.
Next one was Zellerman
His initial position wasn't bad at all, but still left plenty of room for improvement.
I tested the praying mantis position (made famous by a guy named floyd...) with him, and err...
Let's put it this way:
First of all it was fast, really fast, so fast that I won't post the numbers here as nobody would believe me:D
But most of all it was fugly as hell and he felt it wasn't ride-able at least not for a long time.
That's really a shame as if he would/could train to ride this position he could gain some serious time.
But we still found a considerate amount of time, although this is a serious understatement. Putting his arms closer together and raising his arms a tad resulted in a decrease of CdA of 0,027 ~ 23Watts!!! Further testing showed that by opening his mouth and poking his tongue out accompanied with rocking back and forth on the saddle cost him nearly half of the CdA gain.
All in adds up to at least 1:12 minutes over 40k and 2:43minutes over 90k, if he keeps is tongue to himself;) this could easily turn to 1:42 and 3:51 minutes!
Last but not least Tommy had to try a ridiculously steep "Praying Mantis"-position which was so bad that he would be 15 minutes slower over the ironman leg if he would finish without crashing first which given the steep angle seems unlikely:)
John Cobb once said, that short helmets like the Giro advantage work well for people with round backs, while long helmets like the Spiuk should be worn by athletes with flat backs.
And as always he is spot on, Tommy tried both the Giro and the Spiuk and given is Lance shaped back (@ zeller dont cha wish your back was bent like that? ; ) ) the Giro tested ~ about 15 watts faster for him than the spiuk!
All in all it was a long day.
I hope I haven't bored you too much!
To summarize the day, I was very surprised by the huge effect of apparently little changes in position. But the data is correct, although the estimates of Crr aren't at 100% the difference in CdA remain about the same.
BIG THANKS to Sebastian, Nick and Tommy for participating and helping me learn more about aero-testing!!!
hugs and kisses
Benja
ps
I'll try to never post something as boring again;)
next time at least with pictures!
