Aerotesting with Mr. Chung

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!

Comeback

Well, I haven't posted here in a long time, again!
Due to having a really shity training season so far, and pure lazyness.
The last half year has been a real nightmare training-wise as my knees don't seem to be as forgiving as in fall. I pretty much haven't run since Octobre. My swimming was with ups and downs, I swam a personal best over 400m in 4:35, so things were going pretty well. Of course I got sick again and still am for 6 week in a row. This was the second time this year I couldn't train for more than 4 weeks in a row!!!
As you see things haven't be going as planned lately.
But there ist still a little hope left.
I still belive I can have a good mid-late season.

Just a short update

cya

Benja

Q-rings final verdict

I continued riding q-rings for the rest of the year.
I have the subjective feeling:
Pros:
They improve sprinting and accelerating out of the saddle, or at least you can achieve the same amount of power with less work.
It FEELS easier to power along in big gears. Again I think there is not more power produced but less work is needed for the same power.
They may cause fewer stress on the knees.
And most importantly: They look really cool:)

Cons:
Shifting is definitely slower than with round shimano rings.
It is difficult to set up the front derailleur.
Not for everybody, seem not to work with every pedaling technique, if you a have a very round spin they may not be an advantage for you.

To sum it up, I like them and I think I'll keep them:)

Have an awesome day,

Benja

Swimming with Mr. Jaskolka

That was a pretty tough morning. I'm still feeling a bit dizzy. Not because of the strange beer we had yesterday (beer with sherbet, which markus [the puss] refused "ah that's to bitter, I don't like that..wähähä [that little crybaby:D, luckily he'll never read this;)]) but because of very cool swimming session with Marek Jaskolka. We swam side by side 3x1000 and astonishingly I felt really great. I felt smooth, powerfull and fast.. eeerrrr at least I FELT fast, we actually were cruising at 1:30 pace /100m :D
So I think my overall technique is pretty much okay at the moment. But still I am slow like Peter Meyer..^^
Yesterday I ran with Lars Fricke and it was absolutely AWESOME! Due to a little confusion concerning the right way home we ran pretty much twice the distance planned. My first over 10k run since 2007! Yay!:)
As you can see training is progressing and I am confident!
Ah yes we're still learning quite a bit here in Leipzig, more than I could have hoped for.
Cya soon and please forgive my many mistakes!

Benja

Trainer B part1

Now writing from Leipzig, meaning I am currently in far far away from home in East-Germany.
The air is a bit different here causing some people constant headaches! - Yes, Markus is whining like a little girl the whole time:D
We had quite an eventful trip to Leipzig! Georg forgot an "S" in the when typing in the name of the street in his Navi.
So we landed in some kind of strange neighbourhood. Smashed windows everywhere, graffiti sprayed on the walls.. we all felt a little bit uncomfortable:D
Luckily after some time we saw through and could correct our mistake!
More about the IAT and what we actually do here in a little bit.
Cya

Benja

Eicma 2009

Back from Milan, my feet are still hurting like hell!
But damn, what a city! Really cool!
Very cool as well, EICMA!
Not a global player as eurobike or interbike but big enough to keep me running around for 3 hours!
So here are my highly subjective highlights:
LOOK:
really slick looking new special edition paintjobs:

Colnago:
Again the best looking bikes came from Colnago:

But not far behind, the company we all are most interested in:
FOCUS :
The time trial frame got a colour update and a different set of aerobars for 2010.



2010 Cayo was redesigned completey with new beefed up Downtube and BB30 Bottom Bracket




But most importantly the izalco was completely overhauled for 2010.


Even though the handlebars are mounted in an almost ridiculous fashion the bike is absolutely AWESOME!

The new Chainstays are supposed to make the frame more compliant, they certainly look the part!



The headtube diamteter has grown and the cable routing is now internal. Looks all very smooth and really really cool!




The Downtube has grown as well and the BB30 BB rounds up the stunning picture!



Nice shaped headtube!


All in all I have to say the bike is absolutely marvellous!:D I really hope this is going to be our new team-bike!:)


Different frame colours for the izalco are:

Team Milram Replica with new Sram Force



Different colour scheme for the izalco, also nice and also possibly an option for our new team bike.
Cya Later

Benja

2010

Nearly 5 months and zero race reports later I'll start posting again!
To make things short, we had a fantastic season!
The guys were incredibly strong and we accomplished our goal and advanced in the 1.Bundesliga for 2010. As I announced in spring, I did not compete in any races this year. But the guys did extraordinary by themselves! I would have needed to be on the top of my game to be of any help. As this was not possible after the curcimstances in march and april I enjoyed quite a nice summer with only very "light" training:)
But now for 2010 I really want to earn me a spot on the team. In consequence I will have to improve my swim and my bike by quite a bit. But my absolute focus is and must be on running where I will try to slowly build up my form over the winter. Don't expect miracles in the beginning but I hope to have descent form coming february.
Now I'm off to milan for a week!

ps
Here are some small swim videos I made in the last week. Quality is poor - I am sorry, will do better next time!
Eike - He really is in pretty good shape!
Thommy-prepared for the rough waters of barcelone
Clemens - in pretty decent shape compared to the previous years! (But there is still so much more to come! If he'll keep on working on it, he will blow some poeples minds next spring!)
Freddy - this one is really worth watching, as a special guest appears towards the end..:D
Benja - well I am really not happy with my technique or pretty much anything in this video.
Yesterday was a step in the right direction, slowly very slowly I hope I am getting where I want to be technique-wise. Speed is still a whole other story^^

I really need to pack my bags now!
Cya soon

Benja