Along The Road/Tri Bike Discussion: Did you know…?

Did you know that only 25% of the aerodynamic drag on a bike is actually attributable to the bike?  That would make the other 75% me.  That doesn’t sound too crazy…

But this does:

“Most people don’t realize that a nonaero helmet creates four times the drag of a nonaero wheelset. So you can spend two thousand dollars on a wheelset, or spend two hundred on a helmet and be faster. How you put your race number on matters more than having an aero wheel; today, we glued on our numbers to get them to fit flatter. Then there’s water bottle placement: On a round-tubed frame, having a bottle on your seat tube is more aerodynamic than not having one at all, and it’s much more aero than putting it on the down tube. And wearing gloves in a time trial will slow you down more than using a nonaero front wheel”.

Truth be told, you don’t even need $200.

Also, because I’ll be using a road bike in my 70.3 in September, you can cheat the seat tube angle on a road bike with a special seat post (that can get you to the magic 78 degree angle to get your opened hips almost over the bottom bracket).  And they come in Aluminum or Carbon – the aluminum is less than $100.

While cruising around yesterday, I stumbled on this great image that shows the geometry difference between a road bike and a triathlon bike:

Happy training day.  May your Saturday be productive, healthy, happy and injury free.  And remember:  If it was easy, anyone could do it.  More importantly, don’t quit 5 minutes before the miracle happens.