I bought an aero jersey, and *smashed* a PR

NorthCascades
NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Yesterday I beat a PR by 1 second. I was proud of myself. It's a 1.3 mile false flat, too long to sprint and too short to hug your threshold, it's a how big is my matchbook today kind of segment.

Today I went out in a band new aero Castelli jersey. (Original PR was in street clothes.) From the start of the ride, I felt faster. So, even though I wasn't as fresh today, I went for the segment again. And beat my best time by 10 seconds!

Well, damn. That was money well spent. Right?

But I have a power meter. When you do the math, the effort I put in each day works out to almost exactly the speed I did. No wind, no draft, same tire pressure, so watts:speed should be pretty close in this case.

The placebo effect is real; thinking you should be faster coaxes more effort out of you. And motivation is the different between a PR and not.

Replies

  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    Skin tight jersey as the best upgrade you can purchase. Aero helmets are number 2. Good tires matter...please don’t ride gatorskins....frames and wheels are actually really far down the list.
  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    Oh and it was not a placebo. My wind breaker costs me 50 watts at 22 mph. I have tested it a number of times.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    I'm on really supple 28 tubeless tires. Not quite GP5k level, but similar to Pro Ones. :smile:
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    I'm on really supple 28 tubeless tires. Not quite GP5k level, but similar to Pro Ones. :smile:

    I wasn't convinced that tubeless were faster until I made the switch last year, I like the cushier ride with the lower pressure too. All in all though an expensive way for an old geezer like me to shave off a few seconds!
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    jlklem wrote: »
    Oh and it was not a placebo. My wind breaker costs me 50 watts at 22 mph. I have tested it a number of times.

    This is amazing. Completely believable, but amazing nonetheless. We're all beyond the newbie gains, training enough to get 50 more watts just isn't realistically possible.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    BrianSharpe wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    I'm on really supple 28 tubeless tires. Not quite GP5k level, but similar to Pro Ones. :smile:

    I wasn't convinced that tubeless were faster until I made the switch last year, I like the cushier ride with the lower pressure too. All in all though an expensive way for an old geezer like me to shave off a few seconds!

    I bought a set of aero wheels a couple years ago. I know they're down the list in terms of speed for your money, but I got the strongest wheels I could after breaking spokes on gravel rides in the middle of nowhere. The wheels came with a free aero drop bar. And the rims were tubeless ready, so I felt like it would be a shame not to take advantage. I agree, expensive, but cushy too. :smile:

    I didn't realize going in how few choices there would be for tubeless tires, but that's been improving.
  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    u3d1nbjqu3su.jpeg

    Don’t get me wrong I like my aero goodies 😀
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Beautiful bike! :smile:

    I've got mid depth wheels on mine.

    46869668195_dfa039edaa_o_d.jpg
  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    Amazing photo...where was that?
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    @jlklem

    Washington Pass.

    A few weeks ago my friend ran a trail marathon in the Methow Valley. I went out to support her, she drove my car to the start and I brought the bike to be able to pick it up. (Met her at the finish with air conditioning and electrolyte water.) She relaxed while I rode the pass the next day before we drove home.
  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    New Zealand?
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Sorry. Washington State, USA.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,399 Member
    I'm a 200lb guy, and I ride an old crap heavy mountain bike. But even at lower speeds than you guys are riding at, the aero advantage of the right gear becomes apparent. We get plenty of wind where I live, and anything loose fitting that can flap around makes life harder.

    I do tend to think that the placebo effect can help at times as well, but it's probably just that extra mental push. But shaving 10 seconds off that segment is a win either way.
  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    Basically until your under 12mph...or a 5% grade aero is king. While that is not perfectly accurate it’s my guideline. Then your tires matter...tires is a whole another subject.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    I don't use a computer often except to work, I mostly use my phone to read and post here. And to look at my Garmin data. And they give you less in the mobile version, so I got the power wrong.

    It was a difference between any 310 and 345 watts. By itself, that's not enough to explain speed, the jersey really did give me a sizeable boost. :smile:
  • MostlyWater
    MostlyWater Posts: 4,294 Member
    nice !!!!
  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    I have racing jersey/long ride jerseys. I also have tool around doing nothing or riding easy with friends jerseys. The racing ones cost 85+. The other ones are 15 years old, ugly and not really tight, they were either cheap or had cool piictures...
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,399 Member
    jlklem wrote: »
    Basically until your under 12mph...or a 5% grade aero is king. While that is not perfectly accurate it’s my guideline. Then your tires matter...tires is a whole another subject.

    Easy enough to agree with as a basic guide. Even on a wide tire, heavy mountain bike aero is huge. Even at lower speed it probably impacts us, just to a point where the power needed to overcome it is so slight we don't pay much attention.

    And tires, yep, they always matter. Since I do some off road stuff here and there I kept the wider tires for now, but on road just pressure increases conserve power to an obvious level. I often run them up near max for on roads or paved trails, and air down if it's messy or rough enough to warrant when I go off the road. If I'm too lazy to pump them back up to higher pressures after being off road, it has an immediate impact on pace/power once back on the hard stuff.

    With the wind that comes off of knobby tires when adjusting and doing maintenance, I'm sure that alone makes life harder as speed ramps up.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    robertw486 wrote: »
    jlklem wrote: »
    Basically until your under 12mph...or a 5% grade aero is king. While that is not perfectly accurate it’s my guideline. Then your tires matter...tires is a whole another subject.

    Easy enough to agree with as a basic guide. Even on a wide tire, heavy mountain bike aero is huge. Even at lower speed it probably impacts us, just to a point where the power needed to overcome it is so slight we don't pay much attention.

    Aerodynamics actually affect you more at low speeds that at high speeds, in terms of time saved. Just that at lower speeds no one really cares, the difference between 6.7 and 6.8 mph is important but 26.7 vs 26.8 mph might get you on the podium or not. Cervelo has a white paper on this, it's pretty interesting.

    Tires matter in a different way. You can go slower and face less air resistance, but once you've chosen a tire and pressure, there's nothing left except to pay the piper.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,399 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    robertw486 wrote: »
    jlklem wrote: »
    Basically until your under 12mph...or a 5% grade aero is king. While that is not perfectly accurate it’s my guideline. Then your tires matter...tires is a whole another subject.

    Easy enough to agree with as a basic guide. Even on a wide tire, heavy mountain bike aero is huge. Even at lower speed it probably impacts us, just to a point where the power needed to overcome it is so slight we don't pay much attention.

    Aerodynamics actually affect you more at low speeds that at high speeds, in terms of time saved. Just that at lower speeds no one really cares, the difference between 6.7 and 6.8 mph is important but 26.7 vs 26.8 mph might get you on the podium or not. Cervelo has a white paper on this, it's pretty interesting.

    Tires matter in a different way. You can go slower and face less air resistance, but once you've chosen a tire and pressure, there's nothing left except to pay the piper.

    I Googled some of the Cervelo papers on bike aero, and as expected it's interesting stuff. As the son of a fighter pilot, avid F1 fan, and general car enthusiast I've looked into aerodynamics to the level of geekery status. Maybe now I'll add another source of such geekery and see how the moving exposed body parts play into the aero game. Good stuff.
  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    I do know for example a disk wheel helps a slower rider more than a faster one because they are on the course more. For me, I love to stand and ride, I have done whole mountains standing but I don’t stand till around 14mph as I create more drag than the additional power.

    Another example, my threshold is 4.8 watts per kilo but that only helps when the grade goes to ~5% as my 4.8 watts is only 285. I weight 59 kilos. All my training partners have lower watts per kilo but smash me on flase flats and flat roads. They are bigger guys with more power. I created my bike not be light but to be as aero as possible so I have a chance on the flats. I sit in the draft, take short pulls (as I slow the group down if I don’t hammer my pulls...which I do) and wait for hills. Aero is everything until a hill....
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    4.8 w/kg!! I'm impressed! :smile:

    I'm one of those bigger guys, and the flat is definitely my friend.

    I'm on a fondo bike, my tires say 28 on the box, but giant rims put 33 mm of rubber on the road. Light gravel bike. Aero wheels wing shaped bars. I'm making it sound like a Frankenbike, but it's fast on mixed surface rides, and we have a lot of great dirt roads around here.
  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    I’m pure road, I want a gravel bike but I am so small I get bounced around and my wife would kill me if I got another bike...

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