![]() ![]() But really the key factor is then making sure the athlete is training in this position.”īottrill has his athletes doing aero drills during bike workouts that are specific to them, in much the same way you might work on swim drills to address weaknesses in your swim stroke. You’d then look at clothing and helmet choices. You can then work on changes with pole angle, pad positions, height and stack, and even having the right saddle can alter this. “This can be improved by first looking at the biomechanics of the athlete and seeing what limitations they have. Of course, your bike fit and position play a major role in this, with a massive 80% of the drag coming from the rider. Once you have gathered your data (which is typically done in a wind tunnel session, but there is an at-home method, plus Bottrill lists some handy resources in his tips below), you can then start to look at ways to improve it, as well as looking at the course profile(s) of your key race(s). And when you think about some of the bike courses on the 70.3 or Ironman circuit-especially Kona-this becomes all the more interesting and important. Lowering your drag coefficient will also dramatically reduce the effect of the wind on your speed, Bottrill said. “Even top pros can normally find gains of 15-20 watts when they first start out on this,” he said. He said it’s common for most age-group athletes to make gains of 30-40 watts relatively easily when first starting this work if you’ve not done any “aero optimization” before. It will ultimately come down to the individual and depends on the flexibility of the athlete, as well as their budget, Bottrill said. If you can get below 0.21 then you’re well on your way to victory.” For age groupers, the average CdA we see is around 0.24-025. Speed is the number one factor you have to think about if you can reduce your watts for the same speed, that’s a good sign you are improving,” he said.īottrill said the CdA for most top pros is typically below 0.2000, adding: “We see some of our athletes down in the 0.185 range, but it’ll depend on the course profile and, of course, how committed they are to training and dialing this in. It’s not always about increasing your power you’ve got to think about speed. “The key thing to understand is if you can lower your drag number, you will lose less energy while racing. Bottrill has coached the likes of Lucy Charles-Barclay, Tim O’Donnell, Tim Don, Susie Cheetham, and Matt Hanson, and he said, regardless of whether he’s working with pros or age groupers, drag coefficient is an important part of improvement for every rider on his roster. It is something that top bike coaches, such as Matt Bottrill, look at with all of the athletes they work with. The lower your drag number, the less energy you will lose while riding. In the simplest terms, drag coefficient (CdA) quantifies the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as a triathlete riding a bike along a road. When we think about riding-and riding fast-we often think about power or fancy carbon frames with expensive wheels, and while these things are all important, the top cycling coaches in the sport have their eyes on something that sounds a little less sexy: drag coefficient. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! ![]()
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