Aero bars and power

After last week off from work, I've been really motivated this week. Not for work related things, but for cycling.

I read an article that was posted on the google wattage forum about aerodynamics. Now I'll be the first to admit that I make fun of guys that show up to a 5k or even a 10K TT with a full TT bike and aero helmet. I guess if I dropped 6g's for a carbon frame, zipp disk wheel, and aero helmet I would use it every chance I could too.

After reading the article though it really opened my eyes. Not to the point that I'm ready to buy a full TT bike, but definitely about the power savings aero equipment offers. The short of it is just aero bars will save you around 30 watts @40kph, and a full TT bike will save you 60 watts over a normal bike @40kph. A TT helmet will save about 10 watts for either bike. If you look at the cost per watt, at my level a TT bike isn't a must, it would be nice, but not necessary. A set of aero bars, approx $100-$150, would definitely be a good investment. And I could argue a TT helmet. Even at the Cat 3,4 level 10 watts could be the difference between winning and loosing.

Just to give you an idea of the difference they can make.....using an online calculator one could average about 1.5mph faster. In a 20K TT that's a difference of around 2 minutes. That's huge.

I believe its not important to have the best equipment, for example rival will serve most as good as red, ultegra as well as DA, and so on. Wheels and tires are what I would call the two most important parts of the bike. I'll now add, in the event of TT's longer than 5K, at least a set of aero bars. There will be a set in my collection before next season.

I emailed Andy Coggan, one fo the authors of cycling and training with power, to see what he says about my power drop on the trainer. I hope he has some insight as to what it may be. A drop of 12% in FTP from road to trainer sucks. Maybe I'm just a whimp and fooled my powertap into reading higher numbers on the road.

Hopefully as soon as I find out, I'll get off this number run I seem to be stuck in.