How to nail a fast bike split!

To hit a fast time requires a combination of many things and it’s not about focusing solely on power, but of course this will help a great deal if you have big numbers!

It’s a case of breaking things down and looking at all aspects of how your performance is made up and how you can improve in different areas.

Now is a perfect time of the year to focus on this so you can make gains for next season!

Here are some of the key areas:

POSITION:

Your position on the bike and aerodynamic drag (CdA) plays the biggest role in aerodynamics of a bike rider, around 80%.  The frontal area is critical and how the wind flows over the body whilst minimising the frontal area.  There are techniques to achieve the latter by shrugging and tricks to cheat the wind.

The old classic aero position just doesn’t cut it anymore and for most a higher hands (preying mantis) position is more optimal.

HELMET:

Hopefully you are using an aero helmet and this should be integrated well with the body.  Since people have different body shapes what works for one person may not be optimal for another.  Aero testing is the best way of being able to compare against different helmets quickly and with high accuracy, whilst coast down testing is an alternative if your budget doesn’t stretch this far and you can borrow helmets from buddies.

CLOTHING

Another area to make big gains but spend wisely with marketing.  Custom-made skinsuits or trisuits are more optimal than off the peg but in 2023 we saw the introduction of base layers for time trials as used by World Tour Cycling Teams.

Also wrap in with clothing is the use of chest fairings (where legal) and this does provide significant gains as the wind is deflected around the pelvis rather than being trapped.

EQUIPMENT

Choices of equipment to reduce drag – extensions that are now integrated with your arms and offer greater adjustability, wheelsets, use of water bottles etc.

What equipment setup works best for the course. E.g. if it’s a rolling or flat course it’s Watts/CdA that counts, whereas a very hilly course it’s Watts/KG.

Removing equipment if it’s not needed to reduce drag rather than create it!

ROLL RESISTANCE

Choice of tyre and tyre pressures

DRIVETRAIN

Knowing how to minimise loss of power with a more efficient drivetrain.

PACING STRATEGY

Pre-race planning.  Knowing when to push, for how long and how hard to get the most out of yourself, plus when to back off to recover for the next effort.  A race becomes a workout rather than a constant all-out effort!

POWER

Do you train with a powermeter and are you training effectively? More importantly is it targeted towards your 2024 A and B races?  Does it fit with your pacing strategy because you will need to be conditioned to lift the pace at key points in the race?

NUTRITION

Correct fuelling for the event including pre and post event.

How many carbs you need to consume and training your gut to manage high doses.

Have a plan on how and what you need to consume each hour (fluid/carbs/salt) and practise during training.

Sweat and Salt loss which are all individual and dependant on the environment.

I hope this gives an insight into some of the more important areas to get quicker.  Aerodynamics on the bike continually evolve so you need to stay close to this either by competing at a top level or being connected in some way.  You won’t find a book or training course on this stuff!

The big take away is that by far most triathletes are blind to this and it’s not something they have invested any time into both understanding and applying, so the potential gains are absolutely huge!  Also your bike performance is an evolution year-on-year and not always a simple case of buying the latest and greatest.

Get in touch if you are interested in developing your performance to make a step change for 2024 and smash your goals!

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The importance of training in position