Aero Testing at Derby Velodrome
- William Cowen
- May 25, 2016
- 3 min read
During cycling there are a number of forces resisting you from moving where you want to, and whilst cycling on the flat the most significant of these is the drag force created by moving through the air. Therefore as an athlete you are presented with two options to go faster: pedal harder (increase your power output), or reduce your drag coefficient by making yourself into a more aerodynamic form. The first option requires a great deal more effort due to the training requirement to achieve such a goal, whereas the second (with some useful and helpful friends) is often considered the pain free option to acquire 'free speed'. With access to either a wind tunnel or controlled environment (eg. velodrome) in which to cycle, the process of reducing drag can be achieved, helping you to go faster for the same power output!
A couple of years ago, I spent my free time working in a bike-shop in Derby which is called Bespoke Cycles . My Boss at the time Andy, as well as being the owner of the shop, is also a very skilled bike fitter and someone I have been working with to ensure I am as comfortable as possible on my race bike. Last week out of the blue, Andy phoned me up asking me if I wanted to help him out with some testing for his new business venture at Derby Velodrome. I excitedly told him yes, and the next day we (Kathryn, Max and I) drove over to the Velodrome to meet Barney from Veloptima. It took me a while to get used to how bizarre having the whole track booked just for me was, but after unloading the car and getting changed I was ready to see what would happen. After a few teething troubles setting the system up ( I was the guinea pig after all!) the iterative process of reducing my coefficient of drag (CdA) began, with a number of different positions being tried. I would cycle for a number of laps at a specific power, and from the information collected by the system and then processed by a computer program, a CdA value was generated. This gave an objective measurement of how aerodynamic I was, and allowed comparisons to be made between different positions. I was sworn to secrecy, so I can't share too many of the details of the process with you, but I can confirm it was extremely useful and has given me a confidence boost for the rest of the season!
After the testing session, a visit to Pizza Hut's all you can eat buffet went down- with Kathryn and I stuffing ourselves with all of the Hut's finest offerings and Max filling up on the free salad (it's a vegan thing). It definitely didn't help with my CdA, but sometimes these things are necessary to sort out a negative energy balance as well as being good for the soul.
Back in Loughborough, Max had been looking after a friend's Rabbit which Kathryn was desperate to meet! It turns out rabbits are pretty tricky to get back in their cages.
Massive thanks to Andy at Bespoke Derby
Twitter: @AndyBrooke11 @bespoke_derby
And Barney at Veloptima
http://veloptima.co.uk/ Twitter: @veloptima
Click the image to see the Strava activity for the day:
Coming up next I have an ambitious race schedule of racing the Castle Series event in Cholmondeley after racing in the Dambuster olympic race the weekend before. With my bike position sorted, I will be using the next few weeks to physically and mentally prepare myself to race both races as well as I can.
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