Aero matters . . .

More so than weight?

Well I am in the process of finding that out. This past weekend while graced with some pleasantly nice weather I put some ideas to the test, maybe not the best idea to go out riding on carbon wheels with no water bottles or cages for a planned 3 - 3.5 hour ride getting back some time around sunset, but some times you have to say to hell with conventional wisdom and try some odd things first.

I went out to Marshall to start at the park and ride, not my usual Naked Mountain and Mount weather loop but decided to add another trip up Naked Mountain for a few extra feet, the total ride was 64 miles with 5400 ft of climbing.



As mentioned previously I stripped the water bottle cages off the AR1 and equipped it with my Willaims System 58 carbon clinchers. With no saddle bag I stuff my jersey pockets with tubes, tire levers, C02 and pop tarts. For hydration? Well I was trying a product I picked up earlier last week, the CamelBak RaceBak.

A former teammate previously recommended this product last summer more for a core cooling aspect as the body have been shown to have better performance with a cooler core than hot. Makes sense, and sure some pros have used them in TTs, I believe there are a few photos out there with some of the Garmin guys using them a few years ago. But how could it affect an average Joe?

Well without having a wind tunnel to really prove this it will be hard, in fact most likely impossible, there are just too many variables out there to test how much quicker a bike is with or without cages and water bottles. So I will have to rely on a somewhat basic measurement that can still have some variables but the location, power and starting speed can be controlled.

Basically it will be what max speed I can reach by going down Mount Weather. Saturdays top speed on the AR1 with the carbon wheels sans bottles and cages was 4 mph quicker than previously ridden times with my Caad9, a more traditional frame with Williams System 30x wheels.