Dr. Aerolove or How-I-Learned-To-Stop-Hating-The-Bike

*this is purely a hypothesis based on personal opinion and rudimentary knowledge, SO YEAH BRO!

    For a while I have been thinking the bike. More specifically just the hardware (mostly the frame, however I will dabble into the wheels and drivetrain) and its influence on our PB over a set course. Specifically a Sprint 20km or Olympic 40km distance bike in an ITU format race.  Now you're probably thinking "oh yeah I know, I read the (insert aero brand bike here) article on their website".
 Well that statement has me ticked a bit.

-Can we trust that it is fully unbiased and fair for other brands?
-Does it take into account circumstances seen in real world aerodynamics and not just wind tunnel jaunts?
-Are these gains with aero frames really the Be-All End-All solutions? 

    Well lets break down WHAT ARE the requirements of an ITU bike? I like to think of these requirements being split into two categories. The first being 'rule requirements' which are stringent and do not lend easily to being broken (nor should some of them be broken) and 'personal requirements' which do lend themselves to change easily. The rule requirements are pretty straight forward, based off of UCI rules they make the system (as in the bike) clean, and efficient to maintain with different manufactures. The latter categories is what I'll be focusing on. 

First..

Aero frames. I have an aero frame. I love it to bits. BUT I think aero is a gimmick. 
why? YOU. 

    Aero Frames are excellent and cutting through the air and reducing drag, and some of them are pretty trick. who doesn't start dripping from the mouth for a Cervelo S5, or an S-Works Venge? But the gains are insignificant to how aerodynamic you can be. 
    Air is pretty easy to work with. Like most fluids it mostly cares about simple things. One of those is Frontal Area. take for instance a door stop, slanted at one end, flat at the other. but when you look head on at it for either end it has the same area blocking the wind. Now you can tweak the design at either end to make said shape more aerodynamic but at the end of the day it will have finite results UNLESS you lower its frontal area.
    This relates to a bike because a bike is only ~15% of the frontal area the wind sees. 
Now you can go off and get a frame that is say 5% more aerodynamic to your last set up but when your talking 5% of only 15% is chump change (A-Russ got me saying chump a lot, I like it) 
    You know what really is going to make a difference? lowering your upper body by an inch and a half.
    Now you are actively changing your frontal area, and thus making yourself more aerodynamic, and a hell of a lot more then an aero frame can do for you.

Second..

Air flow. Wind tunnels are great for data, and weight weenies but where can you find a wind tunnel? Rarely on a race course..

    In ITU Chances are you're going to be in a pack, you're going to be at the front for very short amounts of time, and you're going to be changing pace A LOT.
This is where I argue that a very Stiff, lightweight, non-aero frame is your best bud. Three reasons why.

- Air flow in a pack in going to be 90% of the time turbulent, with 10% clean laminar flow (at front). This laminar flow is where you aero bike is going to shine, but in turbulent flow it really doesn't matter much because. You're probably sucking wheel, and this turbulent flow off of the rider in front of you has swirling currents that help you draft. At this point it is preferable to get as low as possible. Any part of you that breaks the boundary layer and is in the laminar flow is going to see an increase in drag. 

- Lightness. Chances are on an ITU course you're not only going to find corners but hills, and not just little sissy hills, big mother-truckers that make you hurt. a light stiff bike is going to keep you at the front. As you climb a hill and your speed drops you are going to start fighting the hill more then the air. lightness wins this battle.

- Stiffness is going to keep you in the game. ITU racing is loops, lots and lots of loops. this means holding the racing line and keeping you speed up. Unfortunately Bikes, along with racecars suffer from a lack of ABS (them because of rules, us because it just isn't practical). Thus we have to rely on threshold braking and the racing line. 
The racing line is not the shortest line in a corner but the one with the fastest corner exit speed. This is where threshold braking plays a big part. Ideally you want to come into a corner as fast as possible, brake as late (and as little) as possible, and accelerate as soon as possible.  A stiff frame is going to help by giving feedback through the structure as when the brakes lock up. As well as to put as much power to the ground through the rear triangle and drivetrain to the wheel. It's a win win.

(I want to add at this point wheels are also key, deep dish wheels are pretty good but they are not all equal. I don't want to dive too far into this topic because it could easily double the length of this post. however in short the ideal wheels would be ones that are as stiff as possible and with the least amount of weight contained in the rims. They are easy to spin up to speed, and react well to changes in velocity and direction.)

Third..

Small bits. When you get the big things down right, it's the small things that make you faster.

     You're Drivetrain has a lot between you and the wheel. not only that but you are putting a lot of power through a small area. parts in this location have a lot of engineering in them but thats not to say you can't improve this. With aerodynamics put aside your next biggest enemy to speed is mechanical resistance. namely all the moving parts in your drivetrain. Solutions to this can be as simple as lubrication of the chain and hubs. 
    Next up on the ladder is tires. rolling resistance is an amazingly big force, sometimes a set of race slicks can outdo the improvements of a pair of race wheels. This is tricky subject up to this point as the lower your rolling resistance is chances are your grip is also decreasing. Remember that you only have two contact patches between you and the bike that is roughly 2x2cmx6cm. Roughly put you have 24 square centimeters to accelerate, brake, and turn with, and there is a finite limit to how much this 24 can handle (Don't keep braking through a corner, your tires are dealing not only with turning but braking as well. Remember you are on two wheels, they will not give you much warning before they snap out from under you. Cue the sad panda here.)
    Near the top of the ladder is bearings, specifically ceramic bearings. Material engineering is spectacular and ceramic bearings are a star in their class. rounder then steel variants, as well as tougher. These units greatly decrease mechanical resistance...at a cost.

Now you might be wondering "hey this is great and all (you jerk) but how can this all help me be faster? I'm not made of money after all (you jerk again)"

It's OK I don't have money either but as for the best Bang-for-Buck improvements would be a bike fit (lower the frontal area, improve you aerodynamics) and tire (lower rolling resistance can be as good or greater then a set of new wheels). These small changes are what I believe can overcome even the best aero frame out today.

So there is my rant. A little hard to follow maybe, but I am happy to get it out of my head and out into the world. Remember this is all personal opinion, read with an open mind. don't believe everything you read, and don't believe everything you think :) 

Until next time. 
Cheers!

It's really not dead... For reals this time

Well 2012 was an up and down sort of year. Had some awesome trips, some awesome races, and achieved some lofty goals.

It also kinda sucked.

Had some terrible trips, some terrible races, and didn't achieve some lofty goals. that however is subject to another post (I swear this won't be the only one of 2013).

So lets get started on my fav part of what 2013 has in store... Racing!

In December the NTC had an awesome (how awesome? AWESOME!) winter/team bonding camp up in whister, BC. Just a 4 day affair we travelled up and stayed at the olympic village suites. The weekend was a blast of XC skiing, a small trail of Biathlon followed by a relay. Thanks to Alison Hooper and Emma Lujan we were crowned victorious in that small race (I must add though that Kirsten Sweetland had a dead eye and probably could have out shot us all, second calling maybe?). The end of the camp had a wonderful team christmas dinner with most of it made by us athletes and Dean. I would post a pic of the meal but I drowned it in gravy so it isn't much to look at.

Matt looks great doesn't he?

January is looking good, with lots of specific work on the bike, and the run. I don't think I've ever done so many consistent 3+ hour rides ever. why? you may ask. 
Florida, that's why.

Ah Florida, my immortal enemy. I don't much care for Florida. It isn't the state per say but the experience of being there. My last camp in Florida was a terrible, like one hundred stories of one hundred-n-ten percent ten speed terror, like BAM! fresh off the grease terrible (that was an Adventure Time reference, look it up, it's hilarious). Least to say I am going back, however this time we will have coaches, and vans, and nice accommodation. I know right? it is already sounding better already.

I drew Florida, it contains all my love of it from my last camp there. that will change come february (don't worry I recycled the paper) 

After Florida will mark my start of the racing season with possibly of racing in Babados. 
yeah, yeah that will be pretty AMAZING.
I have heard great things about the island and the race and if the ability to work it into my race season comes up I will not hesitate at the chance of getting some early racing in. 

Next up is one is something that I hold as pretty personal, my first world cup. I don't really want to go into detail about it, but it has been a long time in the making and I am very happy that I have the possibility of racing in the Huatulco WC.

my feelings exactly about getting on a WC start list

After Huatulco I plan on redemption, back to Dallas TX for the continental cup. This time it's a sprint and frankly after getting heat stroke there last year I want to kicks its ass. Plus I kinda like Texas, it has its charms to it, I mean it is a tad big for my liking but maybe that's just the small city canadian kid talking in me. The food is excellent as well.

Following the blast in Texas I plan on training for a short time in prep for another World Cup, this time in Edmonton Alberta (refer to above photo for level of excitement). Just like Dallas, Edmonton is also a sprint. It also holds a small spot in my heart as it was the place of my first junior nationals. All in all I am very excited to duke it out in a race on Canadian soil.

Racing at this point is starting to become a mystery as there is talk of a Continental Cup on PEI (canada games course maybe?) also selection criteria for U23 worlds team hasn't been finalized, and after racing in Auckland in October I want to go back to worlds and this time put down a solid race.

late august holds the possibility of Kelowna again. Sometimes I have too much to say about that place and sometimes not enough. Frankly it's my most inconsistent of races....EVER. 
2009: great swim, bike crash, DNF
2010: terrible swim, bike crash, DNF
2011: terrible swim, terrible bike, death march run, 23rd
2012: Just plain great, 5th
I don't want to include pre-2009 junior racing as you probably get the point by now my placing seems to be determined by rolling a D20.
Despeite this Kelowna is a really beautiful town with tons of character, an amazing race committee. They also are pretty good with twitter on race day and really have made great use of connecting to racers and their audience   

At this point my season is up in the air, if I qualify for the Worlds team again it is off to london, if not I plan on either racing in Cozumel Mexico at a 3rd World Cup or in San Juan Puerto Rico in the Continental Cup.

I really want to race again at worlds, this time no holding back, all in.

So yeah, pretty exciting. I am for sure looking forward to it.
Till next time, stay classy!

Aaron.

It's not dead Jim!

Oh Hey!!

Tucson is coming up (feb 10th to 20th) so I've decided to stick a fork in the electrical socket and get this blog back up and runnin' It will included pictures, cornbread, myself complaining about the morning swim, cornbread, climbing gigantic hills, other athletes views and opinions, and more cornbread. I will also be documenting my attempt at cooking for the 10 day entirety of the camp, thus the cornbread references.

Here is a picture of some ducks I saw crossing my street (I live 3km from the nearest pond)

Its dead Jim..

blogs dead, been dead for a while, not a big deal, nobody reads it, one less thing to worry about.

Very rarely does an album go by that every song is worth listening to... and worth a second listen

So this is out of the norm of the odd/puzzling that normally dot my blog (you'll also note the lack of race reports but thats another story) but I thought this was something worth talking about. About half a decade ago I heard 'speed of sound' by Coldplay, that song got me hooked on X&Y, an album I would recommend to almost anyone interested in what I listen to. Every song on X&Y was something that I cherished, I picked them each apart to listen to every drum line, bass hook, guitar riff, and piano key. It was amazing all the way from the spacey 'square one' to the album titled sonnet 'X&Y' to the heartbreaking pop of 'the hardest part' to the wonderfully moody 'twisted logic' I even enjoyed the bonus track 'til kingdom come' Simply stunning from front to back.

Now as the title of this post claims it's not every day you come across an album that just makes you want to listen to the whole thing. So when one does cross my path, I think I'd like to share it. Enter 'Miami Horror - Illumination' Illuminate it does...

I stumbled in on miami horror by accident. After going on a binge of finding Fred Falke remix's I found a video for Illuminations 2nd song, and from what I presume 1st single off the new album 'I look to you' (trippy video too :). I was hooked. Right then and there I needed to listen to the rest of Illumination, and it was mind blowing. exotic drum lines, melodic vocals painting captivating scenes (OK thats a bit cheesy but you'll realize it once you pull up a curious ear), and synth that reminds of the last 40 years, epic!

And you know what? I think every song is a hit. just like X&Y, Illumination pulls you in and leaves you wanting more and more after each song, but not to worry the next song doesn't leave anything left to desire more. Maybe what attracts me to Illumination is that every song reminds me of another song, for instance 'holidays' leads me to daft punk and their album discovery, arguably what put french on top of what we consider house music today. 'Sometimes' infact has a rift that reminds of 'talk' off none other then X&Y. As for one song that I would say is a wonderful expression of Illumination, I leave you with this one. 'Moon Theory'

I would highly recommend listening to Illumination (and if you got the time, a second time through) Especially 'I look to you' 'sometimes' 'holidays' 'Moon theory' 'Echoplex' and 'Ultraviolet'

Enjoy, cheers!

good bye summer, shame you never had enough time to take off your jacket..

If the weather was that terrible on you too? this might help you cheer up..
I know, I know......

mind blowing, it blows your mind, think about it..... no homo...

Dude..... put down the food, take off the compression socks, clean the wax out of the ears

28 minutes of mind blowing nothing but....

BAG RAIDERS MINIMIX

http://www.banggang.com.au/podcast/the-bang-gang-podcast-14-bang-gang-12-inches-Bag-Raiders.mp3

please no questions, just sit back and listen!!