Sunday, November 23, 2008

Wind Tunnel Testing







So let me start by saying: it is totally cool and FREEZING!!!!! If you have a choice, go to a wind tunnel on a warm day.... Today in Boston it is 23 degrees. Then they take that air from the outside and blow it at you - at about 50 mph....and you are in race clothes....fortunately you are in for about 1-5 minutes at a time...then they pull you out to warm you up.

Arrival at the MIT wind tunnel: ok those are the two pics above.....this is not working how I thought in terms of photos.


You notice how the guys that work there are putting layers on - many. First the bike 'as is' for racing is put in the tunnel and measurements are taken....then me - regular helmet, get in and pedal and try not to notice that your hands feel frost bitten. Again photos seem to all be going in on top....but you all are smart enough to figure it out.

We played with position - many spacers were taken out, hands were brought closer together and by the end my aero bars were angled up a bit (don't have a photo of that in the tunnel but will put one in later from CT).

Of course we played with helmets too - tried about 4 or 5 different aero helmets.... and believe it or not I had LESS drag with my regular old helmet....by the end we had my 'drag' down to about 7.9 pounds - a pound less than when I got there - oh we stripped off my non aero water bottle and cage and took off my spare pak....will have to rework that....perhaps back to a bento box....

last pic - me trying to get warm between rounds - hands on the heater....

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