Metabolic aspects of the aero TT position

[Bob Girard]

For those who may not have come across this yet, an interesting article on the metabolic factors involved in optimizing an aerodynamic time-trial position:

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/racing/article/aero-position-isnt-everything-31165/

Of particular interest to BPR folks might be the mention, among the "metabolic protocol ABCs", of SpiroTiger training.

[Andrew]

Well, were it not for his shady past with prescribing performance enhancing drugs to numerous cyclists, I would be very complimentary to Dr. San Millan.

The trouble is he still does not understand the difference between lactate and lactic acid, and though he is the first to incorporate phsyiologic testing in a professional cycling program, he is certainly not the first to help a team understand their physiology in working towards long-term improvement. That work started over 15 years ago, with some young cyclists, one of which happens to be racing with Garmin (and was probably the one who introduced San Millan to teh Spiro-Tiger). Following up on Juerg's great success were coaches like Steve Neal in Ontario and the BPR team in B.C.

His physiologic explanation (at least then one reported in this article) is faulty, and I think it is only time before more and more teams hire well-trained physiologists to use their brains to answer the questions about efficiency, rather than blindly following the herd into the wind tunnel.

Having said that, his advice regarding the ABCDs of aero are well worth considering, and have formed the basis of some ideas we have been working on in tweaking my position to handle the Kona trade-winds!!!

[kiwichris]

I too read the article with interest as a bike fitter. Look out for new standards and norms headed up by Luke Way and myself in terms of fitting (particularly in TT position) for the BPR team next year!!!!

Chris