Aero Secrets for Cycling in Triathlon: Get Faster Without Working Harder Ep 100

Coach Chris Newport interviews fellow Coach Jason, who shares his journey of getting faster on the bike—without getting any fitter. Discover how he became 60 watts more efficient through aerodynamic tweaks and smart upgrades that any athlete can implement.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• What clue tipped Jason off that he could be faster—without training harder
 • The eye-opening stat that changed how he thought about riding into the wind
 • How one small gear upgrade can help you gain a full mile per hour
 • Why your clothing might be sabotaging your speed
 • A simple race-day ritual that helped him reduce drag (and raised a few eyebrows)
 • The under-the-radar gear swap that gave him a measurable wattage boost
 • How a hydration setup can either help—or hurt—your aerodynamics
 • When it actually makes sense to break out of aero position
• The often-overlooked maintenance trick that could be costing you speed
• An affordable upgrade that delivers the look (and benefits) of a full disc wheel
• Why raw power isn’t the full story when it comes to cycling speed
• How focusing on the right things can keep you grounded—even when conditions throw a curveball

Spoiler alert: it’s not just about what you can do on the bike—it’s about what you should do to make sure you’re ready to run strong off it.

Want to work with us? Check out our 6 Steps to Triathlon Success freebie below or head right over to www.theenduranceedge.com/triathloncoaching to apply to work with us!

Experience the breakthrough when everything finally clicks! Train with expert coaches, fuel with incredible chef-prepared meals, and connect with athletes who love triathlon as much as you do. Join us April 22–26 at beautiful Lake Jocassee for four unforgettable days of swim, bike, run, learning, and community. Spots are almost full: Reserve yours here.

Transcript

Introduction to Unlocking Speed

Speaker 1 1:31

All right, welcome back to the Find your Edge podcast. We are welcoming coach Jason today because I thought it would be kind of a cool experience to hear about how Jason made his way down a very specific rabbit hole to get faster on the bike, specifically for triathlon, because who doesn't want to get faster, right? So welcome, jason, and I'm just going to let you kick it off. Tell us about this whole process, and maybe even when it was, and even maybe some of the nitty gritty details of how you made this process into getting more aero, into getting faster on the bike, and then we'll have some tips for some of them. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2 2:16

Thank you time. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, chris, good to be here. For me it kind of started back early 2019.

Finding the Aerodynamic Edge

Speaker 2 2:23

I was, you know, I started participating in triathlons really around the 2012 time and had really worked to improve my strength on the bike and just overall in triathlons and early in 2012 or 2019, my power numbers were very good. So I was putting out a lot of watts and, in fact, personal best watts for races that I was participating in. But I was noticing when I would go after the race and look at Strava I am a data nerd, so I would go look at Strava and look at the people who finished around my times, my bike times, my bike splits and I noticed that they were putting out less power than I was. So I was putting out more power but going, you know, the same speed as people putting out less power. So to me it said okay, you know the engine's good, but there's something going on here that I need to figure out.

Speaker 2 3:17

And as I did a little research online and those kinds of things, it came to me that I probably had an issue with my aerodynamics. Maybe I wasn't in the right position, maybe what I was doing on the bike was incorrect. So that really began my journey of that year of 2019, really diving into aerodynamics, what I was doing and how I could do it differently. And so just to kind of summarize what, where I started and where I finished at the beginning of 2019, you know I was I'm once again a data nerd my, my coefficient of drag CDA was like around 0.3. And by the end it was 0.24, at Augusta the 70.3. And what that really means is I was 60 watts more efficient by the end of the year than the beginning of the year, even though I was probably the same level of fitness. So in other words, I was able to save 60 Watts and uh it just through aerodynamic improvements.

Speaker 1 4:24

That's really cool. So basically you were able to go through space like in a smaller space right.

Speaker 2 4:32

Yeah, 80. So when we're going, if you're on a flat road and you're going 20 miles an hour, 80% of the power that you put into your pedals is just to overcome the drag created by air and the resistance of the road. So if you can make yourself more aerodynamic, a smaller target or less turbulence going through the air, then you're going to go faster with less effort. Turbulence going through the air, then you're going to go faster with less effort. So it was that I spent that entire year, you know, reading items, changing this, changing that, noticing things, field testing, different changes for what would lead to improved performance. So I'm excited to share with the audience today some of these of these things that can, you can do and you can make immediate changes and improvements to your aerodynamics.

Speaker 1 5:23

That's really cool. So, and let's just clarify, are you paid to do triathlon?

Speaker 2 5:30

No, I pay to do triathlons new triathlons.

Speaker 1 5:40

I think so many people have this assumption that, oh, those things are reserved for, like, professional level athletes. And some of the things that you did were not necessarily. I mean, maybe some of them were expensive, but some of them weren't expensive, and 60 watts is massive.

Speaker 2 5:53

Yeah, and I'll start with those things that are, that are, that are like nearly free. You know that that that the listeners can can do to really help themselves on on Watts and, and you know there are some things. Yes, there are some things where you may need to spend money to buy speed, but we'll save those kinds of things for the end, for the, for the audience. But you know, the first thing I would recommend is, if you have a road bike, if you don't have a triathlon bike, buy some clip-on aero bars. Clip-on aero bars are going to be like I don't know anywhere from. You could even get a U-set. So maybe you could get a U-set for 50 bucks, but up to 150 bucks for clip-on aero bars and what that is. That just puts you in a in a lower position. So you're, you're, you're, you're not sitting upright. If you're sitting upright, your chest and your upper body is is just a parachute to capture wind. By putting those clip on arrow bars on your bike, you're able to ride in a lower position and generally for most people that's going to be one mile an hour improvement. So if you were riding at 18 miles an hour, you know, and you're putting out 150 watts, you're gonna ride at 19 miles an hour. Putting out 150 watts, it's one mile per hour. For, you know, anywhere from 50 to 150 dollars. That's that's the first place I would tell people to go. Now it can be on.

Speaker 2 7:15

It takes a little adaption to be comfortable riding an aero, because when we're riding upright with our hands on the hoods of our bikes, we have a wider base. When you bring your arms and elbows in, you have a narrower base, so you can feel less stable on the bike. So how do you become comfortable riding in your aero bars? Practice, if you're indoors riding on a trainer. Ride in your aero bars. No, if you're indoors riding on a trainer, ride in your aero bars. No need to sit up, except for practicing drinking water or something, but ride in your aero bars. And then, when you go outside, commit to yourself that at least for part of the ride, find a space where you're comfortable and get down and ride an aero. After you practice it more and more and more, it just becomes second nature and you're just as comfortable or more comfortable riding an arrow as you are upright. So that's the first place I'd tell people to go, from an aerodynamic standpoint, is clip-on arrow bars.

Clip-on Aero Bars & Position

Speaker 1 8:09

Yeah, those are some great tips and I love how you reminded people to practice because, yeah, you're using different muscles, so a lot of people will find that they're like their traps will get a little sore because you know your head is heavy and to hold that up in arrow position. It you know you're switching muscles.

Speaker 2 8:27

That's right.

Speaker 2 8:27

All of us yeah, all of us Like when, when we go outdoors for the first time, when the weather's good, we're all going to have sore necks and sore shoulders because even though we're practicing it inside, it's just not the same as having to look up, as often you know, to make sure there aren't potholes or cracks in the road or, you know, or cars on the road that you need to be mindful of.

Speaker 2 8:49

And all of these aerodynamic tips are like stage two, like stage one is just becoming very good at the fundamentals of riding the bike. You know, like being able to clip in, you know, with your shoes, being able to handle the bike around corners and curves and those kinds of things, understanding how to shift and when to shift, going up and down hills. You know, this is kind of the the one-on-one of of of bike that you need to do before you maybe take the step here of getting better at aero. The other part of 101 is being able to eat and drink on the bike comfortably before you do these things, because this is a little bit of a level up when you move to the aerodynamics piece.

Speaker 1 9:30

Yeah, I agree. So all the things you mentioned are like cycling 101, and then this is more like getting faster 201 kind of.

Speaker 1 9:39

Thing because I have seen so many folks who maybe aren't quite ready for aero bars and they're squirrely, they don't even, they don't drink anything, they are not able to, you know, have spatial awareness, like looking around themselves, seeing traffic, seeing people who might be passing them, because they're just like not quite skilled in just bike and like basic bike handling skills before they go to aero. So I think that's a good tip to make sure have those things down first and then this is like next step yeah, all right, so that arrow bars arrow check number one, yep and number two.

Speaker 2 10:18

Number two would be your, your, your, your jersey, the, the top that you wear you want. If it flaps, it's slow. So you want a top that that fits you snugly, that when you're in arrow position nothing is flapping, and I I also prefer and recommend that it's sleeved by sleeve, that it goes down to your just above your elbows, because exposed skin is slower. So the more exposed skin you have, the slower, the more resistance you're going to have, and hairy skin exposed is even slower. So for you guys out there, go ahead and bite the bullet if you want to be faster. Shave your arms and shave your legs for races. You don't have to do it when it's not race time, but for race time. Shave and you'll go faster.

Speaker 1 11:10

You heard it here folks Got to do it.

Speaker 2 11:16

You're going to have to wear a jersey anyway when you race, so you just get one that doesn't flap in the wind, that fits nice, and snug and then shave.

Speaker 1 11:24

Yes, agreed. And then for the ladies out there I know so many of them are like oh, but it's so tight, like girls, just show it off, like whatever, who cares? You know? Like, just be Everybody's. Like like oh, they're all looking at me. No, because they're just trying to keep their bikes upright. Like, just do it, just go for it. You're everybody, you are beautiful, wonderful human beings. Let's go race and have fun and get faster.

Speaker 2 11:49

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, uh. So next on the list. Next on the list that I'd have for the listeners is latex tubes versus butyl tubes. If you have black tubes in your tires, those are most likely butyl tubes. There's a pink tube that's sold. That's latex. These tubes are, I think, like maybe $10, $15 each right Front and back tire. Changing from the black to the pink is 2 to 4 watts per tire, so you can pick up, you know, anywhere from 5 to 10 watts by changing the tube that you run in your tire. And you know, that's not about doing more intervals, that's not about lifting more weights, it's just changing the tube in your tire. And it's affordable too. If you're looking for those things which are affordable and can help you pick up speed and be more efficient, that's really cool, especially for long-course athletes.

Speaker 1 12:51

That adds up, if you're doing 56 miles, 112 miles like that is that's significant.

Speaker 2 12:57

These are, yeah, just a little little things that you, you pick up, that I've, you know, found through research, testing, you know, testing these things myself. I'm like, yep, it makes a difference.

Speaker 1 13:06

And to clarify again you're not a professional professional and you're also not in a wind tunnel.

Speaker 2 13:12

No, no. So here's the way that I have a training partner and what we did is we had this like 10 mile loop. The 10 mile loop wasn't overly hilly it's not to say that it was perfectly flat, but it was. You know, there was a few hills in here and there. We would set up our bikes, we would make a change and we would ride that loop a couple times and then we would take that information, we'd put it into this very nice website called Best Bike Split and it would come back and say, okay, this was your aerodynamics for that ride. And then we would, the next week or we might make a change to our bikes and then go ride those two loops again and come back and see, okay, how did that change?

Speaker 2 14:01

But we spent an entire summer making these individual changes, anything from wearing a speed suit to tops, to how we positioned our bottles on our bicycles, to, you know, the tire pressure we ran. We just kept running these different variables over and over and over again all summer long. We needed to train anyway. We needed to ride zone two anyway. So we said, as long as we're doing it, let's do some experiments and see how we can improve ourselves aerodynamically and efficiently on the bike.

Speaker 1 14:34

That's so fun. I love that what a cool experiment.

Speaker 2 14:38

Yeah.

Speaker 1 14:39

All right, so we did twos, we did clothing, we did clip-on aero bars.

Speaker 2 14:43

Next, bottles, bottles, okay, your bottles that you can carry your hydration and nutrition in A torpedo bottle between the arms. It's right there in front of you and it actually makes you more aerodynamic to have a torpedo bottle there. So, even if you're doing a race and you don't need hydration or nutrition, you're doing a sprint, have the torpedo bottle there anyway. It makes you more aero. What it does is you want to close the gap between your hands and your head, because if you have a gap between your hands and your head, that wind coming between your head and your hands is hitting your midsection. Hitting your midsection is slowing you down. So you want to close that gap as as much as you can, as much as you can in a bottle helps do that a bit. Also, if you think about where you have your bottles, if you don't have a torpedo bottle in the process of drinking from your bottles, let's say that you have two bottles. You have a bottle below and a bottle behind, you know. So let's say that how are you going to drink from that bottle? You're going to reach down, you're going to grab the bottle, you're going to sit up, you're going to open the bottle and you're going to drink and squeeze the bottle in your mouth. Well, that sitting up that you just did increases your frontal surface and slows you down. Let's say you take nutrition every 10 minutes or hydration every 10 minutes and then that's a one minute process. Well, 10% of the time you've just increased your drag by sitting up. So now, 10% of your time you're not an arrow, 10% of the time you're actually creating more drag. So having a torpedo bottle there and taking your hydration, hydration and nutrition from the torpedo bottle improves your aerodynamics and you're not sitting up creating drag by by taking those bottles and the other. So so in long course racing, you're going to need more than your torpedo bottle. You're going to need more nutrition and hydration from that. You could be grabbing it from the aid station and filling your torpedo bottle, but you're going to need it.

Speaker 2 16:55

What I do is I run two bottles behind me, immediately behind my seat, and I found that that, whether they're there or not, there has no effect on my aerodynamics. So having the two bottles immediately behind my seat does not affect my aerodynamics. So what I do is, when I empty my torpedo bottle, drink it all. Then I simply that's the point. Yes, I have to sit up, grab that bottle, refill my torpedo bottle and then put that bottle back behind me. So maybe once an hour or once every 80 minutes, I do sit up and fill that torpedo bottle for nutrition purposes.

Speaker 2 17:30

Now it's okay to sit up and come out of aero at certain times. I do recommend that. When do I recommend sitting up?

Jersey Fit and Hair Removal

Speaker 2 17:37

If you're going uphill and you're going less than 12 miles an hour, there are no gains there. Go ahead and sit up, climb, be comfortable and enjoy. That's also a good time to take nutrition too, if you wanted to, from your bottle behind. If you're going downhill at a speed that's uncomfortable, go for it For you. For me, that's if I'm going over 35 miles an hour, that's a little too fast and I want to sit up and have a little more safety than that. If you expect road obstacles, railroad tracks, sit up. Going over a bridge or those kind of things, sit up. If you're going around a sharp turn, sit up. So there are times to come out of aero, but otherwise do everything you can to be in those aero bars. Come out of aero, but otherwise do everything you can to be in those aero bars. Uh, bottles, uh. So uh, one torpedo two behind is my preference and then no, but no round bottles on your bike frame. So none on the down tube, none on the seat tube.

Speaker 2 18:31

Round bottles on the bike frame are will slow you down okay, good tips and so all of these I'm trying to reminders for hydration too right yes, yeah, yeah, hydration nutrition. Look if you're doing long course, if you're doing long stuff. The bike is a cafeteria, so be be consuming uh, consistently and on schedule on the bike cool, all right, so we covered bottles yeah, and any tips like when to sit up, when to be an arrow?

Speaker 2 19:06

yeah, uh, once again we're staying on the on the the affordable side of things. So next is cleaning your drivetrain and waxing or lubing your chain before your race. What do we mean there? Get yourself a chain cleaning kit. You're going to spend $20, $25 at a bike store to do that. You get the solution to clean your chain.

Speaker 2 19:32

Buy yourself a good brand of wax or lube and get yourself some brushes and clean off your rear cassette. Clean off your front chain ring. Clean your chain, lube it and wax it before you race. It can be worth up to 10 watts and you know it's probably going to shift better and you know shifting is, you know, so that you don't miss, miss something or drop a chain. But once again, it's something that's really affordable. You need to do it in you. It's a good idea for just general bike maintenance to be looking at your bike and cleaning your bike, because you never know there may be something that you need to go and get fixed at the, at the, at the bike store, with a mechanic that you might identify when cleaning that you might not otherwise see.

Speaker 1 20:20

So clean, clean and lube your chain before a race yes, that is a great tip because, uh, one of the telltale signs if athletes accidentally bump their calves into their chain rings or into their chain, they have those lovely black marks. Now, granted, you're gonna have, you might have some grease, that is okay, but if they're really black, that's usually a good sign that you probably need to do some cleaning yeah, yeah, yeah yeah cool um and the wax is new.

Speaker 1 20:56

I think that is really well newer um that that's done at the mechanic. They have this like cool.

Speaker 2 21:04

Well, I mean, I mean, I guess you could do it at home, but they like dip yeah, yeah, yeah, that's, that's like, that's a little even more top end right um, mine, I use a, uh, like uh, I use like a, um, a chain lube, that's that's kind of a wax based and versus going in and there's, there's a. There is a really extensive process that a mechanic can do for you to, to help help you out there too.

Speaker 1 21:32

Do you have like a certain brand, like I'm a big rock and roll uh lube fan because it cleans and lubes because I'm lazy.

Speaker 2 21:40

So there's that yeah, I, I do not, I do not. I've got it in the garage, but I don't remember the brand okay, all right.

Speaker 1 21:48

Well, if you remember it, if you find it, we'll. We'll put it in the show notes for folks yeah all right cool. So, um, yeah, this has all been relatively affordable.

Speaker 2 21:57

Yeah, yeah. So what I would have next on the list? Probably tires. Look at your tires. Are they worn? Do you need new tires? Ask the bike mechanic to evaluate your tires. If they're worn, that would be a good chance to make sure you're riding a tire ready for racing, Like I'm, a I'm a big fan of, like the Continental GT 5000. It's a really good tire, really good rolling resistance, very sturdy, very durable. There's some other good ones out there. There are some tires that are built not to puncture but aren't very fast. So you know, but I'm a big fan of the Continental GT5000. But you know, there's a Corsica Speed out there. That's very good. There's some other products that are out there, but I think there's a brand called Gators. Those are very puncture resistant but also very slow when it comes to rolling resistance. So just be mindful of the tire that you put on when yours are worn.

Speaker 1 23:07

And that doesn't mean that you might have a more puncture resistant tire, say, like during the winter, or if you know you're going to a place that might have a lot of debris, you're less likely to flat. You can train on them, but then get good at changing your tires.

Speaker 2 23:26

Yeah, and two, you can look at different width of tires. At the time when I went through this process in 2019, it was recommended for me for me to look at wider tires a 25 millimeter, you know, up to like a 28 millimeter tire and I looked at 25s, I looked at 28s and I settled back on my 23 millimeter tires. I just happened to find from my bike, for how I ride, that the 23 millimeter tires were better or just were faster for me. So people may want to look at different tire widths to see what's faster for them. 23 millimeters worked best for me.

Speaker 2 24:08

And tire pressure Make sure you're running a good tire pressure for you, your body weight and your bike.

Speaker 2 24:15

I looked at tire pressures that range from 80 pounds up to like 120 pounds and what I found for me that worked best was right on 100 pounds 100 pounds in the front, 100 pounds in the back, and I actually bought a pump that gives me a digital readout so I can see, you know, so I don't have to eyeball the gauge and say, oh, it's somewhere between 105 and 100.

Speaker 2 24:40

I actually have a digital pump that tells me the exact amount in there and I try to land as close to 100 as I can, but once again making sure and this is another, most people know this but pump up your tires the day of the race and not the day before the race. Pump up your tires the day of the race and not the day before the race because bike tires will, and especially the latex tubes will let some air out, so you might put 100 in the night before, but the day of the race. You know that's the. That's the one of the first things I do in the morning, after I wake up and have two cups of coffee before the race is I pump up my tires and make sure there's a hundred pounds in the front and back.

Speaker 1 25:27

Nice, I dig it All right, cool. Um. So we've done shaving, we've done tires, we've done cleaning the chain, we've done our tubes, clothing clip-on, aero bars. I think maybe.

Speaker 2 25:40

Now we're going to step into a little bit. We're going to step into some dollars, dollar bills. Let's go. And this first one isn't I'll start with. Maybe a least expensive option Is the rear tire.

Speaker 2 25:59

You can purchase a disc cover. So for like a hundred to $150, you can purchase a cover that goes over your rear tire that creates a disc version. You know so, if you see pros or top end athletes, you'll see a lot of them with a full disc on the back. If you want to buy a full disc, you can. But if you're going to buy a full disc like Zip or Envy, you're going to drop a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars on that rear tire.

Speaker 2 26:33

And so what I've done is I bought a rear disc cover that goes over my rear tire and creates that rear disc, and it was, you know, a hundred to $150. I needed to learn how to take off my rear cassette, you know. So I needed a chain whip and a and a and a certain type wrench to take off my rear cassette so I could put on this rear disc cover. But I was still way money ahead by buying those tools and learning how to do this myself and put that on, and it wasn't overly difficult Some YouTube videos and a little time and patience and I got it done. So for about $100 to $150, you could put a rear disc cover on that wheel and create something that is substantially similar to a full disc.

Speaker 1 27:22

And I know for those of you who might be like, oh my gosh, changing my cassette, that's scary, like it's really not.

Speaker 2 27:29

It is. It is a scary thought. It is a scary thought. You're like if I take this thing off, can I put it back together and put it on, but it's almost foolproof. Once you take it off, it's like it's really it. I put it back together and put it on, but it's almost foolproof. Once you take it off, it's like it's really. It'd be really difficult not to put it back on, correctly.

Speaker 1 27:46

It's like a puzzle piece that has to only go in one way.

Speaker 2 27:50

It's exactly right. That's exactly right. It only goes back together one way, and it's pretty obvious how it goes back together. So that's spending a little bit of money $100 to $150. And so that's the rear tire, the front tire. Deep rims are faster than shallow rims and carbon is faster than aluminum. So I do recommend that you have a deep rim on the front. I run a 60mm deep rim on the front. That's going to cost you. On sale, you might be able to find one for $500, you know, um, but if it's, if you, if it's not on sale, if you're going to buy something for the front, it may cost you up to a thousand dollars. Um, it's just, you know it. It it does, it will make a difference, it will save you watts, and so that is. So. That's an investment that I did make and have made. Is that investment? So those are your rims.

Speaker 2 28:47

The next investment that people should consider is an aero fit, is being fit for aerodynamics on the bike. Going to someone who that's what they do, then expect kind of the following right, expect that they're probably going to raise your saddle and tilt your saddle forward and they're probably going to put on shorter cranks, because by raising the saddle. You need to shorten the crank so your legs can still reach effectively. They're going to then expect that they will maybe lower your bars in the front and then tip them back towards you, because what you really want, you want kind of a flattish back back Once again. You don't want to be up and exposed and you're going to want your hands a little closer to your face to close that, to close the gap between your head and your hands.

Speaker 2 29:45

So the set, you know, one of the final things I'd recommend is is, if you're going down this process, you know, to go get a professional bike fit for, specifically for aerodynamics, and it's going to be, it'll be a process because it it may be. It may be, you may be aerodynamic that way, but you may not be comfortable and you need to give it a little time. If you can't find comfort, then you you're going to have to make adjustments to that to be less aerodynamic so you're more comfortable. Because if you're so uncomfortable that you won't stay in aero and you keep sitting up, you've lost the advantage. So you have to find that blend between aerodynamics and comfort so that you can stay in that position for a few hours.

Drivetrain Maintenance and Tires

Speaker 1 30:31

And every body is a little different, right. So some people have longer femur bones, some people's joints are a little closer together and, um, that's why it's so important to get a good fit, because you know people's mobility are it's a little bit different and you know maybe you have some back issues and you can't be quite as aggressive as you might like, but, and so that's where somebody who's good at fit comes in. So and I'm glad you mentioned the crank arm links although we kind of glazed over it a little bit, but that's definitely more of the industry standard is going to shorter crank arm links, and I'm finding more and more that women, especially especially smaller women, are running cranks that are too long.

Speaker 2 31:15

Yeah. So just yeah, just just for reference, right, I'm. I'm six feet tall and my my crank arms are 165 mil, 165 millimeters.

Speaker 1 31:27

Yeah.

Speaker 2 31:28

So if, if you might be, if you might be five feet five inches tall and you're running 170 millimeters, just you know, heads up minor, just 165 yeah, cool.

Speaker 1 31:41

Um, I know we touched on mobility and cranks and um, I think we got maybe one or two more let's see how about, um what goes on our noggin oh, helmets, yes, thank you.

Speaker 2 31:57

Thank you one. You have to wear a helmet. If you're gonna race, you have to wear a helmet. Um, what type helmet? Everybody's head and body are different. I went with an aero helmet. I have an evuro arrowhead and and and more aerodynamic helmets, um, but I found that that my, my specialized evade helmet, which is an arrow road helmet, worked worked as well for me, or better, it worked as well for me as those others did. And what I got from it was I got more ventilation. Uh, so it was able to. It was more comfortable on my head. I got more ventilation so I was able to stay cooler. It just fit my head better. So helmets are very personalized. So you know it's the opportunity to you know, if you have a buddy or a partner or someone you know who has a different helmet and they like their helmet, just switch, just switch helmets. Ride a few laps, see how it works for you. If it works great for you, go buy that helmet. If it doesn't stick with the one that you have.

Speaker 1 33:16

Cool, very good tips. So I think we got it all yeah.

Speaker 2 33:21

Pretty sure we did.

Speaker 1 33:23

That's a good list. One of the things I know that we had mentioned in our coaches meeting is referencing Watts in a very specific way, because you say 180 Watts, that might be somebody's FTP, that might be somebody's zone two, that. So, yes, if somebody says like a really big number, like I rode 400 Watts or 500, we're like, once you get up to a certain number, you're like, yes, that's a very large number, but how would you recommend I know best bikes foot does a really good job of some of this of how would you recommend people thinking about watts on the bike in relation to their size?

Speaker 2 34:04

yeah, a common that that people like to use are watts per kilogram. So we all have different body masses, um, and that makes a difference in that, and that's that's very important and relative. So let's say that you have a person who weighs um 120 pounds, you know. So we'll call that, we'll call that 50 kilos, right, 120 pounds. And then you have someone who maybe weighs 220 pounds and we'll call that, uh, a hundred kilograms, right? So you have two very different bodies there.

Speaker 2 34:43

You should expect that the individual who weighs 220 pounds or 100 kilograms should put out more power than someone who weighs 110 pounds or 50 kilograms. Why? Well, you know, imagine that that person has maybe more muscle mass and those kind of items. Yes, they can put out more power. It does not mean that they will go faster, though. What should you expect?

Speaker 2 35:16

So think of it. You know, if that person who weighs 50 kilograms has an FTP of 100, well then that's two watts per kilogram, is what that person does. This other person who weighs 100 kilograms has to have a 200 watt FTP to be at two watts per kilogram, to be at the same watts per kilogram. So you can see that someone may have 200 watt and someone may have 100 watt, well, it's the same watts per kilogram. So it's all about making it relevant.

Investing in Wheels and Helmets

Speaker 2 35:57

So, yes, you may hear some very large numbers, but you have to take body size into account for that, because someone who's smaller, that 50 kilogram person, they just have less overall mass that they have to push through the air. So if we talked about the body as the biggest drag point, that small body, that person who is 50 kilograms or 110 pounds, they have a much smaller area. That bigger person at 220 pounds or 100 kilograms, has to push a tremendous amount of frontal surface through the air. So it doesn't mean that absolute watts are not a difference maker. It's watts per kilogram and it's frontal area that's exposed to the wind and aerodynamics. So don't get. Yes, there's big numbers out there and sometimes the numbers are big enough to matter, but this isn't. You know. You need to keep it in reference, in perspective.

Speaker 1 36:59

Yeah, good point, and also not just basing. Hopefully this was a good example to remind people to not just base on oh I go X miles per hour, right, what we're trying to do is get more efficient and get more and go through space in a smaller area so that you can just generally be more efficient. So speed yeah.

Speaker 2 37:28

Yeah, miles per hour are super. Miles per hour super deceptive and sometimes not a good measure, especially in triathlon. If we take a local race that we often do here is the NC North Carolina 70.3, which is out on the coast. We've raced that in years where there was no wind and it's a very flat course and your miles per hour are just gonna be higher because you're not fighting the wind. But we've had times where we had like a 20 plus mile an hour headwind all the way out for nearly 20 plus miles and if you've got a 20 mile an hour headwind your speed is going to be different. Even when you turn around and come back with it at your backside you're going to be 10 or 15 minutes slower. Miles per hour is a danger. It's not the best metric to use always.

Speaker 1 38:24

I'm glad you brought that up too, because so many of us are hooked on numbers, naturally. Glad you brought that up too, because so many of us are hooked on numbers, naturally and that's okay. But if you can think of those numbers in context of the bigger picture, like so many of us are. Oh, I want to break X time on a 70.3 in the example that you were giving. And then let's say that day has a 20 mile an hour headwind. So looking instead at things like what can be your sustained power during the bike, or are there strategic things that you can do regardless of what the weather is going to be? Or are there little things that you can focus on in terms of more subjective measures, to like getting through the bike comfortably, or you know confidently, or you know drinking without getting out of aero, or you know gosh. There's so many different ways to set a goal other than just time-based.

Understanding Power to Weight Ratio

Speaker 2 39:22

Yeah, I look at it that that focus on the process and the result is the outcome of the process, because the conditions can change. You don't know the conditions of the day or you don't know a lot of things, but just focus on your process, like mine on the bike. Mine on the bike is hydration and nutrition every 10 minutes, my heart rate, you know, in the range that I want, and making sure I don't exceed certain limits when it comes to power, because you know the last thing the bike is the setup for the run and it's not what you can do on the bike, it's what you should do on the bike to prepare yourself to run well.

Speaker 1 40:09

I think we coined that as one of your isms, right? No, we haven't. Oh, we're going to have to add that. So, uh, just so everybody else knows, we we sort of joke in our coaches meeting that every coach kind of have has like these sayings, or what we call isms. You know, like Marty says, be a bag of potato chips, especially at Ironman, north Carolina. You just like you're gonna make it through the swim. You just be, you just float, just float along. Now, granted, obviously he's being sort of silly, but I think that might have to be your new ism, jason.

Speaker 2 40:37

That's really good it's not what you, it's not what you can do on the bike. It's what you should do on the bike super smart, super strategic.

Speaker 1 40:45

I dig it all right. So if we had to give people kind of like a summary of things that they can walk away with, or, hopefully, the things that they have absorbed, what would be those things that you would remind them of?

Speaker 2 41:01

There's a lot of free speed available for not a lot of cost, and what it can mean to you in a 70.3 is it can mean five to 20 minutes a faster bike split. Think of aero bars. Stay in aero, make sure it doesn't flap in the wind and skin is slow and hairy skin is slower. Make sure you have the chain is clean and your bike tubes are filled with air and some of those other small things that we talked about. And practice, you know. Just go out, experiment and have fun. You want to ride your bike, you enjoy riding your bike. Just go experiment and have fun with it.

Speaker 1 41:38

That's awesome. I love it. So if you guys got some value out of this and you're interested in working with our group, you can head on over to the enduranceedgecom forward slash triathlon coaching. Maybe you want to work with Jason or any one of our awesome coaches. Jason, this was awesome. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 41:57

Thanks, chris, great time.

Speaker 1 41:58

Awesome. Thanks for listening to the find your edge podcast. We will catch you next time.