I thought, in the spirit of transparency, I’d share an update. I raced the black bike on Sunday at a 25m TT in the UK. It was an average day in terms of weather, and there was a reasonable headwind/tailwind on the course.
I had a good ride - 52:50, AP 288W, which is nearly 20W more than I have managed to hold before. A few years ago, on a very similar course, I was holding AP 265-268W and getting 58mins. So I have come a long way since then.
But before I get complacent… I got hammered by a couple of regulars on this course, one is “only” holding 10W more than me, but beating me by 2:30. The other fella has 40W on me, but beat me by 4mins. Both suggest that I have another 2mins to find in terms of aero.
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Talking about aero this is something my coach has been drilling into me. He told me to forget power at our club 10 last night and concentrate on holding my position as best I could. I ended up setting a 30 second pb at 10 watts lower power. Just shows how much difference holding a good aero position makes.
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Nice one 
I think all my club 10pbs have came with reduced power and probably better aero
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This is especially true in that last 1/3 when you are getting tired and trying to push a few more watts. I would trade a tight position for watts, and it’s never enough watts to pay off. For that last 1/3, the mantra in my head switches to “aero is fast” to keep me focused on staying in position.
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This is exactly what I need to be doing.
Which course is that? That’s a very good time for that power!
Also, don’t forget about speed! We all make the mistake of focusing on power when what we should be focusing on is how fast we are going and how we can vary our efforts to go faster when we’re going slower and recovering when we’re going faster.
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Has anyone ever seen a whitepaper or independent testing of the Princeton CarbonWorks Wave 6560?
I read an article on Cyclingtips today, that AFenix went to great lengths to get MVDP a set of Princetons on time for today’s stage.
With Ineos also riding these, I am really wondering if and how these are that fast?
Ineos used to utilize the 100mm AEOX TITAN, that is back into UCI legality. Jumbo Visma still uses these, but why on earth have Ineos switched? I can hardly believe that this 60mm wheel is faster, than a 100mm wheel or multi spoke.
I understand stability being a potential concern, but even on quiet days, Ineos seems to use the Princeton’s now.
Any idea?
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This might explain the change?
My favourite mantra comes from the Gas Station Food Cyclist (friend of NorCal Cycling): “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast”. Don’t worry about riding hard to gain time, ride smart - stay as aero as you can, don’t surge, stay within your limits on hills/headwinds, rest a bit with downhills/tailwinds - and the gains will come to you.
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It’s my first year taking tt’s seriously, unfortunately my fractured elbow, arm and wrist 9 weeks ago have held me back a bit. Coming together now though.
Managed a 20:14 for a 10 and 51:27 for a 25 over past two weekends.
Need to keep my head down and pace things better.
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I think I was making that mistake. I had the metric (average speed) switched off to maximise my text size on my small 130. I’ve got hold of a larger 1030 so I’ve switched it back on.
Not really, as stated: the AEOX titan wheels are back to uci legality with a minor update:
Position looks great. Hard to tell what it looks like front on, but I imagine you’re quite narrow.
Good stuff
There doesn’t seem to be much a pattern for many of the teams. As for data for newer wheels or even the newer bikes outside marketing and what aerocoach is putting out, I haven’t seen much.
V236/1 - its a decent course, I think, but there are faster courses out there. I can see there are folks going well under 50mins with less than 300W, so whilst I’m happy I’m making progress with my position, there is clearly a lot more I could learn from the quick guys.
One constraint I have is that my targets are mostly 100 miles and longer, so I have not gone for a very aggressive position. I don’t know how much I could gain by going really low - but I doubt I could hold it for my next race!!
Just noticed Duggleby did a 46 on there. Outrageous! Going sub-50 off 300w is freakish. Matt Bottrill posted something about doing a 49 off 300w recently and he has to be one of the most knowledgeable guys in the country on aero stuff so I wouldn’t say that’s common or even achievable for a lot of people.
Sam, I think you’re overstating it. I’m racing against guys who are doing it (49 off less than 300) - and having seen their results, and looked at their gear, I cannot believe their power numbers are way off. You need the right day, for sure, and you absolutely need good aerodynamics (CDA maybe 0.17, maybe 0.175) but there are guys who are doing this, and they haven’t been to the wind tunnel.
The point I’m trying to make is that really good aerodynamics are not odd any more, and having a CDA below 0.2 is no longer enough to win races.
I guess the other point I’m trying to get over to others is that aero really is everything in UK time trialling. My experience is that I’ve worked really hard on my training, increased power by 40W and that got me 2mins. I’ve worked on my position and probably got twice that. And I still have a lot to go.
I wouldn’t give up training. But I would recommend folks take aero very seriously! 
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I suppose it depends on the course, but where I race (Kent - Q courses) 300w gets the most slippery a short 53, judging by the Strava leaderboards.
I’m racing the G25/89 on Sunday. Dan Bigham broke Graham Obree’s CR on there in 2019, doing a short 48 off 370 watts. By comparison two guys did short 46s on the V236/1 off similar power numbers. Again, 300w will gets you a 53, maybe even a 52.
100% agree.
No reason why you can’t do both! But I still don’t think doing a 49 off 300w is realistic for most