Mark your calendars for October 30th. Start-Tri.com and Paramount Adventure will be hosting our 3rdannual Triathlon expo, mini bike clinic, and end of the year party for any and all triathletes in the area.

Details:

11:00 AM Casual ride at various paces (depending on who shows up) leaving from Meyersville Grange.

12:30 PM Party/Expo/Clinic begins. Food and drinks will be provided. Starting Line Sports and Marty’s Reliable Bicycles will all be on site with gear. Paceracing will be on hand to unveil 2011 calendar.

1:30 PM Change your tire speed challenge. Prizes to be awarded to fastest changer.

1:45 PM Aero positioning on a Time Trial bike.

2:00 PM Bike Maintenance

2:30 PM Staying injury free during your training

3:00 PM Party and expo shut down.

Where: Meyersville Grange (near the Meyersville circle) on 623 Meyersville Road.

What to bring? You, kids, spouse, training partners, significant others….

Call me with questions or for more details. Mickey 908-790-9328 or Email mickey@start-tri.com also check the web atwww.start-tri.com

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There are a number of factors that prevent you from going fast on the bike, but the two main characters are:
Frictional Drag- from the resistance between the air flow and the objects exposed to the air flow (their surface-area).  The resistance is a function of the viscosity of the air which, although very low, is significant enough to slow you down.
Pressure Drag-  from the eddying motions that are set up in the air behind the rider as they ride.  This is also termed wake (similar to that behind a boat).  This type of drag is a strong function of the cross-sectional area of the moving body (you).

The figure below is a good way of illustrating the two.  The object on the left is mainly subject to frictional drag, that on the right, pressure drag.

There are a number of equations associated with fluid flow but probably the most important is Bernoulli’s equation:

Why is this equation so important?  It relates the drag of a cyclist to his or her velocity.  You’ve probably heard that aerodynamics become more important the faster you go and it’s all due to the V2 term – drag is proportional to the square of your velocity  i.e.  Cyclist going at 10mph    V2  = 100      Cyclist going at 20mph V2 =400  i.e. 4 times more
As you go faster, your drag increases more so.

Below is a comparative list of the various modifications that you can make to your bike setup to improve drag – however, REMEMBER: The most aerodynamically inefficient part of cyclist is the rider themselves.  About 80% of the drag of a cyclist comes from the rider – bike FIT therefore is paramount since it affects aerodynamics on the bike and in particular, the pressure drag.

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