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How Fast Was Kona 2018 vs Historical Averages?
The fast year is ALWAYS the year you don't go. It sure seems that way, right? Well this year the data is indisputable. 2018 is by far the fastest year for the Kona Ironman World Championships in the last 11, and maybe the fastest ever. I haven't heard how many age-group records fell, but obviously the pro records were smashed and at least the overall female AG record was annihilated by a 45 year old no less (and with it Lisbeth's 8-year old 45-49 course record). First, let's talk about "normal" Kona and what can cause it to be fast or slow. Obviously the weather is a major factor. Yet for all its micro-variability, the Kona climate in October is remarkably constant. Weather reports will usually show daily high temperatures of 82-83. It is actually reasonably comfortable in the shade. But exposure to the powerful sun will instantly raise your core temperature so it feels much hotter out on the course. Then add the black pavement and Lava, and it will be bloody hot no matter what. Occasionally, like 2016 for example, air temps were more like 90 and that will certainly add additional stress. Significant cloud cover for any period of time is rare on race day (although abundant during race week!). Madam Pele's no pushover. But some years the clouds make temporary appearances and this can speed things up a bit vs zero cloud years like 2017. So as far as run course conditions, solar radiation time and air temps will have some effect, but it will always be fairly awful. The bike conditions may actually influence the run more than the relatively small changes in run conditions. The swim always has some amount of swell and current. Then add varying amounts of wind chop. These each make sighting tougher and may push you off course. Some years have significant swells running - 1996 was one such year with surfers riding double-overhead waves just inshore of the swim course. The overall times however seem to vary by no more than a few minutes for the pros. Clearly 2018 was faster than normal if anything with 2 swim records cracked. So subtract a few minutes for the swim in 2018. The bike is always the wild card. "Normal" conditions will include sweltering heat beginning within the first 10 miles, but generally favorable winds until the last 7 miles to Hawi. There, at approximately mile 53, just as the grade gets tougher, Madam Pele turns on the jets. Palm fronds are horizontal west. Winds gusts well over 20, but there may be some rain sprinkles. Speeds are typically sub-10mph in many spots due to winds combined with the grade. Once you hit the Hawi turn and start back down hill, these same winds accelerate you to ludicrous mode, but also enjoy shifting and gusting in an attempt to catch out the unwary and launch them into the lava. It is at the bottom of this white knuckle descent that the race (read suffering) begins. The 1 mile climb from Kawaihae to the Queen K is akin to riding into a Bessemer blast furnace. With some 35 miles left to go the Queen K is now stupid hot, the solar radiation is frying your skin, and the winds are raking you from off your right shoulder. How can it be so windy and yet still be so damn hot? From here back to town, the winds and heat conspire to sap any remaining fight from the athletes. This stretch is physical and mental torture, and average speeds rapidly decrease just to add to the misery. Many folks lose the race here. They overheat, dehydrate, and under-nourish. More than anything, the relative run performance can be decided here. So why wasn't 2018 "normal"? Heck I wasn't there I have no idea. Actually I do - when you hear descriptions of the conditions that you have never heard in more than two decades of Kona trips, you know. Mark Allen described the morning pre-start as cool and comfortable. He was waiting for the heat to appear in transition, and it never did in the morning. The race announcers kept describing windless conditions on the bike and relatively moderate temps. On-screen graphics appeared to show the winds switching after the athletes turned at Hawi, so that they had light tail winds in both directions. Clouds were present at times. When the pros hit Hawi the trees and bushes were still. Moreover, when passing Waikaloa on the way back, bushes were still stationary. This area is typically a wind tunnel on the return. There were no signs of bikes being blown across the highway in the last 20 miles. A highly experienced and competitive multi-time Kona age grouper I know said she has never ridden the Queen K like it was on Saturday - with no cross winds. SO HOW FAST WAS IT ALREADY?! I have been using age group women times to gauge relative difficulty and averages for Kona for some time now - obviously for one because it is useful to Lis, but also because the pros often have very different conditions than the age groupers, especially the now late-starting women. Queen K winds switch on instantly at random times - the earlier you get out there the better chance you may avoid them. Hence the pro men can have an advantage. 2017 was a clear example of this. The pro men almost entirely avoided the winds on the bike - hence the new bike record, and this years times were only slightly faster for them. But even the female pros got nailed by the winds - they start only 5 minutes later but by the time they get to the windy sections they are maybe 20 minutes back. And that can make all the difference as it clearly did in 2017 - men had record bike splits, women were average. Age groupers of course got the usual Pele cocktail. The way I analyze the conditions is to look at the average time of the top ten female age group bike splits, and also the average time of the top ten female age group overall finishers. Finally I look at the average finishing time for the top ten female age groupers. I cover the period from 2008-present. This simple methodology shows that most years are pretty consistent. The top ten female age group bike splits average about 5:16, or 21.3 mph. The top ten overall female AG finishers' bike splits average a bit slower, about 5:20. And the average finishing time for the top ten female AGers is about 9:57. 2018 however crushed these averages. The top ten bike split average was 4:55, or 22.7 mph! And the average finish 9:39! So the bike was about 20-21 minutes, or 1.4 mph, faster than average. Rumor has it Madam Pele was up all night playing with thunder storms so perhaps she overslept. Finishing times were slightly less faster - about 18 minutes. This is probably well within the range of error here. But assuming the swim was a few minutes faster than normal, the run, where things did get hot, may have been a bit slower than average - but then again the less-tortuous bike had to help. Looking across the 11 years of data here, it seems that 2010,2012,2014,2016 and 2017 were "normal" overall. 2013 and especially 2018 were fast, with 2011 also being a bit speedy. 2013 gives 2018 a run for its money - which is strange because I don't remember that much talk about it being a fast year. The 2018 bike is clearly faster, but 2013/2018 finishing times are identical. 2008, 2009, and 2015 were slow. 2016 interestingly was one of the slowest years on the bike, but overall times were average. The data also seems to indicate that slow years are a "bit" slower, by maybe 10 minutes, while very fast years can be substantially faster by around 20 minutes. The moral of the story? We may never see another year as fast as 2018 in Kona. 40-year veterans were saying they had never seen anything like 2018's conditions. If this was your first Kona, expect to go maybe 20 minutes slower in a "normal" year. Or 30 minutes plus in a bad one. UPDATE: An astounding 14 AG records fell in 2018. Nine of these records that fell were set in the other fast year, 2013.
Craig Alexander’s Ironman Tips Courtesy of the Argon 18 Kona Team Barbecue
One thing you notice in Kona is that some companies go out of their way to support their customers. Lately the bigger names in the bike world are notable by their absence, Cervelo being the exception. Several smaller brands also work hard to make sure their customers are taken care of led by Ventum. Ceepo is another. Argon 18 continues to be a standout, as they have here for years, with their own team of mechanics toiling all week in the Kona heat. You have never seen more Argon 18s, Ceepos or Ventums than you will see here, so maybe this matters. Better yet, Argon 18 threw a barbecue for all riders and dealers, featuring a Q&A with 3-time Kona champion and Argon 18 athlete Craig Alexander. Crowie dished out some valuable tips worth considering for any Ironman competitor, so here I will attempt to summarize his sage advice.
Training and ageing: Crowie is 44 now but still slugs it out with the big boys a few times a year. For maintenance he likes to train 10-15 hours/week. But any of the top guys are going 30+/week (as he did in his younger days) so he does a 4-week build into race day of 20+ hour weeks. But the focus as you get older should be on strength and speed, and he also mentioned biomechanics. You have a lot of miles and hours under your belt, more won’t help you go faster. Focus on proper strength, speed and mobility work will. I believe this is also one of Lisbeth’s “secrets” as her coach Al Lyman puts a premium on this kind of work. So here you have two multiple-time Kona winners giving you this advice. Maybe there is something to it? Yet, every day in the fit studio I see folks with terrible mobility and compromised strength who believe that doing more hours will make them better. It doesn’t need to take you more than maybe 45 minutes a week to make great gains here, but you need guidance. If you can barely lift your leg over your $10000 bike, as I saw yesterday, you are certainly not getting the full benefit of that $10k.
The Bike: If you want to win (or qualify) you need to focus on bike fit and aerodynamics. As he said, there are 10-15 minutes of free (for your legs anyway) time to be gained, and he is not willing to give that up to anyone. Guys like Seb and Frodo focus on this stuff all year long with great attention to detail. He even mentioned switching to glued versus stitched seams on tri suits. Beyond having a well-designed bike that fits you (Crowie rides an Argon 18 E-119+), everything from helmet choice to suit choice to fit parameters is extremely important. You must get a good bike fit, and from there drill down on the aero details (this is Crowie talking – not me although of course I agree). This may mean a trip to the wind tunnel or track. But then again, maybe not as Argon 18 and Notio Konect are releasing a device which essentially serves as a portable wind tunnel, providing the rider with real time CdA measurements on the road. Clearly this could be a revolutionary technology and we will be sure to have one once they become available.
Ironman Race Nutrition: He didn’t like to take in anything solid on race day – even for breakfast. However, Dave Scott did say he should consider solids later in the race including some protein. But although he would have a set plan, he would also be ready to address any problems and changing conditions that might arise. If you are getting irritable and the rest of the competitors are starting to piss you off, you are probably low on calories (or maybe you are just at a flat Ironman where everyone is drafting). He noted if the wind really cranked on the bike, he might need to up his calorie intake. The good news is in this state the body can quickly absorb any input to bring you back. If your stomach feels bloated and you still feel weak and irritable, you may be failing to absorb the calories you are consuming. Your stomach contents are too concentrated and the stuff just sits there. Dilute it with water and get it absorbed, stop taking in calories. I would say the one exception to this is if you have consumed too much water – hyponatremia and your belly is bloated with water – a potentially dangerous situation. Crowie remembered one year where he came out of the swim having swallowed much seawater. He felt ill and didn’t want his regular calories. In these situations, sodium and caffeine would help calm his stomach and get things assimilating once again, so Coke was the ticket back to normal. For sodium, he would target 800-1000 mg/hour. So that would often mean taking two salt stick capsules along with the 400+ mg he might get from sports drink. As he said he felt like you can’t really overdose on sodium so better to err high.
Race week prep: Don’t do anything unusual. Seems painfully obvious, but many screw this one up. If you drink beer in training, have a couple during race week – my favorite tip. Don’t change anything on your bike, shoes, etc. He believes a taper should be just that – not a training cliff where you go from 30 hours (if a pro) to 3. He never went faster than IM pace during race week but emphasized keeping the plumbing working and well-oiled so to speak. But then again, everyone is different and needs to find what routine works well for them and stick to it.
Race day psychology: He would expect the worst. For Kona he would assume the hottest and windiest conditions possible. But to the extent the conditions weren’t worst-case, that was a bonus. And he accepted that he would feel very bad at times even if having a great race. He mentioned that Mark Allen told him that during every Kona he won, there was at least one portion of the race where he felt like he wouldn’t be able to finish. Expect it, make good decisions about pacing (don’t chase Frodo if he flies by you on the bike unless that is part of a well thought out and appropriate race plan) and nutrition, and it will pass.
So, there you have everything I can remember from Crowie’s Q and A courtesy of Argon 18. Might be easier if I take notes next time. You have undoubtedly heard some of this stuff before, but in that case you must ask yourself if that is because it is super important, and whether or not you are truly following it.
Lone Star Adventures: Lisbeth’s Ironman Texas 2016 Race Report
Do I recommend starting an ironman build 7 weeks before a race? My plan was ironman Germany later in the summer but due to circumstances too boring to detail, I jumped on the opportunity to race Texas, giving me, you guessed it, 7 weeks to build and taper. Two goals: race exactly fast enough to secure a spot (i.e., top 2 AG) and minimize damage for quick recovery. I believed, if ironman fit, I could race conservatively and meet my goals.
I thought I would give Coach Al a conniption but he jumped at the challenge in Al style and thought the timing was sufficient given our work since Hawaii. His biggest job was getting the space between my ears ready - sometimes a coach is 10% coach and 90% psychologist.
Me me me for the next 4 weeks building muscular endurance; instant twenty hrs weekly, up from ten. Fourteen hours of indoor biking that week, up from three. Except everyone around me was sick and I got bronchitis (didn’t tell coach). Trained through it as intensities were low. Dayquil, Nyquil; a terrible week. T-6 weeks and I was feeling pretty good again. T-3 weeks we took volume down and added quick stuff before a steep rest.
The reason this seemingly panic-ridden plan did not set me up for injury was that my fitness level was relatively high from short quick stuff all winter plus my body was strong as my neighbor's bulldog from 4 months of Al’s body weight daily 10-minute challenge online class that he teaches during off season. I had graduated from a perfect Turkish Getup balancing a shoe on my knuckles (took me 2 months to perfect, thank you, as it required more mobility than I previously had) to doing them with a 25-pound kettlebell. Point is, I was fit, balanced, and had no ‘issues’. Which answers my initial question: it depends. And definitely not unless you have a few under the belt. All that (non-weight) strength work didn’t make me a faster triathlete of course but it granted me a larger margin of error – the type of margin that I naturally possessed a decade and two ago. While this short lead-up was super family/work friendly, it played with my confidence. I will go the traditional path for Kona.
Texas. Holy grandmother of heat coming off RI snow only a month prior with zero high temps over 70 and most bike rides requiring tights. Mantra for the day: ‘This Is Exactly the Right Temperature for Me’. Conservative pacing, calm head. Skipped the practice swim due to bacteria level issues which meant the race
would be my first open water swim since Hawaii. 81 degrees’ water. Swam it more or less alone; every time I tried to draft I got dropped. Time 1:07 yuck, gone are the days of one hour flat but I was hardly out of breath. Following my plan of conservation.
Bike course was moved and shortened to 95 flat miles with 80-something turns added; this due to Houston floods and a certain county commissioner’s dislike of tri-geeks. I was impressed by how safely this course was run by WTC and the area police squad. Corners were fast apart from a few u-turns. The only issue were folks slowing out of turns bunching you into their draft zone without space to make a pass, but draft marshals were more focused on straightaways and penalty tents were indeed packed. Still there was blatant intentional drafting aplenty including orchestrated rotating pace-lines (the guy in back was always the moto-lookout). Disgusting. Time 4:17, 22mph, VI 1.01, 10W below goal iron pace (this is hard to confirm as my ancient Quarq drifts down with increased temperature).
Hot now; 89-96F depending on who you ask. I wasn’t feeling terrific. Somehow I managed to get dehydrated despite enough fluids and salt - I was peeing way too much. My mistake during the days prior had been drinking too much plain water. The absence of heat acclimation had me losing more salt than usual/sweating more. The excess peeing was to keep blood sodium in balance. Hot races are so tough to get right. And it’s tricky to analyze exactly what you need to do to correct the situation.
Trotting along no faster than my conservative goal pace of 8:20ies/mile, I started out with my FuelBelt and a handheld so that I could focus on cooling – ice down shorts, top, hat. I needed to get my body temperature down or implosion would be imminent. I knew aid stations would be competitive during the more crowded 2nd and 3rd laps. I drank a lot and increased salt. I hadn’t peed since the bike and wouldn’t again until hours after my race was done. Body doing what the body does to keep equilibrium.
During 2nd lap I was passed by a lady wearing pink from top to toe; a very good runner in my AG. I had no chance. Surely, I couldn’t be a whole lap ahead so I assumed I was in 2nd and couldn’t afford lollygagging from there on. Thank you lady in pink (she was indeed on her 1st lap I found out upon finishing); she was the reason for my HTFU mode. 3rd lap, avoiding the 10 minute per mile pace of shame with all my might. This race is just too damn hot; the F-bomb emerged and my mantra departed with it. Thunder from afar, then closer. Clouds rolled in, temps all of a sudden dropped drastically like an inverse menopausal episode and the rain and wind got nasty. 2 miles to go and we were running in deepish water having to lift our feet like clowns – and then came the hail. It took me a moment to grasp what was hurting my skin. The lightening was so close a girl in front of me ducked to the ground. As we say in Norway – we weren’t very high in our hats (= scared shitless). My glasses blew off my face never to be seen again. Some say 50 mph winds at this moment in time and I believe them; I had to make myself smaller. I used my hat to protect the side of my face from the hail. The finish was anti climatic in that they had evacuated the tents and only a few remaining brave souls were waving us in through shifted barricades. Behind me they apparently started pulling people off the course to seek shelter, something that would later cause timing mayhem.
Time 3:55 including a dreaded 10min+ pace for the last 3 miles into the wind for a happy ending. 9:27 total time.
From hyper to hypo – my body was doing the big uncontrollable shivers, they wrapped me in a silver blanket and a towel and gave me a hot burrito. 1st age group 50-54 and Kona number 9 – yabadaba, baby!
Thanks to The Academy (my family), Coach Al, Ventum (Looove My Bike!), FuelBelt, VASA, Speedfil, and Tifosi Optics. Only 4 months to wait in suspense for TTBikeFit’s world famous slo-mo video bike position analysis from the Queen-K.
Kona AG Women Bike Split Analysis: How fast do you need to be, and how did Lis do in 2015?
I have been spending some time analyzing Kona bike split data for the last 8 years. Coincidentally, this is when Lisbeth started racing Kona consistently (she also did it in 1996 pre-kids). I wanted to see what years were "tough" years, and how Lis has fared versus the fastest women bikers, fastest overall finishers, and masters women in general. I found the results pretty interesting both on a general basis and relative to Lisbeth's performance over the years. One reason I undertook this task was that Lis felt she had a bad race this year, finishing second in her AG. She definitely overheated during the last hour of the bike, and by the second half of the run was in pure survival mode. She ultimately lost 4% of her body weight by the time she hit Alii Drive. That is way too much. Her power on the bike seemed low, even considering heat-influenced drift affecting her early-model Quarq. I think many folks felt that the El Nino conditions were harsher than usual. But would the split data show this? I also wanted to get an idea if Lis' new bike setup, a Ventum One and Nimblewear speedsuit, may have helped her bike split. Note that I avoided bringing any pro data into this analysis, as the pro start times versus the age groupers have varied over the years. Since 2008 they have gone from a pure mass start, to pros first; to men pros then women pros then age groupers; to men pros, women pros, male age groupers and finally women age groupers this year. The 45 minute time spread can significantly affect racing conditions in Kona. A few minutes can make the difference between calm conditions and raging head winds, not to mention moderate vs boiling heat. Note that the women starting last this year, 15 minutes behind the AG men, may have had significant effects on bike splits thru reduced legal and not-so-legal drafting.
What years have been TOUGH bike years, and how fast do you need to be to make UBERBIKER status?
For this analysis I looked at the average bike split of the 10 fastest age group women bikers, and the 10 fastest age group women finishers. There was quite a bit of consistency in the splits from year to year, but it is clear that 2013 was an "easy" year, while 2015, 14, 09 and 08 were tougher. Average Bike Split of 10 Fastest AG Women Bikers, and Fastest AG Woman Bike Split 2015: 5:19:53, 5:15:48 2014: 5:19:45, 5:13:24 2013: 5:03:05, 4:49:54 2012: 5:18:38, 5:00:42 2011: 5:11:22, 4:58:40 2010: 5:17:17, 5:07:00 2009: 5:21:38, 5:15:51 2008: 5:23:26, 5:15:33 Eight year average bike split, top ten AG woman bikers: 5:16:53 +- 06:37 Eight year average fastest AG woman bike split: 5:07:07 +- 09:48 So without getting into statistical arguments, I think it is safe to conclude a few things here. 2013 was definitely an outlier - super fast on the bike. 2015 and 2014 look a bit slower than average, as do the earlier years, but then there may be some technology drift there (as the UCI would call it) - faster bikes, electronic shifting, faster wheels, overall better bike fits in recent years versus 7 or 8 years ago. I think it is fair to say if you want to be in the top 10 AG woman bikers, you need to be able to ride around a 5:17 (21.2 mph average) in Kona's rolling hot and windy conditions. If you want to be the fastest AG woman biker, plan on riding just over 5 hours (more like 21.75 mph average).How do the Fastest Bikers Compare to the Fastest Finishers?
Next I looked at the top ten AG women FINISHERS, and averaged their bike splits. Obviously the fastest bikers are not necessarily the fastest finishers, sometimes the opposite. There is this marathon thing to deal with after all. Average Bike Split of Top-ten AG Women Finishers: Bike Split, and Finishing Time 2015: 5:25:55, 10:08:02 2014: 5:22:05, 10:01:25 2013: 5:06:40, 9:39:20 2012: 5:19:34, 9:56:11 2011: 5:15:03, 9:45:01 2010: 5:21:12, 9:56:43 2009: 5:24:25, 10:07:37 2008: 5:32:03, 10:10:29 Eight year average bike split, top ten AG woman finishers: 5:20:52 +-7:35 Eight year average, top ten AG women finishers overall time: 9:58:36 +- 10:38 This data is consistent with the previous data in that 2013 was super fast, and 2015 was slow, especially when the run/swim is added in. Only 2008 is slower, but there is that technological creep to consider (no to mention overall greater participation and deeper fields now). And, we can see that the top ten finishers ride on average about 4 minutes slower than the top ten bikers - not much difference, about 0.25 mph. So, if you want to be a top overall finisher at least in the AG women in Kona, your bike split needs to be top notch. And you need to be capable of sub 10 hours overall in Kona conditions. Note that I only bothered to look at the finishing times for the top ten bikers in two years: 2015 and 2013. They were 12 and 7 minutes slower than the top-ten finishers. So it's really no surprise that the finishing times of the top ten bikers are a bit slower than the top overall finishers. Maybe 10 minutes or so.How did Lisbeth do in 2015?
Lisbeth's bike split this year was 5:26:36. Not her fastest by any means. But I had some ideas that it may actually have been very fast, especially considering her "new" age group. She out-split the next woman in 50-54 by a healthy 20:53. Yes this was her first year in the AG giving her an age advantage, but 5 years prior in 2010 when she was the youngest in 45-49, she out-split the next woman in the AG by a mere 3 minutes. Her largest margin prior to this year was 2011 where she out-split the next woman in her AG by nearly 14 minutes. She had the 2nd fastest over-40 bike split this year (a 43 yr old went less than 2 minutes faster), and the 12th-fastest of all AG women. Her time was 6:43 slower than the average time of the top ten AG women bikers. This is actually the smallest margin since 2010, when she was only a couple minutes back (and 5 years younger, a year when she had her fastest ever Kona). One other way I came up with to "normalize" Lisbeth's bike data was to look at how the fastest over-50 AG woman biker's bike split compared to the fastest overall AG woman cyclist's bike split. The average margin from 2008-2014 was 29 minutes slower, +- 9 minutes. The smallest gap was 20:33 in 2009. Lisbeth however was only 10:48 behind the fastest AG woman biker in 2015. So she clearly had the strongest bike leg of any 50 plus woman in at least the last 8 years. Considering her power was down, likely due to a overly-high core temp during the last hour, and that her bike training was less than usual if anything (and is always quite slim compared to most athletes at her level - but this is by design since her training time is relatively limited and her coach Al Lyman does a great job of wringing the most from her training budget), I would say her Ventum One served her very well.
Kona Ironman Pro Bikes: Frodeno and Raelert
This is the first in a series of posts looking at some interesting features of the pros' bikes at the Kona 2015 Ironman World Championships. I hope to point out some stuff you might not notice otherwise. Most shots are from bike check-in with some from the expo. The first two specimens just happen to belong to the first two finishers, Frodeno and Raelert. And coincidentally, both are made from pure 100% high-modulus unobtanium. At least if you live in the US that is. Canyon is not selling in the US market yet, as they have a direct to consumer model and rely on a central service facility in Germany to support European customers in lieu of a dealer network. They say they are working on bringing this to the US. We will see. Andreas' Cube is a true cost-was-no-object one-off, but Cube claims they are using it as a development platform for future stock bikes.
Jan Frodeno's Canyon Speedmax CF SLX
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Although this is not the bike Jan raced on in Kona, the setup is mostly the same. For the race, he switched to an Elite aero bottle on the down tube and ZIpp 808 wheels. Besides the overall angularity of Canyon's latest superbike, the front end treatment is also striking. The hydration unit hangs in front of the head tube and sits on top of the stem. A trapezoidal bento box blends seamlessly with the back of the bottle. Jan uses a Sram Quarq power meter and a Fizik Tritone nose-less saddle. -
Jan rides with his elbows jammed together. This CAN certainly be more aero, it can also be quite uncomfortable for most folks. He also runs a relatively low hand position in a time where many are re-recognizing the potential aero benefits of higher hands. The base bar is quite square and has integrated rubber grips. It also sits very low due to the integrated stem design. Note the clean positioning of the drinking straw and the spacious bento. -
Is there a curve anywhere on this bike? Actually there is - the leading edge of the bottle is curved. Obviously Canyon makes generous use of Kamm-type truncated airfoils. But you have to wonder if all those square edges are as aero as they could be - like the trailing edge of the bento and the bottom of the hydration bottle, not to mention the very stubby square-section basebars. Looks like aesthetics came into play here, but in the end maybe it makes very little difference in performance. -
Frodo uses Sram Red E-tap "wireless" shifting. Note that there are still plenty of wires in the cockpit area connecting the shifter "blips" to the control box - they are just well hidden within Canyon's spacious front end storage. The small grey box attached to the derailleur is the removable battery - each derailleur has its own and they can be swapped between derailleurs as well. -
The rear hydration mount is integrated with the seat post. See that little fin in front of the seatpost on the top tube? That is a lid for yet another storage chamber within the triangular frame gusset. -
Frodo's position looked great. Move along, nothing to complain about here.
Andreas Raelert's Custom Cube C:68
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Andreas Raelert's one-off Cube C:68 ranks as one of the most striking bikes in Kona this year. F1 engineers Swiss Side pulled out all the stops to make this bike as aero as possible. Yet, most of the aero features are similar to those found on other superbikes - the seat tube gusset (Canyon), the smoothly-integrated front end (Scott), the deep aspect-ratio head tube (Cervelo and Scott), the kinked chain stays (Blue), and the "big block" carbon (Felt). -
Unlike on Frodo's Canyon, the front hydration unit is practically sealed to the front tire. Clearly Swiss Side's aim here was to divert flow around the fork/wheel complex. Others have gone opposite way by widening the fork leaving large gaps between the front wheel so that air can presumably flow between the wheel and fork. This is a touchy area in the aero world - two objects with a gap between them can "act" like one big object to the air flow (bad). So maybe best to keep everything narrow and force the air around everything. -
The bars are modified Profile Aerias. Note that Andreas chose Shimano Pro elbow cups though. No BTA bottle here - instead we have a Garmin affixed with electrical tape. Aerobar shifters are the Dura-Ace 1-button type (they only operate the rear derailleur in one direction or the other). You get another good look here at the front hydration unit, with TRP brakes just barely peaking out. Tires? The ubiquitous Conti GP 4000 S2. -
He actually left it unaccompanied for a short while in the chute. Andreas was running Rotor 3D cranks, FSA aero rings, and a Power2Max power meter. Wheels are Swiss Side Hadrons. Presumably they are not intended to super-collide - just go fast. And yes, those are only (GASP) Ultegra 6870 Di2 derailleurs - probably cost him .001 watts versus Dura Ace. As noted before, Andreas did not run a BTA bottle, but chose a frame-mounted aero bottle and two cages fastened under the rear of the saddle. Gotta wonder if Swiss SIde approved of the frame bottle and lack of BTA, as both of these generally increase drag. -
Andreas' fit was excellent on the Cube. Like with Frodo's fit, it is hard to complain about anything here. Notice the Zipp rear wheel, courtesy of neutral support after a flat. Even so, Raelert's bike time was only minutes off the top split.
Kona Qualifiers 2018
Megan Pennington AG win at IM Lake Placid, Lenny Wishart, Kerry Cancroft