Can Mirinda Carfrae get faster on the bike?
Clearly Rinnie is one of the best triathletes the sport has ever seen. But versus the other top women she is giving up 5-20 minutes on the bike in Kona. If she could gain 10 minutes of free speed it would be devastating to the rest of the field. We think she can gain that much time via position adjustments and pedal stroke work. In the following video we analyze her pedal stroke and bike fit out on the Queen K. We Compare her to top riders Julie Dibens, Caroline Steffen, and Chris Lieto.
October 24, 2011 @ 1:24 pm
Very cool analysis. Helps to really explain various aspects of power loss caused by sub-optimal aerodynamics. I’m a huge fan of Rinny and hope she can improve he bike, not only to gain those precious 5 minutes on the bike but also to run even faster (!) off the bike.
Question: What kind of adjustments can be made to a rider’s pedal stroke to make sure she toes-down sufficiently after the power portion of the pedal stroke?
Thanks.
October 24, 2011 @ 6:19 pm
Thanks – #1 the rider needs to be made aware of it. #2 they need to work on not pushing down through the bottom of the pedal stroke. Even riders with good technique will drop heels at bottom under heavy load/low cadence situations and/or when they are tired. So usually it is a case of the rider continuing to push down hard on the pedal even though the crank is well past horizontal. This is usually quite evident on a spinscan. One helpful tip can be to focus the rider on the recovery and have them forget about the downstroke. Pedal by driving the knees up to the handlebars – the rest often takes care of itself.