I would be riding through the woods on mostly flat roads across the state. The pictures looked inviting, easy, and fun. Whatever the reason, despite the fact that completing the Dirty Kanza 200 proved to me not just once, but twice, that 200 miles of racing is really not one bit easy, I really didn’t think the Coast to Coast Gravel Grinder, a 213 mile shore-to-shore race from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan, was going to be that hard. Maybe because I have the memory of a chipper blue tang (Dory in Finding Nemo, for those who aren't up on their fish genera) and the moment I crack a post-race IPA, all the hard parts of the race seep out my ears and I get starry-eyed remembering only the cool stuff. It’s also more than twice as many watts saved than our sample carbon wheels, which cost nearly £1,000.I have no idea why I thought it would be easy. Notably, we found that simply adopting an aerodynamic riding position – in this case, the famed ‘aero hoods’ position so often seen in WorldTour racing – can save 22.38 watts at 35kph, compared to riding with your hands on the brake hoods.Īlthough not quite as aero as clip-on aero bars, the cost per watt is £0, or in other words, totally free. If you read the introduction to this article (where we revealed that 70 to 80 per cent of the system drag is caused by the rider), that ought to come as no surprise. That’s right, the best-value aero upgrade is how you position yourself on the bike. If you don’t want to, or aren’t allowed to, use aero bars, then our wind tunnel testing suggests body position is still the area to pay most attention to. However, a basic alloy handlebar does the job just fine if it fits your bike. If you have a bike with a complicated or integrated front end, then you might need to splash out a bit more for something compatible. That’s not a night-and-day difference, but at just £8.65 per watt it’s certainly good value. This saved 2.43 watts at 35kph – which is worth 18 seconds over 60km. In this case, we tested swapping from the baseline 40cm-wide handlebar (centre to centre at the brake hoods) to a 36cm Rose Attack GF handlebar (€23.95 / around £21, although it’s worth noting Rose Bikes currently doesn’t ship to the UK) with the brake hoods turned in slightly. Handlebar width is often overlooked by bike manufacturers, but because it affects your body position, it also affects how aerodynamic you are.
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