Re: Racing with Calfees, again: Bikefanclub.com

I believe that a person who has as much experience as Fly who has both kinds of wheels and feels the difference is most likely to be correct in his personal evaluation of what was significant that allowed his win. I do agree with your assesment in general, saying that a disk wouldn't be the primary reason a person would win the race. In fact, in general that is a correct statement. Fly, though, was in a specific situation where he evalutated that his disk wheel was significant. He did not say anything to the effect that it would give an advantage in general. He specifically stated that he evaluated the race, made a judgement call and won his race, with his teamate's help.

I acknowledge other factors are involved. Fly obviously is a disciplined and strong rider evidenced by his advancement in rank. That is one factor. Fly did say his teamate helped him; that is another factor. He also mentioned the course was a factor and the effect of previous races the others had done this season also being a factor. Obviously your statement nobobdy here acknowledges other factors involved is false.

IMOHO I believe what this discussion is boiling down to is Fly says, all other factors being equal, the disk wheel was his advantage in this particular race. I have the impression, and I could be wrong, that you do not believe the disk wheel had enough effect to be said that it helped him win, that other factors had to have been more prominent and that he is just making an inacurate evaluation. This is what I think the thread has devolved to.

In general, in the races like time trials among proffesionals, how aero the bike/rider system is does determine the winner. This clearly is one specific area where a disk wheel does make a difference. If it didn't, pros wouldn't bother with the tricky stuff like that.

In olympic track racing aero is what wins the race. Clearly, without a doubt. All modern track racing is done with disc wheels, teardrop helmets, skinsuits and shoe covers.

Fly made a good point. Drag increases by the square of the speed. What this means for bicycling is that power required to increase speed also goes up by the square. In bicycling science it does prove that wind resistance is the dominant force to overcome at 40mph. There is a lot of science involved. This is why in HPV competition, the record speed is higher than those achieved by Tour De France racers' HPV vehicles are fully-faired for one dominant reason, to reduce the drag. The best of the HPV competition riders are not as strong as Lance. In fact, in bicycling science, how much drag reduction any aero bit on a bike or rider is quantified. I'm sure there is data somewhere that quantifies just how much faster a rider can run 300 meters on a slight downhill with a disk wheel vs a 36 spoke wheel. The difference is real.

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