Modern bikes and space technology and marginal gains.

[scotty]

Marginal gains, if Wahoo's claim is correct then more time can be saved 

 

A) The BOLT was the fastest bike computer against the “leading competitor”

B) The BOLT would save you “12.6 seconds in a 40KM time trial”

 

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/05/wahoo-bolt-aero-testing.html

[100Tours]

Now that's a significant improvement!

 

But surely a race like that that would be influenced by training and nutrition to a greater extent than a once off hour sprint? Not to mention better drugs...

and tarmac!

[mecheng89]

*Tinfoil hat on*

We never landed on the moon. 

[mecheng89]

We have buttery smooth, tarred roads these days...

LOL. Best joke I've heard all day. 

[mecheng89]

And exactly why you need a car with 740kW to drive over 400km/hr, while one with 140kW can reach 200km/hr. Definitely not linear

That car used 50BHP to do 70mph.. scary. 

[Eldron]

Marginal gains, if Wahoo's claim is correct then more time can be saved 

 

A) The BOLT was the fastest bike computer against the “leading competitor”

B) The BOLT would save you “12.6 seconds in a 40KM time trial”

 

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/05/wahoo-bolt-aero-testing.html

 

If we believed ever marketing campaign about how many seconds we'd save "over a one hour 40km time trial" we'd eventually finish the thing before we started!

[NotSoBigBen]

My googleresearch revealed this.

 

If we go by the dictionary meaning then anything that has a curve is effectively exponential (increasing at an increasing rate).

 

Mathematically I can't find a clear case either way.

 

From now on and in future I'm going to go with this "wind resistance is non linear" :-)

"wind resistance is a pain in the proverbial a$$" that's my conclusion ... No scientific basis just my aching legs after Sunday [emoji45]

 

Sent from my LG-D958 using Tapatalk

[BaGearA]

You are not compairing apples to apples here.  If I remember there were hardly such a thing as team tactics in the beginning.  It was you and your bike and your own tools and spares to get to the finishlines.  Later teams, teams tactics and tech got involved.

 

What would the difference in avg be of the 1987 TDF to 2017 avg?

1987: 36.645 km/h

2017; 40.210 km/h

 

roughly 9.7% increase 

[BaGearA]

And exactly why you need a car with 740kW to drive over 400km/hr, while one with 140kW can reach 200km/hr. Definitely not linear

Many video that talk about reaching insane speeds in cars say that it quickly becomes more about punching A hole in the air at that speed rather than moving car forwards ( or something like that , they explain it quite good in those type of vids ) 

 

Don't know how much that translates to cyclists tho 

[Fat Boab]

Many video that talk about reaching insane speeds in cars say that it quickly becomes more about punching A hole in the air at that speed rather than moving car forwards ( or something like that , they explain it quite good in those type of vids ) 

 

Don't know how much that translates to cyclists tho 

 

Overcoming aerodynamic resistance, than friction (road-wheel & drivetrain) resistance perhaps?

 

As for relevance to cyclists? Lots....

[Fat Boab]

If you want to go fast, get small.....

 

If Wiki is to be believed......

 

The course records for conventional bicycles for the 110 km course over Chapman's Peak are:^[4]

• Men: 02:27:29 by Robbie Hunter (2008)
• Women: 02:44:04 by Renee Scott (1991).

The record for the highest number of consecutive victories within a competitor's age group belongs to Penny Krohn, who scored 25 such age group wins.^[5]

By far the quickest time ever recorded (and highest ever average speed) was set on the 105 km course in 1993 by Wimpie van der Merwe in his fully faired recumbent (02:16:40, averaging 46.1 km/h).^[6]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town_Cycle_Tour

[eddy]

 

1919 Tdf ave speed 24.056 km/h

2017 Tdf ave speed 40.210 km/h

 

Now that's a significant improvement!

But surely a race like that that would be influenced by training and nutrition to a greater extent than a once off hour sprint? Not to mention better drugs...

 

Lies, damn lies and statistics.

 

Lets look at some facts that *sarcasm font on* may *sarcasm font off* have had a far greater impact than carbon fibre and Di2.

 

1919 :

 

5 560 km raced over 15 stages, between 318 and 487km each. Average 371km. 

 

2017:

 

3 540 km raced over 21 stages, longest 222km. Average 168km.

 

1919 was also:

 

On unpaved roads mostly;

Self supported on the road;

Without teams or pelotons thus ITT mostly;

and, probably most importantly other than the distance, immediately after the devastation WW1 wrecked on the French and broader European nations. The race had not been run since 2014.

 

It was much more 36One than Argus. Now look at those average speeds again.....

 

2018 36One MTB

 

360 km in 14h05. Average Speed 25.7kph