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Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast - Presented by TrainerRoad

Special Guest: Ryan Cooper of Best Bike Split – Pacing, Crosswinds + More – Ask a Cycling Coach 128

Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast - Presented by TrainerRoad

TrainerRoad

Sports

4.94.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2018

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ryan Cooper is the founder of Best Bike Split, Chief Scientist at Training Peaks, and an expert on all things aerodynamics and pacing. We met up with Ryan in Kona to discuss how to achieve perfect pacing, aerodynamic advantages in time trialing, and triathlon tactics.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How Ryan Cooper became an expert in TT pacing
• Should you go hard or easy on climbs?
• How to properly pace a time trial
• What cyclists can learn from triathletes
• Are bike changes in time trials a good idea?
• How much faster one more watt and one less pound can make you
• Which is better: lose weight, or gain power?
• How to calculate the effect of elevation on aerodynamics and performance
• Are deep wheels actually better on a climb?
• When do aero helmets become worse than a standard helmet?
• Are aero road bikes worth the weight?
• How to beat the wind at Kona
• Drafting rules and tactics in triathlon
• How to use crosswinds to your advantage in triathlon
• How to use your starting position to help you in TTs and triathlon
• How pros pace differently than amateurs
• How to pace the hills on Kona's bike course
• What intensity factor is best for a full or half IRONMAN?
• One thing you can do to make the biggest aerodynamic gains

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to the podcast is dedicated to making you a faster cyclist to ask a cycling coach podcast presented by trainer road

0:05.6

I'm coach Jonathan Lee with our head coach Chad Zimmerman. All right, buddy. Our CEO Nate Pearson

0:10.0

Hello, and as you can hear we are not in our normal studio. We're with the special guests

0:14.4

Ryan Cooper of Best Bikes, but what's up, man? Hey doing great

0:18.5

I'm loving it out here. It's a little bit different than the normal the normal office environment here

0:24.0

No, no, no, no, no, where are we?

0:26.6

well right now we are sitting

0:29.4

right next to the ocean in

0:32.0

Hawaii and Kona Hawaii right here for the world championship

0:36.6

Yeah, we're at a coffee shop if you hear any noises in the background

0:41.0

Hopefully it just adds to beyond beyond and you're in the track. I am not eating everyone

0:46.2

It's not me. You're right. Yep

0:48.2

So we're here today to talk all about

0:52.0

aerodynamics

0:53.6

And also but pacing as well really like how in other words to best pace a TT and all the different factors that weigh into that because that's a best

1:01.4

bike split does we've mentioned it a lot on the podcast

1:04.8

I use it before every race I do actually to try to get an estimation of what my time ideal time would be

1:11.2

And then I work off of that is like a you know a point even on mountain biking stuff. I've actually

1:16.2

I've adjusted my CDA probably not advisable

1:19.2

But I've just adjusted my CDA down to where it seems like it replicates what I've done on my course and then I kind of saved that as like a separate thing

1:25.8

So anyways, it's a really good way to find out proper pacing and get an idea of what pacing you should do

1:32.2

But should we get into a little bit of best bike split in history behind the first name? Yeah, so Ryan

...

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