Journal of professional cyclists Ian MacGregor and Timmy Duggan

Wind Tunnel testing

Monday morning after finishing the Tour of Georgia five riders from Team Type 1 drove up to Charlotte NC to the A2 wind tunnel. Tired bodies made for a long two days getting all five of us into the tunnel on our TT bikes.  However, I know that we made some very valuable changes with our positions on the time trial bikes.  The A2 tunnel is a pretty amazing place, not only do they have an excellent set up for bikes but you get to actually pedal and see your watts while gathering drag data. Mike, the tunnel operator, is an ex-pro cycling team mechanic so he does an excellent job of guiding the rider towards a more aero position while keeping the position one that you can actually race in the real world. Team Type 1 brought two mechanics who also both have a lot of experience working in tunnels, all of these great people really allowed us to maximize our gains and make the most of our time. In the end I was able to reduce my drag by 14% without putting myself in an uncomfortable position. 14%!!! I have always struggled with TT’s so I’m pretty excited to see how much this wind tunnel time, and a little focus with some specific TT workouts will help my time trialing this season.