Matt Russell hunting for wattage at the A2 Wind Tunnel
American Matt Russell is still not fully recovered from the horrific crash in Kona last year, but he went to the A2 Wind Tunnel in NC to see how he can get faster. Initially he had hoped to compare the Andean with the Serios in addition to various other details, but with the Andean not showing up in time it was time to get serious with the Serios. The bike he had raced at 70.3 Texas, IRONMAN Texas and 70.3 Chattanooga.
Matt Russell enlisted the help of Paraic McGlynn of Cyclologic and this smart and passionate fit and biomechanic master traveled from Scottsdale, AZ to lend his expertise. The two have known each other for a long time and McGlynn really likes working with Matt Russell.
"If you give Matt detailed instructions he will follow them exactly as he was told," said McGlynn. That was also very much evident in the wind tunnel.
Every wind tunnel session starts with a base line and that was true here as well. The bike and Matt were exactly as he raced last at 70.3 Chattanooga, including the number on his helmet.
A bit earlier Matt Russell looked on as his Diamondback Serios got mounted in the A2 Wind Tunnel.
Paraic McGlynn goes over the schedule and the planned tests and gets feedback from Matt Russell.
Matt Russell typically only carries a water bottle behind the saddle in full IRONMAN events.
After Matt Russell had warmed up Paraic McGlynn checked him for flexibility and made sure that nothing along those lines would interfere or corrupt the testing.
Paraic McGlynn believes in the gebioMized saddle pressure mapping technology to further understand what is going on with the rider position, stability and pedaling. Here he gebioMized Matt Russell.
Matt Russell has been riding Giro Empire shoes and they typically test well. Russell did not test other shoes but he brought aero covers.
Matt Russell switched to the Bioracer Speedwear Concept Tri suit and at zero that meant 83 grams / 11 watts, and at yaw 68 grams / 9 watts. The Bioracer suit fit him like glove and Russell explained that his Castelli suit was a bit big now after dropping some weight.
It also turned out that riding with a bottle would serve Matt Russell well.
Russell tested the POC Cerebel versus the Giro Aerohead and the 2 helmets were a virtual tie, but with the better venting on the Giro he will opt for that helmet.
With the Zephyr Bioharness in place Paraic McGlynn gets lots of live data from the athlete. He then can move the testing to the outside and test it in the real world.
The Zephyr Bioharness is analyzed by Omnisense software, and the data is collected live via an Echo gateway Bluetooth transceiver.
The aero covers will likely also stay, as the advantage gained will cover the time spent putting them on.
Since the bottle in the cage was faster, the attempt was made to bring the whole setup higher, but that ended up being slower for Matt Russell.
The seat was raised ever so slightly and Matt Russell moved forward and positioned his head lower with chin on straw as a guide and that also helped his numbers.
When it was all said and done Matt Russell's savings compared to where he started in grams of drag at yaw was 202.7 grams and 26.6 watts at 30 mph or 150 grams and 19.4 watts at 27mph. At zero it was 144 gram saving or 19 watts at 30 mph, and 117 grams savings and 14 watts at 27 mph. McGlynn said he prefers the real world 27mph data.
