wind tunnel in NC

Actually the one in NC is cheap.

If you're ever in San Diego be sure to visit www.lswt.com  This is a really cool place, with some amazing, brilliant, laid back people.  I think they said $1000 per hour. 

I was out there a couple of years ago.  I called and they said, sure, we're testing today come on by.  I walked right in and hung out for a couple of hours.  Christine Thorburg was there testing (#3 fastest woman in the world at the time), followed by an Ironman top ten female from Brazil. 

From what I saw, there's a lot to being aero which you would say is as expected.  Make as small of a frontal exposure as you can comfortably and powerfully ride for the entire length of your race -- bar low, seat high, elbows in.  It was interesting they squeezed Christine, who was competing in the (25K?) time trial (about a half hour ride) lower and stretched her out forward and got her much more aero, and yet she was still spinning the trainer at 100-110 rpm and 26-28 mph.  The Ironwoman they set much more comfortable (112 mile race), and she was testing at 90-95 rpm and 23-25 mph. 

After all the bar adjustments, trying different helmets, trying different wheels, the final touch was "how long can you keep your head low, shoulders slightly scrunched, chin forward?"  This was worth the last few seconds per hour.

Christine was 3rd in the world by 17 seconds in a half hour race.

Some really neat stuff comes out of wind tunnel testing, but I'm not sure my fitness levek is high enough to justify the expense.  From what I've read, what we think is aero is often dependent on the rider.  One bike might be better for one person, but a disater for another.