Ironman USA Lake Placid : Official Thread (Page 37)

Last year I used H3 and they were fine....little issue on the decent, but that was at 50+ MPH....nothing too bad.

you will see a ton of disc and disc covers.

This year I'll be running a 404 front, and a disc cover on my PT training wheel.

Weigth is not an issue; do not even consider the weight of your wheels in your decision.

A rear disc will be MORE stable in the wind.......some exceptions out there...places like Kona where the wind is so strong it can lift your bike off the ground.

If you have yet to purchase, a cover is best idea cost wise...., just make sure you have a wheel that a cover will fit, some will not fit....Shimano wheels come to mind.

I'll have a set of Hed Jet 6 C2 w/ a disc cover on the back.  Rear disc isn't harder to control over another deep wheel.  It acts as a stabilizer.  Front wheel will be more of a determining factor on how much you are blown around so go from 80mm down to 60mm if you are worried.  It seems counter intuitive but an 808 vs a disc in the back...go with the disc.  I'm not giving sources but you can find them fairly easily through searching.

Disc cover is about 300-400 grams.

20 ounces of water is about 600 grams...without the bottle.  If you have 3 water bottles I'd be more worried about that than the disc.  Disc makes you faster...water bottles don't.  Consider 2 and living off the course.

anyway...that's my outlook on it...have to go with what you are comfortable with in the end.

edit:  Mike is not only faster than me swimming biking and running but posting too

I'm new to aero wheels...last two IMs I used my stock wheels that came with my Felt B2.  This year I finally broke down and picked up some new weapons...Zipp Firecrest Carbon Clinchers 404 front and 808 rear.  I also purchased an aero cover from wheelbuilder.com and after some fine tuning I finally got it to fit right last night.  

Thanks all for the comments on weight being a non issue, even for hilly races...looks like wind is not as big of a factor either.  As of now I think I will use the disc cover as long as I get comfortable with it.  I have an oly and a half in the coming months so those races should be a good trial indicator.

One other question...do most use latex tubes as well?  I've always used butyl tubes but from what I've been reading in other forums running latex tubes is free speed. 

I reference these from time to time:

http://www.industrializedcyclist.com/tiretest.pdf

http://www.zipp.com/_media/pdfs/support/aero_edge09.pdf

Look for some posts on speed extraction.  It all adds up.

Example:

24 watts over standard wheels for Zipp 404s, 27 for 808s, 29 for an 808 front and 900 disc -

Tire/tube combo over some lesser combo -  maybe another 10 watts give or take

Aero helmet - another 10 watts give or take

A good position on your TT bike - another 10 watts or more

I'll leave it to you to do the cost per watt by tactic and add it all up but squeezing an extra 40 watts out if possible is game changing knowing the difference between what 250 watts and 300 watts feels like to my legs.

Week one (or twenty, depending on how you count) is done!

Look what Federal Express did to my lovely 25th wedding anniversary gift as I shipped my bike to training camp.  Frame is ruined...

bummer! What kind of case was it in?

I'm sorry. That sucks.

Having gone through a couple of frames the past year, I'm shedding a tear for you.  That is a bummer.  What are your next steps?  Training camp is kind of ruined huh?  Lots of running and swimming or do you have a back-up bike you can get access to?

WOW! What did they airdrop it sans parachute?!?! Those cases can really take a beating. That sucks!

Rode a crappy Allez today set up like my Ordu but excellent bike fitter (he fit Chrissie). Camp bike mechanic who did RAAM last year, found a Look Carbon road bike I'll get today for rest of the week.

Anyone ride Look pedals? Fitter suggested I switch to them as the torque on my knee from Ultegra pedals annoys my that was scoped last.

Today's ride reminded me how much I suck at hills...but I'm pretty good at descents. So much work to do for me to be ready before 7/24.

Ha! I did the same exact thing and got the same exact answer. I have only ridden last year's bike course in training, and I thought it was wicked fast (until I hit that last section.....)