GAIN WITHOUT PAIN THE COST-FREE AERO TEST EVERY CYCLIST SHOULD TRY

If someone told me they could add 10 watts to my threshold power in an afternoon, I’d bite their hand off. To add this much power through training alone would take at least a few solid interval sessions, if not several weeks of consistent hard work. But this is the promise of the simplest form of aerodynamic testing: a few pain-free test runs, a little positional rejig, et voila – a substantial dollop of extra speed.

One day, no training, 10W faster – an amount of power that equates to almost one minute in a 25-mile time trial at around 40kph (25mph). To many uninitiated riders, it sounds too good to be true. But it really does work: if you can improve your position on the bike to minimise your frontal profile – the bits of you pushing against the air – and