Monash University Engineering has teamed up with Cycling Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) as part of a quest to determine the perfect riding position for cyclists.
The university invited cyclists into its wind tunnel with the goal of simultaneously measuring aerodynamic drag and power production
The perfect riding position is an engineering conundrum. It is not always the rider’s most powerful, leaving sports scientists and riders to find a compromise between aerodynamic position and power production.
Dr Tim Crouch from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering led the experiments. He said the University has been at the forefront of understanding the fundamentals of cycling aerodynamics for a number of years.
“The Cycling Australia Olympic coaches are always trying to find new options for the optimised speed system, and Monash is delighted to be involved in finding the solutions,” Crouch said.
Andy Warr of the AIS and Cycling Australia said coaches and riders always have numerous questions about positioning and equipment.
"Having the ability to call upon the expertise of the team at Monash, through an AIS linkage grant, allows us to solve a number of these questions with total confidence,” Warr said.
“We have used the large Monash wind tunnel to conduct a series of athlete positions tests for both the sprint and endurance riders, producing significant gains in efficiency for both disciplines. These results have then been confirmed on subsequent visits, which is really encouraging as it suggests we have got the direction right.”
David Burton, who leads the Wind Tunnel Group at Monash, agreed a new set of investigations could potentially give a performance advantage.
“While equipment can give small, but important gains, it is primarily the cyclist’s position and the optimisation of equipment for that position and body type that makes all the difference come race day.”
In addition to testing riding positions, the Monash team used data from the Wind Tunnel facility to design new, aerodynamically optimised suits, one specifically for sprint cyclists and the other for endurance riders, within the constraints of the rules and the available fabrics.
As a result of Monash research, Cycling Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic riders will adopt riding positions and suits optimised and designed specifically for their riding discipline.
One of the cyclists who took part in the experiments was Anna Meares, Australia's most successful track cyclist with five Olympic medals (including two gold) and 12 world championship titles.
She said she really enjoyed getting into the wind tunnel and taking part in the experiments. She is now on her way to Rio de Janeiro for her fourth Olympics and will be Australia's flag bearer at the opening ceremony on Friday, August 5 (Saturday morning Australian time).
[Anna Meares in the Monash wind tunnel. Photo: Monash Uni]