Wednesday, May 14, 2008

MIT WInd Tunnel Experience...


Ok, pretty much a geek and gadget junkies dream - spending a day in the wind tunnel at MIT easily lived up to the hype. The gang - Kevin, Kris, David, Hanna, Cathy, Kerry and Mark were in good hands with the MIT Engineers (Zach and "Chewy" both darn good bikers and MIT cycling team members)

There was a ton of gear to test along with rider positions and outfits etc... To make the most of every second all these protocols were predetermined, optimized and rehearsed. Kevin and Kris did most of the equipment change outs with David pitching in when Kevin was on the bike. I was of course snapping away with both SLR and Video trying to capture the action. Hanna was conducting the protocols and Mark, Cathy, Kevin and David were trading off on the bikes in the tunnel.

The tunnel has a fan that is capable of pushing wind around 200mph - fortunately we didn't need nearly that much to simulate typical biking speed and conditions. The bikes were mounted one at a time on the special rig that measures the load (drag) of the various configurations. Lots of post processing left to do on the data but getting aero does seem to have some measurable benefit ;)

There was no shortage of food to keep us going and it was a non-stop flurry for over 6 hours. The activities for the weekend were pretty much Workouts, Wind Tunnel, and eating - hard to beat that itinerary. We swam in the aquatic center, and our running was basically sightseeing tours of MIT, Harvard, and the classic spots in the city like Beacon Hill and Fenway Park. Oh and "Yes" we ran past Cheers bar and crossed over the Yellow Boston Marathon finish line that's a permanent fixture on the street downtown. Sunday featured a 4+ hour ride outside the city on some fun roads that routed us past Walden Pond, the mega "Wheel Works" bike shop and even a loop on the MIT TT course.

Ok - lots of photos and a little video from the bike ride (HelmetCam) here MIT Photos and Video

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

SCS Camp


The weather pushed the SCS camp mostly indoors this year but the campers made the best of the weekend and got in some quality training. Highlights included the mega meal at Buca on Saturday night followed by the smores on the portable fire pit behind the Edge. Shortly after that all those interesting musical instruments were handed out and there was er ah some pleasant "noise" echoing into the night... ;)


Plenty of photos here