Originally Posted by
stapfam
Two thoughts on this. "Honking" as we call it over here- looks spectacular and if you put a lot of energy into the riding- the bike will move greatly from side to side. But a lot of energy is lost on tyre scrub and movement of the bike across the road. It does work though.
Watching this last TDF, I was amazed at the amount of "scrubbing" going on, especially on the sprints to the finish line - even on the time trials. On the slower climbs, that extra resistance isn't as big a factor and I can understand it. You are putting your body weight down, and need to get the bike out of the way of that. But you watch the OTS final sprints, and the bike is wagging back and forth, and the tires are going all over the place. Sure -looks- slow, but obviously isn't.