Ok so checking out the stats from the NYC Triathlon this past weekend I saw something that alarmed me. My bike average speed was 16.1 MPH vs my friend's 17.9 (His overall bike time was 9 min faster). The reason I was alarmed was that I didn't FEEL like I was going any slower, and in the past he has never been faster than me on the bike, we have always been equal or I a bit faster. There were no real long steep climbs this event as I can usually out climb him as well, but it was basically long rolling hills. But for all intents and purposes we are basically equal. Its been a bit under 2 months since our last Tri, where I beat him on the bike, and while my training has lacked a bit, from what he has told me he hasn't turned up the juice in his training that much (I ended up beating him by 3 min in the run).

Now the difference in this race is he got himself a pair of HED Jet6 C2's (I think thats the model) either way they are deep carbon wheels. I am running Fulcrum Racing 5's with a Wheelbuilder rear disc.

I find it hard to believe that those wheels could make that huge of a difference or am I wrong?

To compare your bike split to someone else's bike split, on a different bike, with different wheels, who may have been putting out a different level of effort than you, is just too many variables to say that the wheel alone was responsible for an extra 1.8mph of speed.

That said, deep section wheels will definitely make you faster. How much faster depends on your speed, the course, your aero position, your tires, and a whole bunch of other factors.

as stated above there are to many variable to say. but the faster you ride and average the more help aero wheels will be. I cant tell a difference and see a difference in training with road wheels vs my hed stinger wheels.

something else to look into would be an aero helmet. they are even better better than aero wheels at a tenth of the cost

most likely he was riding harder.

I think you guys are probably right. My computer crapped as soon as I came out of transition so I had no idea how fast I was going the whole race (and OF COURSE I get home and it works fine... UGH!). Usually during a race I do pay attention to my MPH and a pick it up a bit if its low. Also as I said this course was a lot of long smooth roads and lot of high speed sections, so those wheels may well have given him more of an advantage as well. Neither of us have tri bikes, we are both using road bikes with aero bars. I definitely have better tires (Conti GP4000s vs his Specialized Mondo sports). I did feel the advantage with my wheelbuilder disc that was for sure as I was able to really drop people in the downhills that I was just basically slowly gaining on.

We have 2 more events that we are definitely doing this year, one has a lot of climbs which I have an advantage over him usually, and the other is partially a longer flatter course which we may see the same advantage for him. Here is me, not the perfect position but it works for me.

Those BikesDirect bikes are 2 mph slower. Kidding...I kid.

Hehe the only problem with that is the only thing left from Bikesdirect on there is the frame and fork, I've replaced everything else (Campy Veloce, Fulcrum wheels, profile FF seatpost, PZ racing handlebars/aerobars), hoping to gain that 2 mph back lol.

Like the others have said, he rode faster. It is hard to tell why he out paced your this time. Sounds like he has had more training in the last 2 months, he could have tapered better and peaked for the race, you might have been tired or not quite right nutrition wise.... So did you beat him in the end? Was your overall time faster? Did he light up the bike and have a slower run?

I did a local sprint Tri earlier this season on my Tri bike converted to a fixie rolling on Velocity Deep-V 32 spoke rear and 28 spoke front. Averaged 24mph on that course with a decent little climb in the middle of it. Don't count on aero wheels making that much of difference in shorter races, the engine matters much.

He beat me in the end cause my swim is crap. I actually was 3 minutes faster on the run but that didn't make up the 8 minutes he beat me by in the swim and the 9 minutes on the bike. This was a long 26 mile bike course.

I'm looking forward to our next sprint as it has a lot of climbs and downhills, and I feel like I can get him back there I hope, I'm usually faster than him on climbs. Also I started doing Total Immersion to pick up my swim times (God I should have done it 6 months ago!).

One thing i did notice is that I watch my speed a lot when I ride and pick up the pace too based on it. My Computer died as I pulled out of transition so I feel like maybe I wasn't riding as hard cause of that too. Sounds like a lame excuse but when i started paying attention to it I realize that I do do that.