Shaved legs is faster or slower than calf sleeves?

The Suisse Side looks pretty interesting HERE with ribs going horizontal not vertical.

The white paper within that link makes me angry. Several pages to start of irrelevant OTT formula and 'science' with spurious detail that adds nothing relevant. And then when it gets to the end lacks data, presents things as misleading. For example the 8watts is the biggest single saving of the 13 tests, with 12 of those showing positive benefits. They do show the average is 4w, but not the standard deviation, nor do they provide any scatter graph of the data.

And if there's 13 readings, max 8 and mean 4 then I'm seeing that sd being close to make that 4w average saving a 50:50 of

Earlier they show and explain at length a frequency chart of speed tests to be used to weight the results. But then don't seem to use that later in the conclusion, or at least don't refer to that.

Jim said that he was going to follow-up with a test on that.

At the very least it sounds like Jim needs to do a 'test off' between the Zoot calf sleeves, Swiss Side calf sleeves & shaved legs.

That would be good, then i can decide to invest in some or just another packet of disposable razors

or a trimmer....leave 1-2mm of stubble? ;)

I actually have both the Zoot and Swiss Side calf sleeves. The Swiss Side ones are much longer and cover my entire calf, from above my ankle to right below the head of my tibia. Fitment is great too, just enough compression. The Zoot's aren't as long and are a little tighter towards the top, giving me a bit of a "muffin top".

Another interesting design feature of the Swiss Side sleeves is that while they have horizontal ribbing on the front, they terminate into two long vertical strips towards the back. To my uneducated eyes it looks to trip up the boundary layer of air as it flows around your calf.

One must not forget the upside-down chevron.
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...erformance_4255.html

Do they make you faster in the swim? I would think it would create drag?

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

I think they are just trying to make sure no one is throwing buoyancy sleeves on their calves. For a fast swimmer, probably no effect to negative effect. But someone that's dragging their legs it could help?

They would probably slow you down a bit (you can always test them at the local pool). Since you can only wear them in the swim during wetsuit legal races they will be under a wetsuit anyway, where they make no difference.

In theory, you could make calf sleeves that made you faster in the water (think the calf section of the now banned tights/bodysuits used in the pool circa 2008), but that design is different from what works for cycling (massive compression, no boundary layer trips). Again, no value in wearing them when you can wear a wetsuit instead.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

A guy beat me to the podium last weekend on an Ironman 70.3. I was scanning everyone's photos that beat me to check out their equipment and thought he was wearing buoyancy sleeves seeing him (race photo) come out of the water but they ended up being his calf sleeves that he wore on the bike as well as during the non wetsuit swim.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

Technically he violated the rules and should be a DSQ, but in the spirit of the rules he probably didn't gain an advantage in the swim, just the time he saved not having to put them on in T1.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

just the time he saved not having to put them on in T1.//

Which after watching some folks put them on, could be substantial. And yes, there probably is a type of sleeve that would make you faster in the water, just not sure the same properties are what make riding the bike faster too. But have to think that compression is a good thing in cycling, up to the point it becomes restrictive, which is exactly what makes more fabric is swimming faster too for the most part...


I mean if were going to ding a racer for taking a bottle from a friend, or helmet not in a box, or an inch across a dismount line, probably should get one of these in the books to keep others from thinking it is ok, dont you think??

Send it over to LetsRun and get their thoughts.

The OP has photo evidence of the violation, and seems to be the most impacted (he's the one who lost the last podium slot). I'm sure anyone can find the photo given the info he has provided (took me ~5min. and even found multiple offenders) and report the athlete to IM, but IMO leave it up to the OP to decide if he wants to go that route.

Examples:

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I've said this 100 times and I'd love to have the balls to just do it. A "bike chamois" that is ridiculously oversized and "becomes uncomfortable" shortly after starting the bike leg. This chamois would of course be a pseudo-pull buoy that extends a bit down the thighs, maybe to the legal limit of the knees, elevating the hips for the swim and tossed quickly on the bike.

I'm also not convinced that the losses on the bike and run of a huge ass chamois aren't entirely obviated by the swim gains. An oly could see ~4sec/100 gains with 50%wetsuit buoyancy. That's ~1min. I don't see much reason why an oversized chamois whould slow you down on the bike, heck you could even make it a shape that gives your legs a better aero profile. As long as the run isn't too hot and flexibility is persevered, losing >10sec/mile on the run seems unlikely.

Not my finest moment but in my second 70.3 (but first non wetsuit one) I wore a one piece cycling suit, not really having experience in the difference between tri gear. That chammy was quite squishy when I sat on the bike but I never noticed it much on the run.

Swim was salt water, non wetsuit. Time was 43 minutes. 2 months later I did another lake swim 70.3, also non wetsuit, and my swim was 7 minutes faster and I was wearing a trisuit.

Any number of factors could be at play here, not the least of which those parachute pockets on my back I was likely pulling around in the bike suit...

But I certainly didn't feel like the chammy helped!