Eight team members hone time trial position in North Carolina
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Scott Zwizanski used his time trialing ability to win two UCI stage races and podium at the US Pro Time Trial Championships.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
Guy East awaits the start of his wind tunnel session.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
Reid Mumford's Orbea is ready for the wind tunnel.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
KBS mechanic Eric Jellum was kept very busy as he prepped his team's time trial bikes and then packed them up for shipping to the team's service course.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
KBS mechanic Eric Jellum preps Zach Bell's bike for the wind tunnel.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
A few of the Kelly Benefit Stategies Orbea time trial bikes.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
The interior of the A2 Wind Tunnel.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
A2 Wind Tunnel's Mike Giraud preps Zach Bell's bike for testing.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Zach Bell, fresh off winning two gold medals in the Beijing Track World Cup, speaks with Mike Giraud about his position.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
A2 Wind Tunnel's Mike Giraud advises Scott Zwizanski.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Chris Edin, center, makes an adjustment to Scott Zwizanski's Lazer helmet.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Tim Mulrooney, Chris Edin and Mike Giraud talk to Scott Zwizanski about his position.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Kelly Benefit Strategies' Scott Zwizanski(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
A peak through a portal in the wind tunnel as Scott Zwizanski rides inside.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
A2 Wind Tunnel's Mike Giraud, left, and KBS mechanic Eric Jellum experiment with cranks of a different length on Scott Zwizanski's Orbea.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
With a push from Scott Zwizanski, Ryan Anderson puts his aero position to the test on an office chair.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
The A2 Wind Tunnel was the site for eight Kelly Benefit Strategies riders to improve their time trial position.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Andrew Bajadali hones his position on the team's new Orbea time trial bikes.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
Neil Shirly at work in the A2 Wind Tunnel in Mooresville, North Carolina.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
A2 Wind Tunnel's Mike Giraud, left, and aero consultant Chris Edin, right, work with Neil Shirley's arm position.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
A2 Wind Tunnel's Mike Giraud monitors film and data readings during testing.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
David Veilleux dials in his time trial position.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
David Veilleux focuses while his coach Pierre Hutsebaut, left, and aerodynamics consultant Tim Mulrooney discuss his position.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
Canada's David Veilleux rolls along in his time trial position.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
Scott Zwizanski is enjoying his time in the wind tunnel.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
Scott Zwizanski gets warmed up in the wind tunnel.(Image credit: Kelly Benefit Strategies)
The A2 Wind Tunnel facility in Mooresville, North Carolina.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
When in Rome...Kelly Benefit Strategies team members tested their driving skills Monday night at a nearby go-kart track.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Wind tunnel turbines at rest.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
A2 Wind Tunnel's Mike Giraud, left, and KBS mechanic Eric Jellum finish swapping out the cranks on Scott Zwizanski's bike.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
UCI Continental team Kelly Benefit Strategies has concluded two days of testing at the A2 Wind Tunnel in Mooresville, North Carolina. For a team which found much success against the clock in 2009, it's apropos that eight Kelly Benefit riders, team staff, aerodynamic consultants and equipment reps convened in a locale also known as Race City, USA on Monday and Tuesday in the heart of NASCAR country, where the quest for speed and optimal aerodynamics is serious business.
Performance Director Jonas Carney has ambitious goals in 2010 for the Kelly Benefit Strategies team, with six international races in the Dominican Republic, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Uruguay and France on tap prior to May's Tour of California. Wind tunnel testing for eight of the team's 15 riders is a means to ensure that every possible avenue for elevated performance has been explored for the fourth-year UCI Continental team.
"I have a good relationship with Mike [Giraud] who runs the tunnel here and I've been in touch with him for a couple of years," Carney told Cyclingnews. "We felt like the best way for us to win more races and take our team to the next level wasn't necessarily to go out and buy a star rider but to invest in the athletes that we have. We have a lot of great time trialists on the team: David Veilleux, Zach Bell, Scott Zwizanski, Reid Mumford and Ryan Anderson."
The 2009 season was a breakthrough year for Scott Zwizanski who won time trials in the Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay and Canada's Tour de Beauce, key performances in leading to general classification victory in each race. The 32-year-old Zwizanski also finished on the podium at last year's USA Cycling Pro Time Trial Championship and notched a seventh place finish in the Tour of Missouri time trial stage. Teammate Reid Mumford finished second to Zwizanski at the Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay time trial and finished fourth in the USA Cycling Pro Time Trial Championship. Canada's David Veilleux is another strong chrono rider, with three Canadian U23 time trial titles in his palmares.
"Since winning races comes down to the time trial a lot, we didn't want them losing 10 seconds here and five seconds there," said Carney. "That's really what our team has been about from the beginning, trying to maximize what we can get from each rider and I think we do a really good job with that. Taking guys that were maybe underrated as riders and make them into new champions.
"This is the first time we're bringing eight guys in, but I think it's going to become the norm for us from here on out to look for every possible advantage over the other teams," said Carney.
Anderson, Bell, Mumford, Veilleux and Zwizanski were joined by Andrew Bajadali, Guy East and Neil Shirley for the team's wind tunnel session. Zwizanski was the sole team member to undergo wind tunnel testing in 2009, which took place prior to the US Professional Time Trial Championships. A return to the wind tunnel in 2010 has provided peace of mind regarding his position on the time trial bike.
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"We didn't change a whole lot from what I was doing last year," Zwizanski told Cyclingnews. "We did change some things, but nothing big. We just kind of reaffirmed what I had.
"It helped me with the confidence part the most and some of the other guys said that as well. Like Neil [Shirley], he's not a time trialist but he's confident now in what he's got with his position."
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Based in the southeastern United States, Peter produces race coverage for all disciplines, edits news and writes features. The New Jersey native has 30 years of road racing and cyclo-cross experience, starting in the early 1980s as a Junior in the days of toe clips and leather hairnets. Over the years he's had the good fortune to race throughout the United States and has competed in national championships for both road and 'cross in the Junior and Masters categories. The passion for cycling started young, as before he switched to the road Peter's mission in life was catching big air on his BMX bike.
