Marginal Gains.  The idea behind marginal gains is that a series of small incremental improvements, will yield a significant improvement when they are all added together.

This approach was adopted by Sir Dave Brailsford when he took over as the performance director of British cycling in 2003. Britain had not won a cycling medal at the Olympic Games since 1908, but under Sir Dave’s watch that changed.  Britain won two gold medals at the 2004 Games and they led the Olympic cycling medal table at both the 2008 and 2012 Games (eight golds at each).  He has been manager of Team Sky / Ineos since 2010 and we all know how dominant that team has been.  

So, as I chase my dreams of getting faster in my triathlon races, I have chosen to adopt this same ‘marginal gains’ philosophy.  Today, I spent time re-routing the cabling for the rear brake on my Cervelo P2. Up until now, the rear brake cable has entered my bike frame on the side and has been hanging ‘out in the wind’.  By fully hiding the cable, it is estimated that the reduced aerodynamic drag will result in me saving 3-5 Watts.

Saving 3-5 Watts doesn’t sound like much, but it actually is.  In an Ironman race, riding 112 miles at an effort that is 3-5 Watts higher would require a lot of energy.  Saving that energy means it can be used on the run.

Of course the one thing that nobody mentions in these ‘simple’ energy saving items, is how much of a pain in the butt it is to re-route cables.  I’ll spare you the details of my afternoon, but suffice to say, I had to remove my fork three times to get the job done….

By the way, the photo shows the old and new routing for my rear brake cable with the new routing hidden nicely behind my stem.