Do carbon wheels make you faster? A ride report

[wyatt_]

So, I picked up a set of Hunt 35 carbon gravel wheels after riding only on aluminum wheels for the past 20 years. (Welcome to this century, I know...) I'm a bigger rider, have never been particularly fast, and have always been skeptical about spending $1k to drop grams for marginal gains. But, hell, I needed to replace a cassette, which led me to want an XDR driver, which led me to a whole new wheelset.

Anyway, yesterday after I finished getting the brake calipers lined up, I figured I'd take it for a quick shakedown ride and see how it felt. Figured it wouldn't matter much, but right out of the door, I was holding a pretty significantly higher pace. After a few miles, was genuinely shocked the way the wheels could hold onto a 25 mph pace and just stay there. Couldn't believe I'd held off on splurging on carbon wheels for so long.

This honeymoon period lasted for a few more miles, until I turned around to pedal home and realized I'd been so distracted by the new wheels that I hadn't noticed the 20+ mph tailwind that had pushing me the entire time.

After slogging through an absolutely brutal headwind home, I checked Strava. My speed was exactly .1 mph better than the last time I rode that route. So, I guess carbon wheels do make you faster. But not as much as a tailwind.