We all know how critical rider position is when it comes to aerodynamics. We also know how difficult, time consuming, and costly it can be to properly test and optimise our positions using wind tunnels or field testing.

In this episode, Ronan explores a different approach.

Ingmar Jungnickel joins the Performance Process podcast to discuss Airo, a commercially available CFD-based platform designed to make aerodynamic testing more accessible, more iterative, and potentially more useful for a far broader range of riders. Instead of testing a handful of positions over an entire day, Airo promises the ability to explore multiple directions in minutes, using digital twins and cloud-based simulation.

But cycling aerodynamics is not simple. Transitional Reynolds numbers, rider movement, fabric interaction, and the complexity of real-world flow all raise legitimate questions about how useful CFD can actually be in this space. That’s what this episode digs into.

Ingmar brings 15 years of experience at the sharp end of performance – from WorldTour wind tunnel work to Olympic-level innovation in speed skating – and offers a detailed look at where Airo and CFD fits today, where it falls short, and where it could reshape how we approach optimisation in the future.

In this special crossover episode between Performance Process and Wheel Talk, Ronan Mc Laughlin is joined by Escape Collective's Abby Mickey and former world champion Lizzie Deignan to unpack an unusual challenge. Abby has set herself the goal of returning to Mont Ventoux and riding it faster than she did during her professional career.

There’s just one complication. She’s now a full-time journalist, a parent of two, and juggling the realities of normal life rather than the controlled environment of professional sport.

To guide the process, Abby has asked Lizzie Deignan – recently retired world champion and now coach – to take her on as an athlete. The conversation begins with the first step of any coaching relationship: understanding the athlete. Together they discuss goals, constraints, postpartum physiology, training with limited time, the psychological side of coaching, and how performance can still improve long after a pro career ends.

This episode explores a bigger question that applies to every amateur athlete: How do you pursue meaningful performance goals when life, work, and family come first?

It’s the start of a project that will unfold over the coming months. And it begins with a simple but difficult question: Is it possible to beat your pro self?

Could we benefit from different bike fits for different days? If we are riding mountains one day, flats the next, and in a breakaway the day after, does having one position for all road stages leave some performance on the table? In this episode I’m joined by Ken Ballhause, Head of Biomechanics at Pinarello-Q36.5, to unpack if there's any merit in my thinking that we could benefit to tailoring our positions to the specific demands of each day, stage, or terrain.

We dig into what actually drives adaptable performance, why the real unlock is usually equipment and ergonomics rather than multiple fits, before touching on saddle design, pelvic support, crank length, and cockpit setup for the modern “aero road” posture as Ken talks us through his fit process for pros in 2026, before finally looping back to the idea there may be something in adaptable positions. We also challenge a few common bike-fit habits, including sit-bone width measuring, pressure mapping as a decision-maker, and how useful knee-over-pedal-spindle really is. The result is a systems-level look at how performance focused fitters are now thinking about position, comfort, aerodynamics, and sustainability over long races.