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Say you have an aerobar that is parallel to the ground. If you angle it up a little it brings your elbows and shoulders down a bit, so you are essentially a bit more aero. The problem when I do that is that it tires my arms and I can't stay in the aerobar for long.
If I angle the aerobar down a bit, it opens up the front and I feel like I'm less aero. The thing is it feels 10x more comfortable this way. I'm also a little worried about handling with the aerobar this way.
Anyway what would you do? Go for the more comfortable less aero position, the more aero position and just do more backward pushups so my arms get stronger, or just keep it parallel to the ground?
This is kind of the million dollar question. the answer is:
No one knows. Its likely going to be an individual choice.
For me I would pick the better breathing position, comfortable position, mainly because you wont really know how much difference the angle makes without doing aero tests, whcih aren't easy or cheap, so you might as well get the definate comfort benefits rather than the "possible" aero benefits.
Styrrell
If it were an IM, I would definitely use the more comfortable position. But that's my two cents. As for me, I'm kind of anal, so I like it parallel. Haven't tried it too much the other ways. I should give it a shot though.
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berndog
How did we all get sucked into this crazy sport anyway?!!
I am not sure why angling the bar up drops your elbows and shoulders since most aero bars "hinge" at or in front of elbows and shoulders, hence angling the aero bar wouldn't change the hinge point, only what extends from the hinge. Right?
However, I have always wondered about the aero value of different angles. A crude analysis would have it that the biggest portion (shoulders, hips legs) would be the main determinant in aero resistance, and that the elbow width or forearm angle or hand angle (as in straight bars) would be somewhat insignificant. Obviously, a bullet shape (with a finer entry for the arms/hands) is desireable, but just how much something like straight bars are (when you can envision creating a cupped frontal area that would trap wind) helps/hurts is something I'd like to learn about, too.
I haven't done a wind tunnel and (suprisingly) while everyone talks about S-bends and straight bars, I haven't heard people talk about what the real difference between them and curved bars is. I saw one site where a guy did a crude analysis and showed that the hands presented more frontal area when holding flat bars then regular bars. S-bends being between the two in frontal area.
John Cobb had an article about this on his old site. If I remember right he said that parallel or five degrees pointed up was the most aero. But for anything longer than a sprint tri or 20 kms TT, I'd definately go with what feels most comfortable even if you are sacrificing a bit of aero.