hi, after almost 20 years away (knee injuries and laziness) at the ripe young age of 64 I reentered the world of tri. I completed a sprint in 2023, and plan on 1-2 sprints early '23 with the hope of an Olympic in the Fall. I shouldn't get any backlash here, but my wife and many people think it's foolhardy to come back after all these years,ÂÂ especially because of my knees, but I feel the pros outweigh the cons. Setting the race goal last year really got my procrastinating butt off the couch many times and I also enjoy the whole tri scene. I survived that sprint, and though I was somewhat proud to have done so, I was not ecstatic how out of tri shape I really was at the end of the run. I'll always be a BOP'er, but want to work on a few things, rather than "just finishing".
I had a question about aero bars. (I'm sticking with 3 year old Trek roadie (Domane) though I plan to get it fitted again). I often ride in a windy area (usually 25-50m) , and ride in the drops without too much discomfort, so I'm considering aero bars. Currently I ride in the drops as long as I can, go upright for awhile, then back to the drops. I realize improvement won't be drastic, so my question is my CHOICE of aero bar a huge decision? I'm thinking of going off the rack and upgrading once (if) I ride a year or two with them. My handling skills are pretty decent and I almost never ride where there is vehicular traffic, and wouldn't use them then, so that is not a real factor.
Anyway, any advice would be welcome- even if the advice is "don't waste your money"- I'm not ruling out that the improvement could be negligible. Even so, I might try an inexpensive set just to see if it makes the windy parts more enjoyable and to also test if they help on a run off the bike.
thanks for any advice.