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Getting over aero tuck fear. Help.
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Hello Ladies. I have a female client who is struggling with getting into the aero position after suffering a bike crash. I wanted to ask if anyone had some good tips on how she can work on this. She's pretty new to triathlon but she has good natural ability and I'd like to see her succeed. Thank you in advance.

CB

CB
Physical Therapist/Endurance Coach
http://www.cadencept.net
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Re: Getting over aero tuck fear. Help. [PTinAZ] [ In reply to ]
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Is the struggle mental or physical? Mental as in, scared to wobble while moving, versus physical of cannot bend at the hips or keep a smooth streamline in her back?


Does she have a trainer? She can load the bike on and practice her position first. Once she's comfortable with her pedal stroke and feeling the muscle memory in her "tuck", she can take the bike to a sheltered area- parking lot, quiet neighborhood road, etc and get used to riding and the handling there, away from traffic. Build confidence through drills- holding a line through cone "gates" or a chalk line on the ground, maneuvering through a slalom or following a wavy chalk line, and taking wide turns in and out of aero and re-learning the balance of inside leg up/outside leg heavy/inside forearm heavy.

Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx
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Re: Getting over aero tuck fear. Help. [Dr_Cupcake] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the reply Dr Cupcake.

It's a bit more mental than physical for her. She has good mobility and a smooth pedal stroke. It's mainly a fear of getting into the tuck. I have her practicing in a parking lot for short bouts and we made some adjustments on her fit that hopefully give her a greater sense of stability.

She does have a trainer and is riding in aero on those sessions.

CB
Physical Therapist/Endurance Coach
http://www.cadencept.net
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Re: Getting over aero tuck fear. Help. [Dr_Cupcake] [ In reply to ]
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Two things I found helpful (but maybe they're obvious.)

(1) When practicing I didn't cleat in and I went very slowly. This made it harder to balance on my "slalom" course and pretty much eliminated the possibility of a crash.

(2) I broke the practice down into 4 parts.
(a) Comfortable with both hands in non-aero on slalom.
(b) One arm aero, one hand not
(c) Same as (b) with other arm
(d) Both arms aero

I hope this helps.

Tri or tri not; this is no du. (--- with apologies to Yoda.) Slow triathlete who survived Huntsville, Lelystadt, Colmar, Fontanil, and
Szekesfehervar/Lake Velence. Arbor hydration specialist in a kid's park in Monterrey 4 times in the 1990s (and in the pits in 1994).
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Re: Getting over aero tuck fear. Help. [PTinAZ] [ In reply to ]
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What rims is she riding? Even light winds that don't throw you around can make the TT position a bit scarier for some people. Going to 25 mm from 35 might make a difference, let alone 60 or 88.

Come to think of it, I really mean the front rim.

"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden
Last edited by: kajet: Apr 6, 21 5:53
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Re: Getting over aero tuck fear. Help. [PTinAZ] [ In reply to ]
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Hi, I had a lot of fear learning how to bike before IMCdA (had never clipped in or descended before I started training). I spent the first couple of months riding my brakes and NEVER going into aero position. Surprisingly, what really helped me was doing yoga. I committed to doing a 30-day yoga with Adriene challenge. I really learned how use my breath to calm down as well as tapped into a body awareness I previously didn't have which made me feel grounded when I was scared on the bike. Maybe this could also help your client!
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