After being in the drops, the hoods, everywhere in between, I sometimes find myself resting my arms on the top of the bars. I’m pretty comfortable that way, but the sweat on my arms makes the bars very slippery. I end up pushing my hands out and kinda pushing against the shift levers to keep from sliding off.
How do the pros do it?
FF
notice he is grabbing his cables
that is one way, but it can wear your cables out over time (I had one snap right at the shifter, I suspect because I did that a bit)
find a bartape that is sticky
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I sometimes angle my arms up to push against the bars, though it appears there that O’Grady is using his brake cables.
Yeah, but grabbing the cables really isn’t an option moving forward since everyone is now using hidden cables.
You gotta remember that these guys spend hours and hours on their bikes. They are much more comfortable is positions / situations that would give the ordinary cyclist (let alone triathlete) fits. The simple answer as to how his arms don;t slip is “he rides lots.” part of that is a much betetr position in terms of weight distribution and stability.
notice he is grabbing his cables
that is one way, but it can wear your cables out over time (I had one snap right at the shifter, I suspect because I did that a bit)
find a bartape that is sticky
I can’t grab the cable, as I have none sticking out of the front of the bike like that.
I thought about some tape or something, but hat would get messy real quick. Do they make a bar tape that is a little “rough”?
FF
I ride like that all the time.
A couple things, get a flat top bar - the wider the better, but I’ve found that even a Zipp contour (about the smallest flat bar out there) is a big step up from round bars. I use Specialized Roubaix Tape. Nice and cushy with a little grip. It helps that my position is set up so my arms are flat on the tops so I really dont’ slip that much.
It makes you wonder, wouldn’t the legalizaton of ITU-style clip-ons for road racing make races like this safer? I think yes.
They’re gonna do it anyway. Do you want the rider in front of you hanging off his cables or, more likely, hanging by the friction of his bar tape? Or, do you want him secure on some bars that are meant to hold him in his position? Seems lilke an obvious choice.
I’ve held onto the cables too, but it feels awkward sometimes. So I’d only rest my forearms like that on very smooth flat areas where I didn’t have to hold onto anything. On rougher terrain, I would do what you do and rest my hands near the hoods. My forearms would still be parallel and resting on the bars, but my hands would be pushed against the hoods for stability.
No need for legalization. USAC requires that your hands be on the bars at all times. This admonition is given at all our local road races. The chief ref usually starts with something like, “Any of you getting paid to be here? I didn’t think so. You’re not pros. Keep you hands on the bars at all times. I don’t want to see…”
Right, but if you had legal clip-ons, you could ride like this and keep your hands on the bars.
It’s not that hard. Before I got my shorty bars I would do it and I’m just a yonk. These guys got mad bike skills plus on a normal road bike you are not all up on the front like in a normal TT position. I remember the first time I got into the aero bars of my (since sold) tri bike and it was weird to say the least. But it got normal with time…I would think the same rule applies here. And it looks like he is out front. I’m sure no one in the pack is doing it.
It makes you wonder, wouldn’t the legalizaton of ITU-style clip-ons for road racing make races like this safer? I think yes.
They’re gonna do it anyway. Do you want the rider in front of you hanging off his cables or, more likely, hanging by the friction of his bar tape? Or, do you want him secure on some bars that are meant to hold him in his position? Seems lilke an obvious choice.
This was done in 1997. There a jillion crashed in the Tour that year. The UCI blamed the little aero bars. They disappeared soon afterwards…
Well, you gotta wonder about that. Not that I am a huge fan of ITU tri racing, but crashes in those races don’t seem to be astronomically crazy. And those guys ride fast.
They should legalize the bars again. Technology moves forward.
Well, you gotta wonder about that. Not that I am a huge fan of ITU tri racing, but crashes in those races don’t seem to be astronomically crazy. And those guys ride fast.
They should legalize the bars again. Technology moves forward.How much ITU do you watch? There are a number of crashes every race.
Technology moves forward.
Not at the UCI it doesn’t. That’s a direct quote from them, I’m quite positive.
sadly, well said :^)
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How much ITU do you watch?
Some.
There are a number of crashes every race.
As there are crashes in many bike races. And are all of the ITU crashes all caused by the aerobars? Somehow I don’t think so.
He can do that because he is riding far enough forward on the seat, that is, his shoulder angle is such, that there is not a large enough force vector in the forward direction to overcome the static friction of wet skin on bar tape.
Recall if you will FIST 101, or maybe this part is 201. A road rider in a forward pursuit position is missing only the aerobars to finish off the position. Knee, hip and shoulder angles are all roughly the same as a well set up rider in aerobars. That is somewhere in the vicinity of 90 degrees of shoulder angle, or weight going straight down.
I ride this way quite a bit and I can tell you that the limiter is comfort, not friction.
As others mentioned… grabbing the cables in an option for some. It really shouldn’t take much to stabilize you if you spend a lot of time on your bike. Another option is a little strip of grip tape commonly sold for use on the top of skateboards. Search google or amazon or whatever for grip tape and you will find some options. I’ve used that a couple times before and it definitely helps when sweating if you have some slippery bars. I think the one I used was called black magic grip tape or something to that effect. It’s also really cheap (<$10).
i got my last pair of aerobars from a guy who’d ridden semi-pro in belgium for a while. he used tennis/squash raquet tape on them rather than regular cycling bar tape. might be something to that . . .
-mike