I was thinking today during my normal 3 hr ride that I am almost always in my aero bars except for braking and most corners.
So i timed it over the three hours I spent 2 hr and 40 minutes in aero postition. Other than that I was on the hoods.
what kind of time do others put in the position?
Essentially all the time I do on a tri-bike with the exception of sharp corners and steep descents. Anything else wouldn’t make sense.
Simon
PS: ride duration between 2 and 6 hours.
Down on em for hours and hours - just like you only come up for quick corners and big descents.
I’ve been onthe trainer and gone 3+ house without leaving the bars - only reason to stop is being board
The reason that i ask is with all of this super low aero stuff going on I am venturing a quess that most of the folks with tiny head tubes and really low setups are not down all that much. Ultimately negating any advantage created but the position.
I would imagine that most folks with the setup mentioned above won’t chime.
Off for a run
Kevin
I’m at 14cm seat to aerobar drop - I don’t know if this is “super” aero, but my back is flat. I’ve ridden this setup for 6 hours without a problem. A little bit of a stiff neck, but nothing more. My road bike sure feels like a beach cruiser in comparison.
I have just over 200 miles on my first tri-bike, and I have found that I am increasing the time in the aerobars with each solo ride. I am guessing that for every every hour I ride 35-40 minutes is in the aerobars. I can’t wait to get that up to 45-55 minutes per hour.
KJ
I never get out of them, thats how I know my bike fits right.
This is a very good question. I rode pretty well last year and had no problem in the aerobars, but started to progressively go lower in front over the winter. By February I was all screwed up, though I didn’t know it. I saw a bike fitter and he said I looked horrible. When he showed me the video, I said the same thing. I had not put up a mirror next the bike trainer all winter and had no idea how bad I looked.
The bike fitter showed me that I had a huge curve in my back and a lot a extra hip movement that was wasting power. We moved the saddle back a little, from about 85 degrees to about 80, and the bars up and out. The difference was radical, but by the end of the first ride it made a huge difference. One month later I rode six hours with 80 percent of that (lots of mountains around here) on the aero bars.
Lower is not always better.
Chad
At the moment. NONE!
Bastards! go home with your “I get to ride a bike. look at me, I can ride a bike!”
(see ‘going out of my mind’ thread for explanition of assholeishness)
I had to walk to school both ways when I was a kid. We didn’t have things like…food and …Air. We held our breath the whole time!
I’ve got a tiny head tube with no risers on the stem and stay down during entire races. Why else would I have them? At IMF last year, I might have come off of them for a sum of 30 minutes just to shift position a little.
----->Trent
The reason that i ask is with all of this super low aero stuff going on I am venturing a quess that most of the folks with tiny head tubes and really low setups are not down all that much. Ultimately negating any advantage created but the position.
I would imagine that most folks with the setup mentioned above won’t chime.
I’ve got a pretty low setup(just ask SAC, desert dude or sergio) and rode 112 miles for 5:09 through some crappy winds yesterday, about 99.5% of which was in the aerobars. I’ve adopted my position after gradually changing my setup over the course of a few years, but I have known several guys who have bought new bikes and immediately tried to adopt super low, aero positions right away. They usually wind up sitting up a lot or raising the stem.
I would imagine that most folks with the setup mentioned above won’t chime.
I’ll chime. My pads are 21cm below the saddle. I ride down in the bars whenever it matters, and I sit up when it doesn’t. It matters when the wind is coming over the bow at ~12 mph or more; it doesn’t when the wind is not coming at me. I’ll stay in the bars if a moderate climb has a headwind. I’ll sit up for steeper climbs or if a tail wind is strong enough to net out the headwind down below about 12 mph. I’ll stand for 1/4 to 1/3 of most climbs.
It is important to vary the position during a long-course race. It helps us stay fresh and loose and ready to run. They don’t give out prizes for the guy that stayed in his bars the longest.
That is my point:
I have seen a lot of folks with what look like great set ups and they are on the hoods. Unfortunatly I think that you and the few others like you are the exception not the rule.
I feel like there is alot of fashion before function happening.