Heather: We all want to go faster. Right?
Well, even better if that involves less effort.
Now, you could obviously spend 100s or even
1,000s of pounds trying to find those marginal
aero gains with equipment upgrades, or you
could simply just change your body position.
Now, we know that our body position has the
greatest impact on our aerodynamics when we're
riding a bike. Today, I'm going to be comparing
the difference between riding on the hoods,
the drops and the aero bars to see just what
the difference is on my speed.
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I think it's fair to say that we all love
a bit of free speed, whether that's in a race
or even in training. Now, I've mentioned on
the bike we've got lots of options for our
position. You've got the tops here, the hoods,
the drops, and like I mentioned earlier, you
can now click on aero bars. Realistically,
if you want to go fast, you're not really
going to be spending much time up here. Today,
I'm going to be comparing the other three
positions. Throughout this experiment, I'm
also going to be covering the pros and the
cons of those different positions, because
believe it or not, aerodynamics, isn't the
be-all and end-all in cycling. Although, I
think for many of you, it might seem it is.
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As you can see today, I'm on my BMC Time Machine,
and significantly it's got round handlebars,
which are essential for being able to attach
my aero bars. I'm only going to be putting
these on for the aero bar leg of this experiment.
The rest I'm going to be riding it without
it to try and keep it as fair as possible.
I am going to be riding a 4K stretch, which
is slightly undulating, but I'm going to be
comparing my time of each of the 4Ks whilst
maintaining as close as I can, to 200 Watts.
I've got the power meter set ready to measure
that.
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A quick disclaimer, before we get going. Yes,
this is an experiment, but we can only control
what we can control. The traffic and the weather
might alter things slightly, but I'm going
to do my best to make sure I find a window
when each run is going to be similar as possible.
I'm actually choosing to go slightly into
a headwind because that should make more of
a significant difference between any of the
changes. It's time to find out what the difference
will be. Ready for run one on my heads, and
it's time for this four kilometre effort.
Don’t forget.
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That's run one done. I'm just heading back
to the start for run two. I'd say it felt
comfortable. This is the riding position that
I spend the majority of my time in when I'm
out on my bike. However, today we're not actually
comparing comfort, but that said, there's
no point in being incredibly aero if you can't
actually maintain that position for a long
periods of time. Although, of course, you
can train your body to get more used to being
in certain positions. Lower is surely better,
right? It's time to put it to the test. This
is run two, and I'm heading out on the drops.
Here it goes.
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I'm not going to tell you the numbers just
yet, because I've got one more to go. I'll
save you for that treat. That certainly felt
faster. I'm most certainly lower. I feel like
my head is much closer to the stem in this
position, and it's relatively comfortable.
I think I had pins and needles, but that's
probably more me not being used to this position.
One of the benefits of being down on drops
is that control you have. It's that natural
go to position if you're descending, when
naturally you're going faster. Importantly,
obviously, get my fingers nice and close to
the brakes. I've got a low sense of gravity,
so it's great for cornering. Just that general
feeling in control of the bike.
As you can see, I have brought out the bars.
This is for run three. Now, today I've got
these individual clip-on aero bars. If you're
using anything like this, please, please make
sure you've attached them properly and you've
really checked that you can put some decent
weight down through them. You are going to
be relying on those when you're in that position.
Now, as the names states, they are aero bars.
I'm going to expect that I'm going to be more
aerodynamic and hopefully, as a result, faster.
There’s only one way to find out. Here we
go.
[music]
All right. That certainly felt more aero.
I haven't looked at the time yet either, so
I probably can't share it with you guys. I
was reducing this frontal area that I've got
here down to that. You've got to think I’m
more aerodynamic. Some people say that you're
limiting comfort, but I find that once I've
got my bar set up properly, you've got your
whole elbow to lean on, as opposed to just
your hands. It can be pretty comfy to ride
in that position. Sometimes it just needs
a little bit of practice. The one thing I
did notice, especially on this stretch of
road that I really struggled with, is the
amount of times that I had to change gear.
I hadn't noticed the time previously, but
obviously, I've got no blips on the end of
here, so I was quite a few occasions having
to take my hands down to change gear. Which
will change and will obviously open me up
and reduce that aerodynamic position. The
same goes if you're not confident on your
aero bars, when it comes to cornering and
things, but practice will help. You'll find
you're able to spend a lot more time in that
more aero position, or at least we think it
is.
[music]
It's time for coffee and more importantly,
calculation. I download the numbers off my
bike computer, and we've got the evidence
here. Run one was on the hoods, if you can
remember. The four kilometres took eight minutes,
23 seconds, with an average speed of 28.7
kilometres an hour. Then if I multiply that
up to 40 kilometres, if I was doing an Olympic
distance triathlon, that would be a total
of 83 minutes, or one hour 23 minutes and
50 seconds.
The second run was on the drops, which felt
quicker and it was. It was eight 15 and an
average speed of 29.1 kilometres an hour.
Quite a bit quicker with that average, and
that would give me a total, if it was over
a 40-kilometre course, of 82 minutes and 30
seconds. Which should be a minute and 20 quicker
than riding on the hoods. The final one, the
TT bars, this is the one I was most excited
about. That was 8.07 over the four kilometres,
averaging 29.6. Averaging half a kilometre
an hour faster than being on the drops. If
you converted that to an Olympic distance
event, that would be 81 minutes or one hour,
21 minutes and 10 seconds, another minute,
20 seconds quicker than riding on the drops.
Basically, each one was a minute and 20 quicker
than the other. You couldn't really [unintelligible
00:07:05] that stuff. That's only looking
at it if it was an Olympic distance triathlon,
but imagine if you were doing a Half Ironman
or even an Ironman, those differences become
even more significant.
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The numbers support the fact that it is worth
investing in a pair of TT bars, triathlon
bars, aero bars, whatever we want to call
them. Also, indicates that it's worth investing
some time spent training on them in this position.
I would recommend not doing what I did ahead
of my first triathlon. Borrowed a pair of
clip-on aero bars form a friend, set them
on my last ride before my big event. It's
fair to say that it wasn't much of a surprise
that I spent a total of 10 to 20 minutes in
a Half Ironman in that position, due to the
fact that I didn't have the skills or the
confidence to ride on my bars.
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If I have convinced you to try out some aero
bars, I'd recommend spending a little bit
of time working on your position. With the
bars themselves, if they're individual ones,
you need to work out how far apart you want
to have them. Also, at what angle and how
long, all things that are going to be very
individual. Once you've got that sorted, you
might find you want to alter your saddle slightly.
Some people like to bring it up a little bit,
and maybe even forwards to ride on the TT
bars. If it is your everyday biking, then
you will be spending most of your riding on
your drops or your hoods, then you might want
to leave saddle where it is. Just quite a
few things to consider there. If you've already
invested in a pair, well, if you think you're
getting some gains, then let us know how much
you think you benefit from riding on those
bars. You can do that in the comment section
below, hit the like button and remember to
check out our social media channels to follow
us at GTN there too.
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