Last year, I had thrown aero bars onto my road bike without much consideration for my set-up. Over the winter it became clear I was nowhere close to a true tri configuration, so I made a bunch of changes.
- New fast-forward seat post
- New triathlon-friendly seat
- Removed spacers
- Flipped stem
- Replaced MTB pedals with road pedals
- Road shoes
- Seat-mounted water bottles (2 new + 2 existing on frame)
- New chain
- New cassette (old was 12-25, new is 12-23)
All of this felt fine on the trainer, but this was the first test on the road.
Fortunately it feels great! The aero bars still freak me out, and it's even worse when your head is close to the spinning tire, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I was most worried about the balance of the bike now that I'm so far forward, but it felt really stable.I still have new tires to install and I forgot to remove the visor from my helmet (in the aero position, this makes it hard to see!).
We did about 60k on Saturday in 20C heat but strong winds. I underestimated my fluid requirements, 3 bottles barely got the job done. I'll really need those extra bottle holders when the rides get longer and the heat goes up.
The casette change from 12-25 to 12-23 sounds like nothing, and I have a triple (52/42/30) so I didn't think much of it. But I found myself actually using my granny gear (30) just to maintain a fast cadence on hills that I normally would have blazed through in my 42. I'll get used to it I'm sure, but for now it's a bit annoying.
Oh yeah, and my cleat fell off my shoe. Oops.
But all in all, good news, ready to put in some serious miles.
4 comments:
When I went from road to tri configurations, I was amazed at how much more effort it took at first. I find that my tri bike (Felt S22) puts more on the quads and less on the hamstrings. Fortunately, I've had that bike on the trainer all winter and now I'm seeing the adaptations to the position (hopefully).
Be patient, and have fun with it.
Agreed, I've had it on the trainer for a few months, took some getting used to!
Do you wear glasses? That's one thing I didn't anticipate being an issue - because I'm looking out of the tops of my eyes my glasses are useless!
Glad the new position feels good. I'm thinking of making similar changes, so I'm glad to see it works. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Just saw your bit regarding wearing glasses. I am a glasses wearer, but I always wear my contacts on the bike - it takes away all my blurry/blind spots. Over top, I wear my favorite shades - Oakley Half Jackets. I find they keep quite a bit of air off the eyes, while still letting some air in to keep the eyes fresh.
To be honest, I don't think I'd ever ride on the aeros with just my glasses.
Post a Comment