Watching the Tour of California Time Trial stage inspired me to dust off my TT bike and see if I could do any aero-position modifications. No, unfortunately I don't have access to a wind tunnel, so all I can really do is take photos for analysis purposes... I moved the seat up a bit from last year as high as it will go and still allow me adequate leg reach, and the handle bars are as low as they will go. I was noticing that the ToC Time Trialers all seemed to have their arms at a 90 degree angle to the bike, so I believe I have accomplished this. Also, my knees are tucked nicely behind my elbows, nearly making contact. I have some room to slide the aero bars and/or seat forward/backward, but this seems to be the best fit I can accomplish with this particular bike set-up. If there are any TT/aero types reading this, any positive or constructive comments would be helpful.
I need a skinsuit of some sort. The one pictured is cheap, and seems to cause some friction issues. This 'skinsuit situation' has been troubling me since I bought the bike. Not being in a large enough team to have a teamkit skinsuit option, I have scoured the internet to find a non-team specific skinsuit... I haven't had any luck. Any advice would be appreciated. 
At this point, I am thinking about joining the Century Bike Club, which is a bike club that rides in New York's Central park, just because I like the color scheme of their skinsuit (blue, white with a bit of yellow). I wonder if I can join a more regional team just as a TT/Cyclocross rider (blue color scheme preferred).
3 comments:
Hey Chad,
Your post just came up on my radar so I thought I'd do a quick freebie response for you. My name is Steve Owens. I help with all of the wind tunnel testing and aerodynamic consutlting for guys like Zabriski, Danielson, Baldwin, Zirbel, VDV, etc, etc, etc...
You can definitely lower your bars. You have to. Just from a quick visual, you'll need to go about 4cm lower in front. Lower your head (drop your neck) and you'll be lots faster. Your skinsuit is the least of your worries. It's probably fine, actually. The advatage 2 Giro is probably a good helmet for you. Make sure you have a good aero front wheel. Good luck!
-Steve
Thanks for the input Steve!!
This Trek TTX frame is size Medium (I'm 5'10.5"). I swapped the Profile Design areo bars it came with for Bontrager X-Lite areobars, mainly to allow me a lower position. I have the stem mounted flush against my frame in the lowest position, so not sure how to the bars another 4cm lower. Visually, I can see that the ratio of bar height to saddle height isn't agressive enough, but again, not sure how to get them lower. What am I missing here, how do the pro's accomplish this set-up? (Maybe if I get the Bontrager XXX Lite stem and flip it to the negative 12 degree rise?)
Chad,
Mercy-Specialized is a blue based team. just a thought.
adam
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