getting used to aero bars

If at all possible, find a place with very little or no traffic to practice this. Quiet roads, a big parking lot on a day when nothing's going on, or a multi-use path if you keep to slower speeds and do it at off hours like mid-morning on a weekday. When my parents lived in Oregon, I was really lucky to live about a half hour drive from a 25-mile round trip "rail trail" that had been made into a paved multi-use path. It went through a rural area connecting some very small towns; local bike clubs helped maintain it and would spray-paint warning lines around any bumps or other potential hazards. Now I don't have that and miss it!

I have had aerobars for several years and raced up to HIM nearly all in aero, but honestly, I am still uneasy with using them in heavy traffic or on rough or unfamiliar roads. It just seems risky to have one's hands off the brakes when traffic is not stopped for an event, and you don't know what vehicles will do or what will happen with the road surface.

Descents take time to get used to. On steep ones, you shouldn't be in aero anyway for safety reasons, and sometimes signs on a race course will tell you that (there were some at IM CDA 70.3, for example). Over time, you'll get more comfortable with handling more modest downhills. I will admit--the first time I ever rode down any kind of incline in aero, it was actually in a race! Saigon had no hills to speak of, and riding one's aerobars anywhere outside the closed, pancake-flat circuit I sometimes rode in an industrial park would be suicidal. (Actually, I'd never ridden more than about four miles in aero on the road before doing most of a 60 km bike leg in a race on the aerobars!)

If you have no choice for outdoor training but busy roads with steep climbs and descents, you might consider doing your longer rides on a road bike in normal position, and your shorter, more intense workouts on the trainer in aero. Pretty much what I'm doing here in Idaho--I'm in a similar situation now.

Edited by Hot Runner 2018-07-20 7:46 PM

When you go to aero bars from hoods use your core to move to them in a steady fashion. When I first added clip ons to a rod bike I thought I would never get used to them. I shortened the extensions for awhile which for me added stability. I’ve found the farther I am stretched out on them the twitchier the front gets. Fast forward a few years and my road bike I’ve been able to set up pretty comfortably. I can take turns , reach for rear bottles and all staying on extensions. I have a P2 that I did a number of fittings on with a race set up. That’s still a little twitchy at times. Keep practicing and as mentioned by I think hot runner fins soemwhere quiet to practice.

It takes quite a while to get used to them

Once you do it is like laying on the couch if you have a good fit

Aero bars in a ride bike can be tough to get a good fit

Thanks everyone.

Practice, practice, practice! I remember the first time I used a bike with aerobars... it was a 20 mile or so ride and I spent MAYBE a mile in the aerobars total. It's definitely an alien feeling and takes some getting used do. As others side, doing so in an area without traffic can help you build that initial confidence. I would also suggest doing so on a calm day in terms of wind. It can make the transition to the aerobars a little smoother while you are still getting used to things.

Somewhere on the internetz, I read that being in aero on the descent was safer, based on the lower center of gravity.
I am generally pretty risk averse, and I consider this nonsense.

Maybe the lower center of gravity has *some* truth to it, but....uh....doing 40+ miles an hour is NOT safer....at least for me, for sure.
I have no problem using the brakes on a steep descent. Especially one of them I do that's essentially a state highway....or is treated like one by the cars whizzing by.

I seem to have no problems sitting up and using my relative girth as a drag chute. Between that and the brakes, I can assure anyone that I am far safer doing a controlled 25+ mph than 40 something.

I'm not afraid to go barreling down a steep descent. But, I am afraid of crashing going down a steep descent. A regular crash hurts. A crash at 30+ mph hurts worse. Like I said. Risk averse.

I love haunted houses because they scare the pants off me and I know they're not real. I'm a competitive musician. Heart rate goes up. All sorts of chemicals shoot through the brain and the nervous system goes haywire. I love it. I imagine it's the same feeling as jumping out of an airplane. Only difference is, when the haunted house is over, I get in my car and go. With the music, even if we totally screw up....we chuckle about it in the beer tent afterward. If my parachute doesn't open, well...there ya go.