Aero Clinic

Early on Sunday morning I headed to Now Sports to attend a clinic sponsored by the triathlon team I joined. The subject was a talk about bike positioning and how to be aerodynamic. What I didn't know ahead of time was that it would be led by one of the world authorities on the subject, Steve Hed. That name won't mean anything to most people but you might have heard of his most famous customer and friend, Lance Armstrong. Steve and his company, HED Cycling has made aerodynamic bike wheels and parts for the top bike riders in the world. Along the way he has spent a lot of time in wind tunnels watching and learning what it takes to make the smallest hole in the wind. Pretty cool to have someone like that right here in Minnesota. And he's as nice as any Minnesotan gets. This is Steve with Amy Klosterman on her new TT bike with HED wheels and aerobars. Sweet.


Steve had Amy get on her bike and he walked through his critique and recommendations for her to become more aerodynamic. Most of this comes from how one positions the arms and upper body so you don't push a lot of air. Some of it's easy but often what is aero is not all that comfortable. It ends up becomes a balance of what can be done. Here is a closer look at the HED aero handlebars.


On of the more interesting recommendations was that climbing was the best area to try to work on to become more aero. Most people, including me, resort to standing up on the pedals to power up a hill. But if a rider could maintain the aero postion and manage the same power, that would result in the most speed. Hed designed the aerobars he sells with this in mind. His bars allow the rider to progressively move their hand position depending on the grade of the hill. The following photos illustrate these positions from flat to heavy climb.

This would be the typical aero position with hands at the ends. Note how flat Amy's upper back is.


Amy now moves her hand a bit closer to her body so that she can pull more with them for more power.


If she needs even more pulling power she can move her hand to the base of the aerobars. The HED arm pads are design to flip up to allow room for her hands on the crossbar. This position might also be used as a relax position on a longer ride where the aero position might get fatiguing.


Finally there is the wide position with the hands on the brake handles. This would be the position most similar to climbing on a standard bike. However notice how Amy still tries to stay low and aero.


As luck would have it I had my TT bike with me. One of Hed's employees, Dino, took a look at my aerodynamics as I spun on the trainer. I didn't have my biking shoes but he was still able to make some recommendation. He was telling me the same stuff that he would to top pros in wind tunnels. I felt like a ball of crumpled up wad of paper. But it was all good and definitely stuff I could incorporate. For the record here are his recommendations for me;

Seat down 1 cm.
Back position good (flat) but could be more rounded.
Chin as low as possible while looking down the road (not easy)
Knees into the top tube.
Elbows in to centerline more.
Do all these thing AND relax!