Wobbly hills and bricks.

So now triathlon training starts.  And earlier this week, I took part in my first brick training session, and discovered something interesting about my aerobars.

Um, better do some definitions.

1.  Brick training-a training session that incorporates multiple disciplines consecutively.  

2.  Aerobars.  Not the chocolate.  These are a set of alloy or carbon handles that are clamped to the existing bars of a bike to change the riding position.

More on the brick training in just a moment.  Now, these aerobars.  They look like this:

The idea is that they allow the athlete to rest their arms on the pads and hold the bars, adopting a lower riding position.  This decreases wind resistance (about 70-80% of wind resistance when cycling is caused by the rider, not the bike) and thereby either increases speed, or allows you to maintain the same speed for less effort.

Studies show they are the single greatest addition a triathlete can make to their set up.  So what's not to love?  Why doesn't everyone have them?  

Well, for one thing, not all events allow them.  But the main reason? There's a major issue with the "aero" position.  Since you are allowed to attach gear levers to aerobars but NOT brake levers, it means that while riding in the aero position, the triathlete does not have immediate control over the speed of the bike.  At speeds of 25mph or more, the triathlete needs to move their hands to the main handlebars to apply the brakes.  Although this can be done reasonably quickly, it often isn't fast enough to prevent disaster.  Also, while moving their hands to the main bars, the triathlete removes their weight from the aero bars.  This massively decreases the stability of the bike for a few moments because there is less weight pushing down on the front of the bike (the weight of the rider essentially acts as downforce). 

Sadly, this can also be an issue with both hands as I discovered.  When using aerobars, the saddle needs to be shifted forward so the rider has more weight at the front of the bike, achieving the desired stability.  However, this can be a trial and error process.  Sadly, I discovered this at 27.4 mph travelling downhill.  The bike's front end began to wobble about like a wobbly thing that has a special reason to be wobbly. I thought I'd buckled a wheel.  But as I slowed down and moved to the standard "drop" handlebar position, the entire bike stabilised.  

The moral of the story?  My saddle wasn't correctly positioned, my weight was too far back, and my aero position wasn't safe.  Still, training isn't just about fitness, especially in triathlon.  It's also about techniques and set up, and I'm glad I found out now, and not at 27.4 mph during a race.

However, after that stage of the brick training, I got off the bike, yanked on my racing shoes, and did the quickest 5k I could manage after a 13 mile fast ride.  It went well.  Although my legs felt like sides of beef initially, it wore off faster than it has in the past.  Proof that my neuro-muscular system is getting used the act of running hard straight off a hard bike ride.  Proof also that brick training is brilliant. But I think specifics of that are best saved for another post.

A big congratulations to my friends Otto, Jacqui, Dan and Andrea for finishing the Paris Marathon last weekend.  Serious achievement.  And next week is Brighton 10k.  My first competitive 10k.  I read a post somewhere that said racing a 10k is like running a whole race with a mild hangover.

I had one of those on Saturday too...