Training for Time Trials

[RoadRaven]

Psst... My bar-end shifters just arrived all the way from Blighty today... will be able to use them in next weeks TT and tell you if they made a difference!

I am REALLY hoping so!

Have any of you got bar-end shifters... or made the shift from "normal" shifters to bar-end ones.

Any suggestions?

[Eden]

That was the first thing I changed on the TT bike I bought. For some reason even though it was a dedicated TT bike the person who owned it before me had it set up with brifters on the cowhorns. It made little sense to me to do it that way since in order to shift you had to get out of the aero position. Mine are set up to be indexed for the back and friction for the front. It took a little practice to remember which way to go to shift them, but when it came to the first race I didn't have any goofs. I don't know if it made a difference in my time or not but it was much more comfortable to not have to get out of the drops repeatedly. If you didn't get a pair of aero brake levers to replace the brifters for braking you may want to make those your next purchase. You can get them pretty cheap and they're a lot more hand friendly than mounting brifters out on the bars.

[RoadRaven]

We got hold of some second hand bullhorns, so they have the brakes but of course no drops.

I am looking forward to using the bar-end shifters for exactly that reason of not getting out of the aero position to change gears.

Hopefully the only time I'll have to change position is at the turn around when I use the brakes!

Good to hear you found them so easy to use - spesh in the first race
Thanks Eden

[SheFly]

Like Eden, that was the first change I made to my TT bike, and it made a big difference! Not having to get out of the aero position to shift was a huge help. Before I made this change, I would TRY to ride the entire course (which is rolling) in one gear for as long as possible, just to avoid changing position. Much better now.

As for skin suits - Eden is right on this one - NO ONE looks good in a skin suit . I'm not sure how much time this has actually saved me, but I feel faster And I still think that for me, it likely made a 10 - 15 second difference.

DH just put new aero bars on my TT bike - now it looks like an alien! He also installed a new drive train and changed my wheels, so the bike is approx. 20 lbs. He claims it should be really fast - I told him that the bike may be fast, but it's the engine that matters .

Can't wait to hear about both of your TTs this month! Our series doesn't kick off until April.

SheFly

[RoadRaven]

Well, my partner has fitted bull horns onto my bike, and the bar end shifters are on my aero bars.

I took her for a ride yesterday... what a difference!
And like you say, Eden and Shefly, SO easy to use!

It was awesome - I "test-drove" over the Dartmoor TT course (in my goals) and the mid-section of that has some rolling hills.

I could feel/see that it is going to be (relatively) easy to lift my time over this section because I could never quite get the right gear on "normal" bars/shifters... but not having to shift out of the aero position to get through the valley is so very sweet!

Next step will be some deep dish wheels to make them slightly more aero I think... TT suit is still a little way away!!! Not brave enough for that!

Well, I'll ride some more on my Giant today and tomorrow, rest on Wednesday and the first ITT of the year is Thursday.