aerohelmets, do they make you faster?

[kelownagirl]

Can I slide in a question about aerobars? I have them but because I'm not tall, and my seat isn't much higher than my handlebars, I feel I can get down lower when I'm in the drops than the aerobars. Is that common?

and Eden - So are you averaging well over 30 kmh to do 40K TT in just over an hour? Wow, I have a looong way to go. Our TT route is 16km and, in my opinion, it's fairly hilly. I am not fast and I've never raced it but I have ridden it as fast as I could I can only average about 29.5-30 kmh. I am still at least 3 minutes slower than the slowest woman who does the TT so I'm not quite mentally ready to try it for real. Maybe next year. Maybe I need a faster, cooler bike. (with aerobars and special wheels, and no gloves, and the right clothes, and no visor on my helmet, and no seatbag on the bike, and do more hill repeats to improve my sucky climbing ability.)

And if you don't mind, here's the elev profile of our TT route (although it's missing a 1 mile flat section right in the middle). Can anyway tell me how it compares in "hilliness" to other TT routes? It has two short climbs that are around 7% grade, but the rest are 4-6% and less. (Ignore that first bump)

Sorry for completely taking this thread off track...

[Eden]

If I've calculated correctly I did about 33.3 Kph for that TT, and that would be in line with what I've been able to do in the past.

I'm similar to you - I'm quite small so I never get a great deal of drop from saddle to handle bars on any of my bikes, but the TT bike does have 650's to maximize that. The aerobars still do make a big difference - It's not only getting down low, but streamlining your body that the aerobars help with - you get a slimmer stance too.

As far as how your TT course compares? I really don't know.... we have anything from nearly totally flat, to a hillclimb TT - they come in all sorts of flavors. The 40K this year, I'd call rolling. There wasn't really any big climb of any sort on it, but it was up and down a lot of small hills, one was a bit sharp, though quite short (a stand and sprint hill).

[kelownagirl]

Do you 650s on front AND back?

[Eden]

Yes - the old style tri bikes with the small front wheel and larger rear wheel can't be used in a USAC race (which most of mine are). The particular size of the wheels doesn't matter, but they do have to be the same front and back.