(frenzied music)
- Time trials are a great way to try your hand at racing.
They're relatively inexpensive,
there's lots of local events, they don't take very long,
and, if you're new to cycling, there isn't that
intimidating pressure of riding in a peloton.
But when I speak to people
about having a go at a time trial,
they're often worried about the kit.
They say, "do I have a time trail bike?"
Well, the thing is, you don't actually need
a time trial bike to do a time trial.
I mean, yes, if you want to be competitive,
you probably do need a fancy, time trial bike
and all the gear.
But, if you just want to see how you go in a time trial,
or maybe measure your improvement week-to-week
as you get fitter, all you need is a road bike.
(frenetic music)
Now, one piece of kit
that's a really good value-investment
for the occasional time trial
is a set of clip-on aero bars like these.
They're great for entry-level time trials or triathlon.
Now, because I love time-trialing,
and I wanted to ride my bike fast if I could,
I thought I'd do a little experiment to see
how much quicker, or not, these clip-on aero bars are
than just riding on the drops.
In terms of experimental setup,
I have my Orbea Orca Aero road bike
with deep section, Vision wheels, and a power meter.
Now, set up a test time trial course,
two kilometers long, on a slight uphill drag
through Corvara and Alta Badia.
"Why uphill," you might ask.
Well, the reason for choosing an uphill drag
is to help hold a consistent power
for the whole test course.
I'm gonna ride it three times in each setup.
Now, the reason for doing three tests with each setup
is that an average of several tests
will give us a more reliable result.
And also, if any result is obviously anomalous,
we can discount it, and repeat.
So, when it comes to swapping the aero bars off the bike,
I wanted to keep the total weight
of the entire bike the same, so that the only thing
that we're changing is the position on the bars.
So what I've done is I've weighed the aero bars.
And they've come in at 280 grams.
And for the run without the bars,
I've gotta bottle with 280 milliliters of water.
And for the run with the aero bars,
I've got an empty bottle.
So the weight difference in water
makes up for the weight difference in the clip-on aero bars.
I'm gonna do a rolling start at 30 kilometers an hour.
(dramatic music)
(heavy breathing)
Right, about to set off on run two with the aero bars.
I'm gonna have a rolling start at 30 kilometers an hour.
Let's go.
(active music)
Right ... run three, with the aero bars: here we go.
(resolute music)
Right, about to set off on the first run
without the aero bars.
I'm gonna ride on the drops.
So, I'll set off now and do a rolling start
at 30 kilometers an hour.
(robust music)
Right, run two, on the drops.
(powerful music)
Right, run number three, on the drops: here we go.
(pulsing music)
Well, the results are in, and I'm surprised to say
there's actually quite a major difference.
There wasn't actually expected to be a huge difference
over only two kilometers.
But, without the aero bars, I averaged 1.3 watts more.
And yet, I was an average of 15 seconds slower
over the two kilometers.
If you multiply that by 20, to get a 25-mile time trial,
which is 40 kilometers, that adds up
to about five minutes of difference.
That's a lot.
That is a big difference.
(commanding music)
The reason I'm surprised by this result
is that I know that the most important thing
for aero gains and aero losses is your frontal area.
And, for most people, that means that to go faster,
they need to get lower at the front.
Now, on this aero bike, I can't actually get super-low
at the front, because I'm a bit short.
So, when I put the aero bars on, I don't get any lower.
In fact, if anything, I got a little bit higher.
And I thought that would mean I might actually be slower
with the clip-on aero bars.
So, how did I get quicker?
Well I think, what it might be, is that with the aero bars,
my elbows were closer together.
So my arms are narrow.
Whereas on the drops, arms are out here,
and I was wider.
So that might be where the gains came from.
Either way, it's fascinating.
It shows that you can actually make quite a big difference
with just a simple piece of kit,
like some clip-on aero bars.
Another major advantage of aero bars
which we didn't test here is that, often,
people find that they can relax better
on aero bars than on the drops.
Because you need fewer muscles in your back
and shoulders and arms to hold yourself in position.
And if you're using your upper-body muscles less,
that means you've got more energy
for your legs to push hard.
(confident music)
Hopefully, this video will whet your appetite
for time-trialing, and show that
if you fancy having a dabble,
the equipment should really not be a barrier.
But it also shows that remarkably small adjustments
can make a big improvement in your time.
If you'd like to watch another video about this,
why not check out why size is important in flat time trials
at least by clicking down here.
Or, you can check out the Geek Edition of this video,
where we look at the nitty-gritty of aerodynamics
by clicking down here.