Aerobars, please don't.
I have aerobars on my bike like a lot of people, but if there is ANY chance of a car or another bike being near me on a training ride, I'm going back to the hoods and ride like a good little roadie.
Yesterday on a not-too-great-road I caught up with a guy on his aerobars [he had another rider on an old steel bike drafting him.] I took a second to see what was going on, and pushed past. While a few cars went past us, aero guy started trying to contest me moving ahead---if he hadn't been in aero position I probably would have enjoyed the challenge, but I was pretty uncomfortable around him and his apparent lack of judgment. I did not want to be part of the peloton.
I know the aerobar guy was just getting his workout in, like the rest of us, but I'd really prefer to be far, far away while he did it.
Posted Aug 19, 2013, 9:55 PM UTC
It's not cool of him to challenge you on a not so great road like that, but riding on the road on your bars is totally OK IMO
I agree with you on both points, it's just my opinion that if I start out on the road solo with no one else around,it's responsible to simply sit up or at least and be a good citizen when I'm being passed---and I always get passed.
Cool thing, met my hero later yesterday on the way back --- a 60-something year-old woman in an Austin "Ride For the Roses" jersey. She didn't like the road we were on, but she hated the roads in Austin for the RftR worse: "We were going to do the full 100 miles but the roads were such crap we bagged it at 70."
It is good to know you're in the presence of a badass.