"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - TT: Areobars worth it?

Hey guys, I'm doing 2 Time Trials this month and I'm wondering if its worth the money to get some Profile Design T2+'s for $100 shipped, or just grind it out in the drops and stay compact? I am only a Cat 5 and neither of these is for team points. I'm leaning towards just riding my bike and "dropping the hammer" haha, but I am kind of curious if this offers any benefit for someone racing B-Races mostly.

You ought to be able to get T2's for less than $100 shipped, look around some. I'd say get them, and practice on them before the TT. Although the time trial you are doing may not be a priority race, you'll likely be doing more of them in the future, and want to approach them seriously. At the very least, having bars is a must.

Or just Fignon the TT.

Yes, TT's are all about aero-d and bars will help, but you have to practice on them a lot to optimize your body position and get used to pedalling in a fairly awkward position compared to a classic road bike.

Aerobars do nothing to help out your speed. It's a waste of time and who would want to go faster at a race anyway? Everyone knows that if you are not racing in the TDF and are not getting team points that the race is somewhere below ice cream shop ride in importance. Just go out there and block as much wind as you can. Don't even bother with the drops.

Ummm, why even ask this question?

The faster the ride, the better the advantage. Remember, drag is super-linear with respect to speed (quadratic? cubed? I forget), which is why something like a 20 second gap in a TdF prologue is considered very impressive (they go so fast that it takes huge amounts of power to get those extra seconds).

Because he wants validation.

It's an obvious question with an obvious answer.
If EVERYONE in the TT is riding with aero equipment, there's a reason for it.
If this is the only TT you'll ever ride, then you should save the money.
But no one ever rides just one.

But no one ever rides just one.

Yes we love putting ourselves thru 60 minutes (in my case 60+) of pain over a 40km course several times a year.

He should just ride Eddy-style.

+1 if you have the cash, the bars will likely add between 1.5 - 2 mph to your speed on the flats.

both courses are extremely flat, no more than say 50 ft of elevation around 12 miles

Aerobars do nothing to help out your speed. It's a waste of time and who would want to go faster at a race anyway? Everyone knows that if you are not racing in the TDF and are not getting team points that the race is somewhere below ice cream shop ride in importance. Just go out there and block as much wind as you can. Don't even bother with the drops.

Ummm, why even ask this question?

And all he needs for wheels are 36 spoke Open Pros laced to 105 hubs.