Road Bike Racing - TT hand position

Does anyone else's thumbs touch when riding their TT bike? Is there a problem with this that I am not considering? I feel good about my position, but I do have to have one hand slightly behind the other.

new position yes.

if i put the shifters between my pinky and ring fingers...

the bars are so close that i lace the rest of fingers as if i'm praying...




praying for death.

praying for the suffering to end....:(

Mine don't touch, but I have my bars set up so that my elbows lie directly in front of my knees, which means the tips are a little further apart.

I tend to use a more overhand grip on the ends of the bars, with my hands sitting on top and my palms facing down, as I've found it help to keep my shoulders more relaxed, and the more traditional position was giving me some wrist problems.

I have mine a little wide as I'm quite broad in the shoulders. However on my S-Bends when I'm gripping sometimes I find I loosen my grip and sort of press my thumbs on each other to move the grip somewhere else. It's kind of hard to explain but it works pretty well, keeps the forearms from getting tired.

Here is a visual from the tunnel. I have not gotten the mod bike back from the shop, but it will get me into the tighter position.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r186/DrWJODonnell/handposition.jpg

Here is a visual from the tunnel. I have not gotten the mod bike back from the shop, but it will get me into the tighter position.

Looking at that picture, it's amazing how relatively small changes in hand and arm position can make a big difference in frontal area :eek:

Here is a visual from the tunnel. I have not gotten the mod bike back from the shop, but it will get me into the tighter position.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r186/DrWJODonnell/handposition.jpg


wow.

i have to ask- but was that position (folded over with your nose in your hands) just a trial position- or is that what youre going to run?

looks pretty extreme and rather confining to the chest cavity. i can easily see how you get such great numbers in the tunnel, but biomechanically, have you tested it for long term, full-on effort?

wow.

My shoulders and arms come in similar to that but my bars aren't tilted up. My body is streched out enough that even with very narrow grip I still have an open chest. This puts a little more strain on the shoulders since your body weight isnt supported fully by your elbows but it works for me.

Here is the problem that I am running into right now, my thumbs are touching, but with the new position that I have been put in, my bar ends are too long (fitter had me move my mid forearms onto the pads) and I have to reach to change gears.....so I have become lazy and started down-shifting with my index finger only. With the D-A shifters I am bad about dropping two gears at a time. I guess my only choice is going to be to cut the bar-ends, but I do not have enough time in this position to know that it will work for me. Oddly enough, with my thumbs touching I feel more confident in turns...not sure why.

wow.

i have to ask- but was that position (folded over with your nose in your hands) just a trial position- or is that what youre going to run?

looks pretty extreme and rather confining to the chest cavity. i can easily see how you get such great numbers in the tunnel, but biomechanically, have you tested it for long term, full-on effort?

wow.

It's been tested with a 20 minute High tempo effort a number of endurance style rides of ~1hour, and a 2 hour where I came up from the position for about 45 seconds total. Takes its toll on the neck a bit for the longer rides (then again, so did my old position) but it actually isn't bad on anything other than the eyesight (mostly what I have been training is my eyes to remain in the top of my head for an hour). Will my power flop? In testing it has not, but we will see come race day.

thanks. ive seen numbers, have studied photos, and am hitting the tunnel this fall when i go to CO... but that picture has really made me re-think everything i know about TT position.

thanks for sharing.

Slightly OT but DRWJO does that uvex helmet sit on your back in that position? It looks like you built the extension into your bell but I know that uvex lid is super weak as far as structure on the faring.

These should probably go under my wind tunnel thread, but here from the side.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r186/DrWJODonnell/HandPositionside.jpg

:eek: wow thats huge. Looks like your about 2" further up on the saddle, any pressure or adaptaion issues yet?

Still shocks me that that is a $400+ helmet when you pick it up.

:eek: wow thats huge. Looks like your about 2" further up on the saddle, any pressure or adaptaion issues yet?

Still shocks me that that is a $400+ helmet when you pick it up.

It shocks me too. Trust me, I was hoping it didn't fare so well in the tunnel and I could sell the thing off. It is flimsy, IMO very poor construction and very cheaply made. Sadly, it did the best in the tunnel.

And no adaptation issues to the placement on the saddle.