Triathlon - Width vs. Length?

I know it is a never ending debate but what is more important when figuring out ones bike position?
Sleek long & low trying to avoid getting to wide. or Comfort while in the areo postion even if it means a wider position. With out a wind tunnel I am unable to figure it out...I have decided that comfort is best for me....
Your thoughts:thumb:

My fitter (in whom I hold a great deal of trust) told me the most aero position in the world won't do me any good if it isn't comfortable enough for me to maintain it for a whole race. So he set me up as aero as possible within my bounds of comfort. He said he could probably get my position more agressive, but because I'm not a 150 pound contortionist I wouldn't be very happy about the situation.

One of the big adjustments he made was to widen my aero bars out. I'm very broad shouldered so the standard "narrow front profile" set up became painful after a short amount of time, causing me to get up on the pursuit bars to take a break. Opening them up by about an inch made a huge improvement in the way the bike felt, at the expense of a slightly wider frontal profile.

Must've worked for me. My two races after the fitting session were the best two performances of my life. I now actually dislike getting up on the pursuit bars unless absolutely necessary, as my aero bars are so comfy.

Go with comfort. I've only raced a few tri events for fun but I made a living racing surfskis and marathon canoes for 20 years. All the endurance games are the same in that you have to be comfortable to some degree while participating. Otherwise you'll be distracted from the task at hand. Get compy on the bike, ride the first half well in control without going anaerobic, then go berserk in the second half and come to embrace the pain - not from position but oxygen dept. You can't race well without discomfort it just should not come from your gear.

It's not one or the other, it's a balance point.

For instance, I can have a lot of drop and be comfortable, however I can only go so narrow before I get shoulder pain.

I encourage you to get as aero as you can while still, as Old Town said, being able to concentrate on going fast.

There is one rule of thumb for aeroness(according to John Cobb) which I think is reasonable, without complete disregard for comfort. It general your shoulder joint should be below the highest point on your back when in the aero position.

This doesn't mean super low, just that your back is rounded like this guy who is not super low:
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races08/giro08/giro08st10-piepoli450.jpg

A second rule of thumb that Steve Hed uses is that on average people's upper bodys tend to be 5* above horizontal where the balance of aero and power is met.

Finally, a good way to get speed is to "turtle" your head. This is basically bringing your chin down and forward, instead of rotating your head upward. The goal being that the top of your helmet is at the same level as the top of your back like DZ here:
http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/photos/2008/interviews/david_zabriskie_aug08/CYC-TOC129alt.jpg
vs
http://www.byjamesraia.com/content_images/2/Alberto-Contador.jpg

In the second picture, 2/3 of his head is above his back. Mind you, that pic is of Alberto Contador and he normally does "turtle":
http://blog.firstendurance.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/watson_contador-paris-nice-tt-lr-3-8-093.jpg

Hey that was some great info. Th efirst guy was almost straight up & down th elast guy looked the most aero by a mile...I have widened my bar width to increase my comfort I am a bigger fella 200lbs 6feet tall. It has helped but I feel weak when extended to far forward. I also use an aero helmet and when I am in the proper position so that I can actually feel the wind flow down my back I cannot hold it very long or see in fron tof me.

Triathlete Magazine (this months issue. Oct/Nov) has an article on aerobars and the first lines (paragraph) of the article pretty much answers your question. I can't quote it but it's worth looking into. Something about "fit, fit and fit" and "comfort, comfort and comfort"...