It all adds up.

I have a couple of sets of aero bars, and an older entry level TT/tri bike with a minor crack in the seat tube that I went ahead and test rode anyway. I can't hold an aero tuck for more than a minute at a time due to an old neck injury (my C1-C2 were permanently damaged in a car wreck 20 years ago, and reinjured when I was hit by a car in 2018).

But even with holding an aero tuck for only a minute at a time, sitting up to stretch my neck, and tucking again, I could improve my speed by a full 1 mph over my usual 10 and 20 mile loops. That's huge, considering my bike fit was mediocre at best and my form was terrible.

A local woman close to my age (I'm 62) who occasionally rides with us on spirited group rides tends to fall back when she's on her standard road bike, but when she's on her tri-bike she can smoke my best times on most segments, other than climbs. That's how much difference aero bars and good form can make.

It was enough to persuade me to try some tricks on my standard road bike setups with ordinary drops. So I got some very snug form fitting jerseys, an aero helmet, and can improve my average speed by at least 1/2 mph on the usual 10-30 mile routes. Some minor tweaks to my bike fit -- stem length, bar height, compact drops, saddle position, etc. -- helped me to hold the position longer with my forearms parallel with the ground. And this was with older non-aero road bikes -- my '89 steel bike, and '93 Trek 5900.

And that's with way too much crap on my bikes. I run front and rear video cameras every ride (the one time in three years I didn't was the day I was hit by a car -- the case is still dragging on more than two years later). And I pack a fairly full saddle bag -- at least one tube, multi-tool, CO2 kit and mini-pump, etc., because I don't want to call Uber or a friend for a ride. And in summer I always carry at least two 24 oz bottles. If I stuck with a 5 mile loop near home I could skip most of that junk and possibly gain a little time/speed.

Don't have aero bars, or don't want to bother with them? (They're awful in crosswinds, which is why I took 'em off my road bike.) Check out Remco Evenepoel in January's Vuelta a San Juan stage 3 time trial. That race omitted dedicated time trial bikes so that teams with lower budgets could compete equally. So everyone used their standard road bikes. Some riders used the "invisible aero bars" or puppy-paws position, forearms or wrists draped across the center of the bar to get the forearms parallel with the ground, heads low and backs as level as possible. But nobody did it better than Evenepoel, who blitzed the field. The attached video shows only the highlights. GCN has the full race with longer clips of Evenepoel demonstrating his excellent form on a standard road bike. Sure, the skinsuit and aero helmet helped a bit. But it was mostly engine and good aerodynamic form on the bike.