Staying flexible and accustomed to your ride position are the best ways to ensure you keep yourself as aero as possible on the bike. There are a few things you can do to improve your body’s ability to ride in a low-profile position…
1. Stretch
Improving the flexibility in your lower back will enable you to get lower and stay there for longer. It’ll also reduce your need to sit up and ease the pressure on your back mid-race. Just three 10min sessions focusing on your lower back each week will help you achieve this. Change into dry clothes after a ride and perform some light stretching, holding each stretch for 20secs before loosening off and repeating three to five times. Your stretches shouldn’t cause your muscles to tremble. Two examples are:
Kneel on the floor in a ‘cat’ position. Exhale and arch your back up, and then inhale and lower the belly button until
you achieve a good stretch provided by gravity [above].
Sit upright on a Swiss Ball, then stretch back as far as is comfortably possible [above].
Massage
Pay particular attention to your lower back, glutes and hamstrings, along with any other areas of concern. However, don’t train straight afterwards or beforehand.
Practise your position
You need to practise riding in an aero tuck, however flexible you are, so regularly riding on your tri-bars is crucial to keep your body accustomed to the position. This is best done on a turbo trainer. Start with an 8-10min warm-up (sitting up), then do 6 x 4mins in your aero position with 1min sitting up between reps. Keep your effort around 80% of your max. This isn’t meant to be anaerobic, but can be increased by two reps per week.
Found this useful? Try: