What I meant with no aero is just that I have all my crap hanging off the bike, no aero helmet, no aero wheels, and non aero clothing. Not like I attached a sail. :-)
My sunday ride ended up being in the basement. Got my 200 TSS in and called it good. Some days the incremental anxiety of riding on the roads is still a little much. Knowing I can ride a little more intensely in the basement than on the road, I had the added benefit of not having to be on the bike quite as long as the 3.5 hours. :-)
Steven - I finally found success with my Speedfil A2 Water bottle, for the longest time I had been struggling with how to secure the tube when I am not drinking. The iterative inventiveness of Sat & Sun attempts to find a solution to securing the hose when I am not drinking culminated in the use of a well placed rubber band negating the need to buy the speedfil $20 hose clip. I was not spending $20 for a plastic clip, just not doing it!
Awesome idea to secure the Speedfil tube! I ended up with a zip tie to the side of the whale tail holder- slip it under the whale tail and over the nub from the zip tie and it doesn't flop off to the side anymore. Honestly, who is doing their field testing?
Steven - I tried the zip tie route for my speedfil and it did not work for me, I found it too cumbersome to get the tube in and out of the loop - I am glad you are having success with it! Now I am just trying to decide 1 or 2 bottle behind me, I am leaning toward one since my sitero seat has a built in bottle stay I can attach a Gorilla XT cage back there and be done. I know Coach Rich likes bottles on the down tube and spares behind the seat. My Felt DA has a torhans bottle that I converted to a spares kit and I really like that setup and its reported aero enhancements.
Mike- Make sure you go with the Gorilla XT behind the seat if decide that route. Stage coach road will launch bottles and loosen your fillings at the same time.
I haven't found a good way to secure my A2 straw yet. I can't easy secure the straw with a rubber band while riding and I'm not buying a $20 plastic clip either. I would like to see your zip tie set-up Steven. For now I just have the straw cut short. I'm probably not losing any aero effect than if I came out of aero position to unlatch or latch back the straw.
Eric - I did get a Gorilla XT for just that purpose! As for the rubber band what I did was loop it around the velcro strap that holds to A2 Bottle to the Z4 Cage, I also have my Garmin mounted on the Z4, so I stretch the rubber band around my garmin and it holds the straw nicely. It is easy for me to do & undo while riding. I will snap a pic and send it to you as soon as I can get it uploaded. I've also had to run a bead of electrical tape around the joint where the bottle meets the speedfil cap, I just cannot get that joint to stop dripping...
Yeah, the placement of that water station RIGHT BEFORE the railroad crossing is another bad spot. Lots of bottle losses there. Hope they've moved that, but probably not. With those commercial bottles, i don't think it matters what kind of cage you have so much...none of them fits tight like a regular bike bottle.
I'm using rubber bands on my A2 to hold down the straw, too.
Comments
My sunday ride ended up being in the basement. Got my 200 TSS in and called it good. Some days the incremental anxiety of riding on the roads is still a little much. Knowing I can ride a little more intensely in the basement than on the road, I had the added benefit of not having to be on the bike quite as long as the 3.5 hours. :-)
I haven't found a good way to secure my A2 straw yet. I can't easy secure the straw with a rubber band while riding and I'm not buying a $20 plastic clip either. I would like to see your zip tie set-up Steven. For now I just have the straw cut short. I'm probably not losing any aero effect than if I came out of aero position to unlatch or latch back the straw.
I'm using rubber bands on my A2 to hold down the straw, too.