When I'm flogging myself on my trainer it is much easier to maintain a particular wattage on the hoods than in the drops (approx 10-20 watts or so difference for same perceived effort). It seems like there are at least 2 things at work: -Increased flexion at the waist makes it more difficult to breathe vigorously (from increased resistance to excursion of abdominal wall) -Slight rotation of my pelvis forward engages muscles a little bit differently (-Increased intraabdominal causes increased resistance to venous return?)
Here are my questions: -Is decreased wattage in the drops a fact of life? (But maybe I shouldn't worry about it since the net gain from the aero positioning will translate to more speed on the road?) -Is my bike fit/positioning wrong?
Ideally there isn't much if any power drop when riding a road bike in the drops. Do you see the same thing outdoors is it strictly an indoor trainer issue?
Yes, aerodynamics are better in the drops and like a TT bike as long as the drop in power is more than offset by lowered CdA it isn't a terrible trade but IME most well fitted riders who do at least some of their training in the drops can sustain very close to the same power whether riding the hoods or in the drops. Perhaps your drops position is a bit too aggressive. A related question is whether you're comfortable riding down in the drops for say an hour long crit or do you tend to pop up onto the hoods a lot during flat fast races at times when they haven't slowed a lot or during times where you're going hard and closing gaps?
FWIW, I recently switched to some shallower drop bars which are nice in that they allow a pretty aggressive position while riding the brake hoods without creating a huge difference when down in the drops. IOW, I'm a bit more aero while riding the hoods but roughly where I was before while riding in the drops. Or someone could set them so the hoods were very comfortable but the move to the drops wasn't as aggressive as traditional deeper drop bars. If you like your hoods position but lose too much power or aren't comfortable enough in the drops you might try some shallow drop bars like the 3G Ergosum bars or the Ritchey WCS Curve or other similar designs.
Thanks, Dave. To answer your question, I don't think that I could spend a full hour in the drops as currently set up, so I'm thinking that I must have a bike fit problem. I'll try some tweaks on my positioning. I didn't think that my current bars are particularly deep but I'll check those specs against the 2 that you recommended.
