TLDR - is my fit in photos below reasonable or ridiculous?
I’ll preface this with I have zero real TT experience - but getting comfortable in lower position on my road bike the past year and spending more time in drops, including on training intervals has given me a lot more speed.
So, on a lark, I picked up a used redshift system - for those not familiar, it’s nicely adjustable quick-release aerobars + a seatpost that you can snap forward or back on the fly, and when forward, it also rises up to get closer to a TT bike geometry while keeping the distance to bottom bracket constant. Perfect for non-committal roadies. Very cool kit - @dcrainmaker has a great review of it.
Goals - something different to mix up training, get used to more aggressive positions that I can rotate between on long fondos, chase some of the longer TT segments for fun as part of TR outdoor intervals; maybe someday try a sprint duathlon.
Since this is a bit of a random exploratory gateway drug for me, didn’t commit to a real fit yet - just took a stab setting this up based on what feels OK, and a few things I read online like considering a slight upward tilt on the bars, elbows just off the pads to avoid jarring, ~90 degrees on arms… for my grip, I just rotated the S-bends to where they feel comfortable on my wrists to hold - they are turned slightly inward.
I’ve ridden this a few times for 20-30 min at 90-92% and it’s felt pretty good.
So with that - here are some photos - interested in any feedback from more experienced folks if I’m doing something wacky or leaving something on the table that I should consider w/r to position.
As a point of reference - below is where I’m at with the seat in normal road position (from a professional fit that has worked well for me, but I no longer live near that shop).
I am tempted to try going a bit lower on the stem, and maybe a bit longer reach. The rides I’m most interested in are ~70-100 miles and I’ve found that small improvements in aero add up over time. So far, comfort has not been a problem. I also feel that after riding the aerobars, it almost feels bunched up in the drops so I was also thinking of going 10 mm longer - but not sure if that is advisable or not. The drop bars also feel crazy wide when coming back to them off the aerobars!