Tri-bars on club runs discussion

Details of and discussion about club runs

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laurence_cooley
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Tri-bars on club runs discussion

Post by laurence_cooley » 28 Jun 2021 18:08

CeGi wrote:
28 Jun 2021 17:16
Si_Walker wrote:
28 Jun 2021 17:10
Cedric, I’m sorry that you are not riding with us.
You've only got yourself to thank for this :evil:
Cédric, presuming this is about use of tri-bars, I don't think it's fair to blame Si for pointing out that they're unsafe on club rides. As far as I know, it's standard practice for clubs to ban use of them on group rides, and this is consistent with British Cycling's advice. This isn't to say that I'm unsympathetic to your reasons for wanting to use them, and I hope you can find a solution that allows you to participate in club runs in comfort.

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AlanW
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Re: Two-Day overnighter Weston run 3-4 July

Post by AlanW » 28 Jun 2021 18:18

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowl ... -10-tips-0

Last item on the British Cycling list
"You only need two tools: WD40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD40. If it moves and it shouldn't, use duct tape"

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George
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Re: Two-Day overnighter Weston run 3-4 July

Post by George » 28 Jun 2021 23:38

CeGi wrote:
28 Jun 2021 17:03
I was really looking forward to this ride and to that adventure with the group...
... yet fate has decided otherwise.
Please take me off
Cedric, I'm really sorry to hear that you won't be coming. I was looking forward to your company on the ride.

I realise that you must feel disappointed right now, but I hope that when the dust settles you'll see that the guidance on the use of tri-bars for group riding are there for good reason. There are plenty of us who really appreciate everything you've done in recent times and want to see you stay involved. I'm confident that you'll find numerous members happy to contribute ideas and/or practical assistance with a view to helping you find a way of adapting your bike and/or your riding position to make it possible for you to continue doing group rides.

All the best.

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CeGi
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Re: Two-Day overnighter Weston run 3-4 July

Post by CeGi » 29 Jun 2021 11:36

George wrote:
28 Jun 2021 23:38
Cedric, I'm really sorry to hear that you won't be coming. I was looking forward to your company on the ride.
Hi George, so was I, believe me, so was I. There were several people I was looking forward to ride with and others I was keen to get to know. Not forgetting the attractiveness of the unusual format of the ride.
George wrote:
28 Jun 2021 23:38
I realise that you must feel disappointed right now
You realise well and I guess you only have a partial idea of HOW deeply disappointed I am ... and angry too.
George wrote:
28 Jun 2021 23:38
but I hope that when the dust settles you'll see that the guidance on the use of tri-bars for group riding are there for good reason.
I already do. I really do understand the reasons behind. Yet rules are like laws. They're here to provide a frame, guidelines but ultimately it is down to the judge to apply and interpret the law and the spirit of the law. I thought that the pretty long email I sent to Phil and you this morning would give you plenty of additional pieces of info to make up your mind and see my POV. I thought wrong. I got your decision which I deeply regret and will not try to overturn nor ignore it.
Nevertheless, as other people are now joining the public debate and provide me with links to various websites as if I was a perfect moron who hadn't done any research before installing a lethal weapon on my bike, please allow me one last time to derail this post and provide all with more info so that they can weight both side before making a judgement. I realise that by doing so I will probably dig my hole further for most and bore to death the others but if there is a small chance that a few understand my POV and don't consider me as a psychopathic lepidopterophile I'll take it.
1) I do NOT use my tri-bar as a normal TT rider, to gain speed, pull harder ... I only use it as as resting place for my forearms when I feel the pain coming. I had done some research on tri-bars and their safety aspects, thought (obviously incorrectly) that my unusual use was a safer use and did not realise that the club had officially banned them.
2) I alternate between all 3 positions my handlebar now offers and probably only spend 10% of a ride on the tri-bar part, Max 15%. This was one of the underlying reasons behind my post on the club's FB page on March 12. Standard fitting of the tri-bar would have made me lose one of the 2 standard handlebar hand positions which I absolutely wanted to keep as this is what I use most of the time. The tri-bar support I only use to relief pain when I feel it coming, all in all a small fraction of the time. I guess people I have been riding with for the last 4 months could vouch for it. Most of the time I take the wind and open the way. If I was leaning forward all the time it would defeat the object of opening the ride. At the beginning when I had to lean forward a bit to push back the budding pain I remember jokingly explaining to some that I did not want to take the drag away from them but needed to rest my hands. Needless to say that I do not use the tri-bar when on winding stretch of the road, when the road surface is poor or when approaching intersections.
3) In case some would draw some hasty conclusion, I do not think I am a stroppy boy who simply does not want to follow rules. As explained in my email this morning, I tried to do without tri-bars but it does not work well enough to keep the pain away: "I went out for a long ride yesterday and thought 'OK, maybe I am a sissy. I'll try riding without it to see if I could take them off and comply with the club rule'. Within less than 20 miles my hands were really painful. Later on in my ride I tried again to stop using them, pretty quickly it came back. Once the pain is there, shaking your arms a few seconds does not do the trick so easily. I do not ride on these bars all the time, far from it. But I keep alternating between all the positions this offers me and this does wonder keeping the pain at bay. "
4) And before some come back to me and tell me to get a bike fit, be aware that this issue I have is not directly related to my bike as far as I can fathom
a) This physiological issue started several months after I totally stopped cycling (waiting for my heart surgery) so is not related to an incorrect position on the bike.
b) this is the very same bike I cycled 7000km on in 2019 without such pain. The fit then was the same as the fit before I added my tri-bar
c) there are other cases in my daily life where this pain happen (while my bike is safely away in the garage)

In summary: I do not use these tri-bars as a normal TT riders would, I only use them for a small fraction of the ride, when it is safest to do so and have pretty good reasons to believe that my problem is not bike fit related. The club decision seems to me like a rigid application of a rule not taking enough into account the specific of the situation. This said I understand your POV, not wanting to set a precedent or taking any risk and I regret it deeply. Maybe my arguments were not as good as I thought they were, and maybe I underestimated the risk that my unconventional use of this kit still represented. We'll have to agree to disagree.

George wrote:
28 Jun 2021 23:38
There are plenty of us who really appreciate everything you've done in recent times and want to see you stay involved.
Glad to hear that. After 9 years with the club, life circumstances had given me the chance and I had finally mustered the courage to stop being just a 'consumer' and become a bit more of a 'producer'. During these 3 1/2 months of leading many rides it looked well received indeed ... and provided me with extra satisfaction too. It also looked to me, maybe incorrectly, as nobody in them rides looked threatened or worried by my bike set-up and way of using it.
Which is why I was surprised and angry at the way this issue was raised so abruptly. To ride I had to take them off.
Would it not have been easier to say something in the line of what is written in the link Laurence shared yesterday ?
  • Never be in the TT position when you’re in the bunch. You don’t have access to the brakes when you’re on the aerobars. Always be on the hoods where you have much more control. Only when you get to the very front should you ever get into the aero-tuck position and go into timetrial mode.
With bike-fit unlikely to be the solution for the reasons listed above I am now tasked with trying to find a mechanical solution with dual brake lever, shorter protruding bars... without guarantee that this would be acceptable as, I quote the club's reply, 'perhaps [this] would be ok'.
While I reflect on whether it's worth me investing time chasing a new solution to my problem, which I find an overkill and I fear will be elusive I hope you'll understand that my desire to contribute has been blunted and is now as low as the energy level of a rider who's just climbed the Mont Ventoux.
Fear not though, as every cloud as a silverline. I am sure this will give the opportunity to others to step forward. I am a much bigger loser in this than the club.
But who knows, as you said maybe when the dust settles and I'll have digested my disappointed and anger I'll be back.

Regards
Ced

As explained at the beginning of this verbose rant-like explanations, I hope the above will have helped a few see my points. For the others it will at best have been some weekly entertainment or at worst some typical social media arguing pollution. For the latter I apologise.

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keith
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Re: Tri-bars on club runs discussion

Post by keith » 02 Jul 2021 09:39

On the last Weston run a few years ago there was a guy with tri bars fitted to his bike . Not a club member , a friend of Phil Whitman I think . He had one of those
day glow shower caps over his helmet. They do get used by audaxers quite often.
In my current broken down state I was going at ask about E bikes on club runs. Best not eh

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Philip Whiteman
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Re: Tri-bars on club runs discussion

Post by Philip Whiteman » 02 Jul 2021 15:57

That was Roy. Yes he uses them but only when solo. Tribars are often used by long distance riders for good reason.

Mariana278
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Re: Tri-bars on club runs discussion

Post by Mariana278 » 04 Jul 2021 15:08

Keith electric bikes are allowed

Mariana278
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Re: Tri-bars on club runs discussion

Post by Mariana278 » 04 Jul 2021 15:09

keith wrote:
02 Jul 2021 09:39
On the last Weston run a few years ago there was a guy with tri bars fitted to his bike . Not a club member , a friend of Phil Whitman I think . He had one of those
day glow shower caps over his helmet. They do get used by audaxers quite often.
In my current broken down state I was going at ask about E bikes on club runs. Best not eh
Electric bikes are allowed

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