Aero Bars on the turbo after broken thumb

macleod113

I have done a few hundred miles on the turbo since I was put in plaster 3 weeks ago. My arm is no longer in a sling and my natural position is to use my damaged hands on the tops. This is causing bruising due to the cast digging in to my hand and hurting the thumb. I bit the bullet and got some cheap aero bars for a tenner and have just fitted them. Any advice on using them on a turbo to get the weight away from my hand or other tips on recovery?
Cheers everyone

supermurph09

*** Stupid Question Alert ***

Not sure how hard you are working on the turbo, but do you actually need to put your injured hand on the tops with sufficient force to make it hurt?. You could just use your good hand for stability and rest the damaged one on the top.

ai_1

I would think you should just set the bars up in a typical TT position or a little higher/shorter if you prefer. Clip on extensions will put the pressure on your upper forearms instead of your hands/wrists so if they're uninjured you should be okay. Unless you want to exert serious efforts in which case you may find yourself pulling up on the ends of the extensions - will that be a problem? For easy efforts I think you'll be able to avoid putting much or any pressure on your hands.

macleod113

I am just looking to take the pressure away from my hand and also be able to try a different position. I am leaning mainly on the good hand I just find that now I am out of the sling my bad hand naturally goes to the bars. I will see how I go when I test it tonight/tomorrow.

ai_1

MacLeod113 wrote:

I am just looking to take the pressure away from my hand and also be able to try a different position. I am leaning mainly on the good hand I just find that now I am out of the sling my bad hand naturally goes to the bars. I will see how I go when I test it tonight/tomorrow.

You may find you need to move your saddle up and forward to avoid having your hip angle too acute in the lower position unless you're keeping the pads on the extensions pretty high or you have good flexibility. The position may take tweaking and getting used to but a TT position works fine on the turbo trainer.

cougie

I'd not bother with the tribars -just rest your hand on a pillow or cushion on the tops ? You might want to wash it after a bit though.

macleod113

cougie wrote:

I'd not bother with the tribars -just rest your hand on a pillow or cushion on the tops ? You might want to wash it after a bit though.

Thats a good idea. thank you. im not a fan of the aero position and can only manage a minute or two to change things up. i was happy to spend a tenner on the aero bars to find that out though.

diy

As others have said go with a TT position, you could raise the front wheel up a little to take the load off. Key thing though is keep your head up. Its so easy to let the neck muscles go slack from too much turboing or spinning. You wont realise it until you go out on the road and then everything will feel odd.