In Reply To:
Can someone explain to me why his position needed to be changed in the first place. What was the motivation to being changed. I also don't really understand the relationship of the "triathlon" FIST fit with a guy who just does time trials. Why couldn't he have just raised the saddle and left everything else the same?
I thought one of the benefits of a steep angle was the supposed value of saving one's "running legs" as the pattern of muscle recruitment is different. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought Jens didn't do triathlons, so shouldn't a position that optimizes power to drag ratio be the correct position regardless of how one achieves it. Now, I know that Jens has been in a wind tunnel so has his drag numbers down and has a power meter so I am sure he knows his Power/drag ratio for his old position. What is it now? The After position certainly looks at least aesthetically to be less aerodynamic. So how much power did he gain?
See the start of all this, the "aero vs. power" thread from last week:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/..._reply;so=ASC;mh=25; Also, one thing I gathered out of watching the fitting session yesterday is that there was absolutely no thought into "saving muscles" for running or anything like that (obviously not meaningful for a TTer). Once the proper seat height was set, the adjustments for the fore-aft position of the seat and the bars was an iterative process that depended on a lot of feedback from Jens about what felt better from a power production standpoint while pedaling with a moderate load being applied by Dan's CT unit (btw, the CT wasn't used in any fashion besides applying a steady load, i.e. erg mode).
It got to the point of making minor adjustments with Dan asking Jens "Does this feel better, worse, or the same?". I even asked Dan at one point if he'd had training as an optomotrist since it sounded like I was watching a lens prescription process ;-)
The whole point was to try to gain back some of the power Jens lost (as compared to his road position) in his aerodynamically optimum position. If he gains 20W of output but only gains 10W of drag, that's a net win for him. Now it's up to Jens to evaluate and/or tweak the position to get his best power/drag ratio.
http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/