I know of one triathlete who was SEVERELY injured riding with his head down ... straight into the back of a parked truck at 20+ mph.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...%20drtrikat#p2606521


Prism.

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Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.

It depends on many things (course profile, conditions, road quality, congestion, multi-loop, open vs closed roads, etc) - in other words - variability.

In my experience, I can see a good distance in front of me (even though it doesn't look like it), but not WAY up the road. I'll take a quick glance up every 10-15 sec or so to check for upcoming corners, road imperfections, other athletes, etc. If there is a high variability, then I'll maintain a head position where I'm able to see the horizon 100% of the time in the interest of safety. However, in a perfect world, riding near the front with LOOONG stretches of good road (i.e. Niagara Falls Barrelman), it's orange line on the left & white line on the right - head down all the way.

In the pic below I'm tilting my head slightly to the right, likely to maintain visibility while navigating an upcoming gentle left hand bend.

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How in hell did you get in that position on a newer Cervelo... I really need shorter arms.

I have a very similar position to the picture in your OP with my torso being just slightly more upright. However, I don't "ride" with my head down. I'll give my neck short bits of rest with my head down. I spend 80% of my time with my head "turtled" looking about 40 yards ahead of me, 10% of my time looking "way" down the road (as in I can see the horizon... think Andy Potts head position), and maybe 10% of my time with my head down. I only let myself put my head down for about five seconds at a time and I only do so when there's nobody around me and no intersections etc ahead of me.

I know a triathlete (me) that was severely injured by another rider riding with his head down....

I had a good friend who died riding aero with his head down. Even before that, and definitely since, I would highly recommend a position that allows you to see a safe distance down the road. My aeroness was hardly compromised in this position. My neck hurt all the time, but whatever.

I was using a -25D Profile Design Aris Stem (26.0 to go with the older Felt Devox Bars). I'm riding a 51 NP2. If I'm not mistaken, my numbers for Pad Center are (R = 457, S = 552) in mm.

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"How in hell did you get in that position on a newer Cervelo... I really need shorter arms."







Like this?

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

I have a "friend" who was riding his old school 10-speed back in 1979 into a 30 mph headwind. It was a residential street, but this friend had his head down trying to stay above a slow jog pace. He wasn't looking more than a foot in front of his front wheel when bam, bang into the back of a parked pickup truck parked on the curb of the street. The truck owner had removed the tailgate from the truck, so after my friend went over his handlebars, he ended up in the bed of the pickup while the bike ended up in the street. Even though this was back in the "no one wears a helmet" days, this friend wasn't hurt, but he was worried that the truck owner would come running out of his house mad at the guy who had hit his truck. The bike wasn't damaged, so the friend picked up the bike and took off.

Ever since then I've tried to keep my head up at least enough in order to have some situational awareness of what is on the road in front of me.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

My "ideal" position (based on my last fit) was very similar your picture. I can hold this position for a decent length of time with some neck soreness, but the thing that really limits me is that my eyes get tired and start to lose their ability to focus, and I start getting double vision from the strain of looking "up" to see down the road (if that makes sense). I've added 10mm of spacers just to get my eyes into a better position where I'm straining less to see down the road. Anyone have a similar issue?

A big factor in this for me is having rimless glasses (I use Smith optic, forgot the model) or a helmet with shield and no glasses (never actually tried.
That way I can take that in-between position of the head raised just enough to see far enough in front to be safe and low enough to get some aero advantage and also less strain on the neck. The rim on most sunglasses, in my experience makes several degrees that you have to raise you head more.
-Mick

Unless your income (pro) or you care more about winning than your health (pro or over-committed amateur), riding with your head down to the point that you can't see clearly what's in front of you is a dumb idea. As a recreational athlete I'm all about training hard to go fast, but the marginal aero gain from a head down versus a tucked position isn't worth me crashing into something or someone else.

+1
After a couple of hours, my eyeball muscles get too tired to keep them from crossing when looking up resulting in double vision. As I have a family and desire a long life, my head position goes up as my ability to keep my eyes focused goes down.

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Oui, mais pas de femme toute de suite (yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away) -Stephen Roche's reply when asked whether he was okay after collapsing at the finish in the La Plagne stage of the 1987 Tour

Hello Anton84 and All,

https://www.researchgate.net/...me-trial-cycling.pdf

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster