Her saddle to pad drop is more greater than it appears in the first couple of pics due to the angle. Look at the last one of her on the bike. FWIW she's not that aero, just stupid strong.

sinking her shoulders to lower her head instead of reaching them to the pads. also keep in mind that she rides a 48cm

she is most certainly "stupid strong."

but she's also spent time at ERO, so, while she may not pass your wind tunnel eye test, she at least is making informed cost/benefit analysis.

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@adamwfurlong

Smaller riders need less saddle to pad drop to get a flat back. For starters their upper arms are shorter. If you get a small rider with very short upper ams (think Levi Leipheimer) the saddle and pads can literally be level and the rider can have a flat back.

That's the part I don't get. Her arms are likely proportional to her trunk length, so if that relationship is fairly similar from one person to the next (short peoples arms hang about to the same place as tall peoples arms on the leg, for example), I'd think the trunk angle vs. horizontal would be similar too. I'm just wondering if it's something like position on saddle vs. position of saddle, or something... also agree on not pushing spine up away from forearms, maybe not intuitive to BOP.

Thanks for thoughts.

Don't get me wrong, her position has certainly improved over the years, but it's still not great (let's be honest here- properly slippery triathletes can probably be counted on one hand). As someone who neither swims nor runs, someone is going to have to educated me as to the reason most pros bob their heads up like an escaped balloon.

And "standard tubes" at "120psi". Not very favorable.

Not that big of a deal with the pressure (especially as low pressure on wide clincher wheels leads to pinch flats as exhibited with the Reynolds Aero line) as the road like smooth as, but yeah, strange about the tubes.
Just noticed the she uses an Evade even though she doesn't have a helmet sponsor. No way that came out fastest in aero testing...

....reasonably fast vented helmet on a 100F day sounds like a decent move for Heather.

Not too much I can reveal, but some athletes like certain things and, though some changes might be more aero, they choose what they're comfortable with for peace of mind. That said, things have slowly progressed over the years, and this is her best position to date.

As for helmet choice...again, Heather chooses what is the fastest aero road helmet for her because she's comfortable with it, and smartly sells the highly visible "real estate" to sponsors which, though I'm not privy to the numbers, makes her far more money than any helmet sponsorship. Why more pro triathletes don't do this is beyond me.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

her position looks fast to me!

She obviously gained little from ERO. So much wrong with her setup. Nobody in her camp must feel aero is important. Or so that's how it appears.

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"One Line Robert"

Yeah, certainly a big improvement over her old position. Good info on the 'real estate', not something I'd have ever thought of!

But her choices continue to be validated by her results. It sucks.

Worked pretty well for Chrissie in Kona a few times too :) Having the "fastest" helmet will be irrelevant if you cook your brain on the bike....

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Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

Using this mentality vs. objectivity to justify decisions made by athletes so much better than their competition is doing a disservice to science.

I had a black Gyro Selector in Osoyoos Half Iron at the weekend. 106ºF (41C) and I would just like to say it was a bad idea. Should have used my Air Attack. Consider it was that hot and the helmet itself was so hot I was surprised it was not worse than it was but anything over 30C now I will likely use the Air Attack. I have previously used the Selector in 30º with no issues.

Edit: To the OP. My wife has a 650 Felt, is 5'0'' and not much drop, about 4 or 5 cms. Good position though.

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https://www.pbandjcoaching.com
https://www.thisbigroadtrip.com

Maybe. Or it proves we are not robots, and if something is 1% slower but makes us feel 1% more comfortable.. maybe it is the better choice for us.

I found it interesting she uses 170 cranks. I know Kienle doesn't subscribe to shorter crank theory, but i don't many shorter badasses that use 170s.?

I can't wrap my head around how anyone could let her ride with her basebar angled up like that...