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Steep vs Slack - Long vs Short Course
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Hi all,

Can someone please explain why I don't see more pro short-course triathlete's riding steep angle bikes? Is it only because they need the flexibility to be able to adapt their bikes from drafting to non-drafting formats, or is there some physiological reason that suggests that only long course athletes will derive significant benefits of the steep angle?

The reason I ask is that presently I am looking selling the existing steep angle steed (QR Kilo PR), and going back to road geometry. I race predominantly short course, and well, if it good enough for Chris McCormack to ride his Talon with road geometry on short course (as well as IM), it is good enough for me.

Or am I totally missing something and not paying enough attention?
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Re: Steep vs Slack - Long vs Short Course [Oz Tri-Guy] [ In reply to ]
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IMHO the answer is really quite simple. Many elite athlets are skinny, flexible studs that can get down low in an aero position on a shallow angle bike. If I try that, my thighs would be hitting my chest with every stroke.

Take a look at the riders in a break away at the tour this year. With a road bike and no aerobars they will hold an aero position for hours that I couldn't buy.

Most of us mortals get a lot of help from steep seat angles. We can't get low and move smoothly any other way. We really can't learn much from the approach of top athletes. They are just too different.

I had this driven home to me in a big way this week. I had some fit work done by a shop before IM USA last year. I wound up slackening the seat angle. At first it felt better. I think most small changes feel better at first, but that is a different thread. I did my first race last week and went very hard on the bike for a mediocre bike split. I flipped the seatpost forward on my P3, and now it seems like I am flying again, for an over the hill blob that is. Will know more after my next race.

Give some serious thought to this before you sell your QR.
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Re: Steep vs Slack - Long vs Short Course [Oz Tri-Guy] [ In reply to ]
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Buy a cervelo and have the best of both worlds. Just rotate the seat post and goooooooooooo
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Re: Steep vs Slack - Long vs Short Course [ajfranke] [ In reply to ]
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ONce upon a time, I thought I was faster on slacker seat tubed bikes, too. After all, I was obviously more powerful...at least uphill. But, after doing test after test, I not only found I was faster on the steeper tubed bikes, I wasn't losing much at all on the hills like I thought I was. Plus, I run better off of the steeper setup. So, "feel" may not be accurate..."stopwatch" is more accurate.



Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)
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Re: Steep vs Slack - Long vs Short Course [yaquicarbo] [ In reply to ]
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I am pretty sure I didn't slow down when I first made the seat angle a bit shallower. I didn't do any rigorous tests, but a couple Lake Placid loops showed no apparent time change, but I was more comfortable. I sure noticed the difference this week though. Seems like I am going about 1 mph faster around my little loop here. Part of the difference might be that it is flat here, unlike Lake Placid, so the advantages of the steep seat angle might be more apparent to me in Florida.

I do think there is an effect that small changes to your position feel better at first. I don't know if this is the reruitment of new muscles, or a placebo effect or something else entirely. I only know that I don't trust position changes until I see their effect over a period of time.
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Re: Steep vs Slack - Long vs Short Course [Oz Tri-Guy] [ In reply to ]
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Oz -

If you're talking about ITU-style short course racing, the question is not Long vs Short, but non-Drafting vs Drafting. Pro short-couse triathletes draft off each other, so an aggressive aerodynamic position is not necessary.

As far as Macca riding shallow in IM races, pictures I have seen of him show a zero set back seat post on his Kestrel while he rides on the front of the saddle - so his actual riding position is not as shallow as the frame seat tube angle would suggest.
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