I'm going to try adding 5mins every morning of sitting in a malasana squat. My aim is to improve strength and flexibility of hip flexors and glutes. I am also planning on going back to 175mm cranks from 165mm and I feel I'll need to do some work to help with this more closed hip angle.

I have not read anything suggesting this stretch/routine, but it seems logical in my head for what I'm trying to achieve.

Related to this topic, I have tried setting a trainer bike up with 175 mm cranks with a much more closed hip angle (combo of cranks, saddle further back and pads a bit lower) than my on road tri bike that has 170mm and this has worked really well....by the time I get outside, riding in aero feels like standing up out of the saddle!!!

The other think that works well is 5-6% hillclimb repeats at high power output in the aerobars. The 5-6% grade closes up the hip angle somewhat with the saddle pointed 5-6 degrees upwards relative to the gravity vector force.

Just curious what's the theory for going to longer cranks on the the TT bike? It's against the grain of current norms.

It is purely due to wanting to experiment with bike handling. I want to lower the seat and bars. Firstly to lower centre of gravity for descending and two I experienced a few speed wobbles this year. Upon research, a lot of evidence points to frame stiffness. I think clamping the stem lower will have less exposed steering column and improve stiffness.

Have been very happy with the 165s but I think my bike is just a bit too small for me and I'm trying to compensate rather than buy a new frame.

Not trying to be a smart as, but couldn't you lower the bars and seat for a test ride to see if it works before investing in a new crankset?

It kind feels like this is sacrificing the fit of the bike 99% of the time for the sake of lessening speed wobbles 1% of the time.

Not a smart ass at all.

Firstly I already have an old 175mm crankset lying around. Secondly I have already lowered the bars about 5mm (this meant the whole stem was now clamping the full steering column rather than a couple of mm extending beyond). Hard to judge if it has actually improved speed wobbles as they are a low frequency event but I haven't had any issues since doing this. But this gives me more (possibly false confidence) that I'd like to extend the experimentation. Thirdly, I could lower the saddle 1cm now but I want to maintain same leg extension so I'd prefer try the longer cranks.

My plan is to try it out for duathlons next year and then revert if I don't like it.

No cost to me and only about 20mins of work switching to/from.

I'm an infrequent poster but daily reader. I can't add much to this discussion because I am a completely mediocre biker.

My only comment is that it feels like you are getting upset over people trying to help you. They may not be answering your question, but they may also be giving you the right answer, even if you didn't ask for it.

If a guy who says he has gone sub 2 hours for 56 miles shows up and gives me advice about how to get fast on my bike, I'd probably pay attention to what he has to say. Even if it wasn't specifically the answer to my question.

Maybe my interpretation of your degree of "upset" is wrong. Everyone has been very pleasant in their advice.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

This.

Just because a question is asked doesn't mean it deserves an answer. By definition, it's a logical fallacy what's occurring here. The OP has the assumption already they are correct about their question when they ask it. Then when advice comes which includes refining the question, it is rejected.

Body weight calisthenics would be what I would do if you can't stay in aero for the period you want to. Chair dips, pushup, plank. Holding aero is in the core, shoulders, arms. Has zero to do with freaking legs.

The reason an endurance trackie or TT specialist might do some low cadence drills is because they need cadence variability to be successful. It would be nice for long course tri, but I wouldn't focus on it like a trackie or TT specialist might.

Either way, there's plenty of both Ironman and pro cyclist male and female "skeletons" that are perfectly capable of staying in aero as long as they need to. None of which probably do "bro" style lifting. They might "lift" but it's not what lifters do to build bulk.

I think what’s throwing op off is assumption “physio” means strentgh training? In my experience and the way I use the word physio it’s akin to saying “someone else worked on my body”, like massage for instance.

In terms of flexibility I’d say you want to be in the aero position without the muscles undergoing any sort of significant tension/stretching.

As for strentgh training it’s prob an individual thing that might be best addressed seeing someone’s form when fatigued v. fresh. Then maybe one could spot where the breakdown is happening and what might help to prevent it.

Switching to shorter cranks allowed me to lower my bars...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

As a physio I'll bite on this one, but with a spin: I can't say I've directly targeted aero position holds for people other than myself, but I can give you my general solutions for problems I often see and we can extrapolate a bit.

1. Close hip angle: You need sufficient range to hip hinge comfortably PAST your aero position so that aero is easy. Good mornings or straight leg deadlifts with pauses (I give lots of 10 second holds!) are my favorite. I also rely on jefferson curls for lumbar flexion tolerance/ erector strength. If the hip is binding up front, I'm almost always strengthening posterior (GMin, GMed) with seated internal rotation or resisted open hip position (<45 degree) clamshells. Plus standing hip flexor stretching with an externally rotated foot.

2. Cervical extension: first you need to be able to look where you need, so it shouldn't be right at the limits of your neck. Stretch or mobilize appropriately (cervical belt mobs work well for most people). Again I'm a big believer in strength. I give a lot of cervical retraction against gravity and then resisted and resisted with rotation, all with holds. A strong neck complains less!

3. Shoulders: I think our applications are more stability than pulling force. I like things like bear crawls or quadruped pull-throughs. I do think there's a place for planking here. I also think unilateral holds above your head can be great (e.g. a TGU).

That's kind of the platform for your aero position in my eyes. The legs do the spinny stuff. Hope that inspires something, but happy to chat more if you have questions.

Out of the saddle for an hour straight? Did i read that correctly?

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In search of the righteous life... we all fall down

Here's a really crazy :

https://road.cc/...november-2021-288017