My sail like position is partially caused by really long arms for my really short torso length. If I stand up and let my arms hang down naturally, my middle finger is just 2.5 inches above my kneecap (please no monkey jokes...).
Its getting better though on the P3SL. I've actually ridden super aero before in the Chris Boardman aero position using a look ergo stem so that the head of the stem was only 2 inches above the front wheel. Using this position, I rode 5:17 at IMC (on a fast day in 1995) without "working" but I could not digest and my back and hamstrings were cooked and ended up with a 4:06 shuffle. I am now trying to optimize between "aero enough" and still being able to run off the bike, thus the slightly better position on the P3SL. FYI, on the P3SL, I only have 2 mm of spacers on an 89 mm head tube with zero rise 100 mm stem. I could remove the spaces and also go for minus 17 degree stem, dropping the front end by another 12mm or so, but I think I'll wait till this winter to play around with the front end
On my ride home yesterday I played around with seat position a bit. I jacked my seat forward to around 84 degrees, and it actually felt quite good, but within 5K my hamstrings were very tight. I was not really riding "hard" so I never got to experiment and see if I would end up on the "rivet" going hard or end up somewhere in the centre.
What I do find is if I go super duper steep, the hamstring get used more and while the run off the bike in Olympic tri might be awesome (ie zero adjustment time) since you are essentially "running on the bike", over a longer race like a half Ironman or Ironman, you'd basically cook all your running muscles. It seems that "moderate steep" in general with "riding the rivet" for hard sections might be a better utilizations of your overall muscle structure over time, vs just riding at say 82-84 degrees all the time.
Dev
Its getting better though on the P3SL. I've actually ridden super aero before in the Chris Boardman aero position using a look ergo stem so that the head of the stem was only 2 inches above the front wheel. Using this position, I rode 5:17 at IMC (on a fast day in 1995) without "working" but I could not digest and my back and hamstrings were cooked and ended up with a 4:06 shuffle. I am now trying to optimize between "aero enough" and still being able to run off the bike, thus the slightly better position on the P3SL. FYI, on the P3SL, I only have 2 mm of spacers on an 89 mm head tube with zero rise 100 mm stem. I could remove the spaces and also go for minus 17 degree stem, dropping the front end by another 12mm or so, but I think I'll wait till this winter to play around with the front end
On my ride home yesterday I played around with seat position a bit. I jacked my seat forward to around 84 degrees, and it actually felt quite good, but within 5K my hamstrings were very tight. I was not really riding "hard" so I never got to experiment and see if I would end up on the "rivet" going hard or end up somewhere in the centre.
What I do find is if I go super duper steep, the hamstring get used more and while the run off the bike in Olympic tri might be awesome (ie zero adjustment time) since you are essentially "running on the bike", over a longer race like a half Ironman or Ironman, you'd basically cook all your running muscles. It seems that "moderate steep" in general with "riding the rivet" for hard sections might be a better utilizations of your overall muscle structure over time, vs just riding at say 82-84 degrees all the time.
Dev