Hoop posted a picture in another thread. In a response I tried to post a Photo and couldn’t figure out how to do it. Hoop graciously volunteered to help me. Thanks Hoop!
BTW, I agree that photo critique is not even 1/2 of the story; but, it does help and certainly spurs on conversation that helps others.
Here it is:
FYI - I feel very comfortable and fast in this position, have been doing tris for 22 years, including 12 IMs (2 on this bike in this position), and am just kinda ok performance wise…always looking to improve.
Hhmmm. Yeah, the photos don’t tell the story (except it’s warm and sunny where you are). Reach might be a tad short…
Ahhh, I shouldn’t say anything… OK, the party line: “You can’t fit someone just by a photo, go to your local bike fitter, fit is most important, blah, blah, blah, all the standard stuff that is really true.”
You should see the folks who come out of our local “fitter!” He’s a great guy and a great mechanic, but not an aero fitter (IMHO). Most folks are 5-10% slower when they come out, but they are real comfortable - like on an upright cruiser!
I have a sister in Michigan who I usually fly to see, but one of these years I’ll drive and make a detour through Dearborn. I’ll gladly pay you. Also, I’ll introduce you to my wife, a true angel, who made me forget all about those “mean ex-girlfriends.” And the kids love bikes. Unfortunately the time is soon coming when they actually figure out that daddy really isn’t the only man who can go up mountains faster than Mr Armstrong!
As for reach, it is interesting that know matter how far forward I put the saddle, or how long the stem, I natually pull myself to the same upper arm position. Is this just something particular to me or am I missing a key adjustment. …I know, e-fitting doesn’t work!
yeah so you are way too tight and compact—if you’ve tried to extend yourself out but as you say you just fall back into the same position, look at saddle tilt—if youre saddle is tilted way down your going to slide down and crunch your cockpit. Your aerobars might be too small/short. I’d drop your aerobars too—try and get your chest parallel to the ground, might not be flexible enough but try it. In order to do that, you might need a stem that doesnt have so much upward angle—or flip it over. Your first pic doesnt have the leg in the 6 o clock position its in the 7, but your saddle might be a bit too high—its hard to tell when your pedal isnt at 6 o clock. Lastly, it looks like you may need to rock your hips forward a bit—read empfields article called like: how to sit on a seat or something, or maybe its on cobb’s site, i forget.
These are my suggestions, maybe one of the suggestions will help, again its hard to tell from a pic.
Jeremyb has got some good suggestions especially with the saddle. I would lover the stem just a little to get the back just a little flatter. Also you could rotate the aerobars up a little to get your forearms at least horizontal.