Thoughts on the form here? Lower back was killing me on the second lap. Seat started wobbling as well!
Seat didn’t seem too low but back looks kinda cramped.
Was riding a 1996 Lotus 110; same bike that Chris Boardman set the world record (non-UCI legal though) at over 35mph.
Can you imagine riding 35mph in an Oly Tri? WOW! Just incredible.
Friend of mine is trying to sell this bike and I asked if I could give it a go. Notice how slack the fork is.
There is a TT course near hear - Canada road. Pretty hilly. Previous best was 24.18mph on a BMC TM01 with Hed Jet 60 front/Disc rear, same helmet.
Remarkably, went faster today - 24.22. I guess that frame is fast!
Would be interesting to do it with the 60/Disc combo though there is barely space for a 21 tire in the rear.
Cool bike. You need to find one of the original forks, that one is probably costing some serious watts.
My guess is you need to start with a new seat that lets you roll your hips forward. This will flatten the back and bring your upper arms to more of a 90 angle. This might take care of your lower back problems as well.
I spent a lot of time riding the Canada road course back in the day. And I can tell you that the variation in wind, temperature, and humidity could shift the speed by a full MPH. I did back to back trials with the same bike and got very different results.
Same bike, same day, power was different by 1 watt. But the time was off by 17 seconds. The difference for Novitzky was even greater. And IIRC, his power was exactly the same.
You guys are fast! My PR for the BTC TT is 24:53. Yesterday it was 25:30 and 25:28. Totally agree about the variables on that course. What was interesting to me, tho, is that this 20+ year old design was arguably faster than my BMC TM01 with “modern” Hed Jet 60 & Disc. And the fit of the Lotus wasn’t ideal. I’m not sure it’s the saddle or, oddly, if the front end needed to be lower.
IIRC it is also quite light, which could by itself make a big difference on that course. I’d just be a little hesitant to draw conclusions without more rigorous testing with a powermeter.
As to the position… the arch in your back suggests that you have excess drop that is probably reducing your power without improving aerodynamics.
It’s likely that if you raised the bars by 2-3 cm, your highest point (the top of your helmet) would stay about the same, but your thigh-torso angle would be much more open and you’d have a lot more power. You might consider short cranks too.
