All:
Any idea of the height and weight of some of the smaller female pro’s? I’ve started coaching a woman who has been told over and over again that she’s too small to compete with the big girls on the bike at an elite level, and I was hoping for some evidence to the contrary.
Thanks in advance.
JC
Did you watch the Boston Marathon? The Russian gal that finished 2nd was 5’0" and about 90 lbs. Don’t expect cycling would be any different from running. Little guys win the TDF. Lance is actually huge for a cylist at 165 lbs. Just have to be sure that the bike fits her. If she’s really tiny a custom frame might be called for. Get in touch with Tom Demerly who posts here regularly for an opinion about this.
quite a few female pro’s are actually quite small. TV and print media make people look a lot larger. PNF, Heather Fuhr, JulieAnn White are all what I consider petite.
I don’t know how small this woman is, but it sounds like people are filling her head with nonsense.
Natascha Badmann is 5’5", 114 lbs.
Genevieve Jeanson, probably the worlds best female cyclist, is 5’5", 110 lbs.
Lori Bowden is shorter and lighter than both of these gals. I don’t know for sure, but having met her, I can’t imagine she’s more than 5’3", 105 lbs.
Just look at the mens pro peloton: Half of those guys are in the 130 - 150 lb. range. That’s tiny for a guy.
Tell her people are filling her head with garbage.
Miguel Indurain was 6 feet and around 180 and he won the tour 5 straight times.
Physical dimensions if you are height / weigh proportionate are the least likely atrribute to hold you back…
Khalid Khanouchi / Paul Tergat
Catherine Nderaba / Paula Radcliffe
Lance Armstrong / The big Mig…
I’m sure we can come up with more…
Peter Reid and Tony DeBoom are completely different body types, I was shocked the first time I saw TDB, I thought he was huge, but then I am pretty small I guess 
while your generalization regarding being proportionate is correct, I would rather be within the median that an outlier. I remember starting some large road races in the elite section standing next to many foreign/Kenyan athletes. (kind of the same thing lining up in a DI cross country race). At 5’11" and 150 I felt like a freak of nature most of the time.
It appears there is some type of correlation between the drop in running world records in relation to drop in weight/height of average elite athletes (I’m referring to the majority here not the outliers).
2/3 of the guys in the pro wave are 160-165 and about 5’10. 5’11, 6’. not 130 lbs.
I know this is an old post, but I’m answering it anyway. Lori is a self proclaimed 5’6"er. If you check out this photo of her next to Badmann, she is as tall if not taller than her. I’d say their weights are close as well.
http://secure.lazydude.com/ldmanager/photo/resources/digitaltriathlon/images/4390.jpg
Look at Lisa Bentley (from Canada). She is about as tiny as they come and quite an impressive resume. Now, she is the first to admit that she has work hard on the bike as she just can’t generate the watts of Lance, but she more than makes up for it on the run. Remember, a triathlon is a long race (even an OLY) with 3 parts…
I read somewhere 
{ for dudes }
ideal cyclist has a height to weight ratio of 2 to 1, inches to lbs…
5’-6" tall ( 66" ) x 2 = 132 lbs…
screws me, Im 67" tall and 152 lbs 
Uhm… Vanessa Fernandes from Portugal is about 1,70m tall and weights like 56-7 Kgs.
Let me just remind you that Vanessa was 8th in the Olympics, is European U23 Triathlon Champion, World Junior Duathlon Champion and recently won the ITU World Cup in Madrid.
Don’t just ask here in the Forum, do a search in PubMed, there are some studies regarding the question you are asking.
jon -
just look at local girl rebbeca wassner. end of story.
bryan
Don’t just ask here in the Forum, do a search in PubMed, there are some studies regarding the question you are asking.
Don’t you just get abstracts on PubMed?
Bryan:
Funny you should mention Rebeccah Wassner. I began this post 1.5 years ago when I began coaching Bec. As you know, she was coming from a running and swimming background and was not a particularly strong rider early in her tri carreer. She had been told that her size (or lack thereof) would work against her, and I while I quoted studies and science to her, I was looking for some anecdotal evidence to raise her hopes. While she was skeptical at the time, her tremendous improvement and results over the last two seasons seem to have finally convinced her.
JC
That is funny, I realized after the fact that you could be referring to Rebeccah (however she spells it). However, did not realize you were coaching her. The most impressive part of her development is that her run splits have remained stellar as her watts have increased. Good work.
Bryan:
Thanks. In the interest of full disclosure, I coached her in 2003, which was her first full season, and when she won her AG at Nationals. She left NY for a while and got other offers down in Florida, so I can’t really take any credit for her continued improvement this season.
JC
So then, what are Rebeccah’s height and weight?
I don’t have her resume in front of me, but she’s about 5"1, 105. Back in 2002, she had the fastest swim and run splits in the NYC tri, but something like the 48th fastest bike split, hence her concern at the time. Her improvement on the bike (see Westchester, Chicago and NYC this year) has been remarkable.
Funny that this thread has picked up after the fact.
JC