Just saw this - seems extreme… aero yes, but sustainable?
Mentions that it´s tight getting to the level he wants to be at, in 3 weeks…
It feels like he is trolling us all!
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Right!! I’ve got to imagine this was just a piss take while they were out doing aero testing (which I believe they did based on strava).
There are several older videos with the same position, I just realize.
Looks like this is what he is going for …
Chris Boardman approves.
I was actually trying this out on a downhill that I rarely exceed 68kph and hung my butt way back on the saddle and got my upper arms “flattish” and voila I hit 72kph. Boardman used to say the worst aero sinner were the biceps (at least that’s what he said at the ST party in Kona in 2012 for anyone who was there and remembers… @Slowman invited Chis
I really hope Lionel doesn’t see this.
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Lionel was ahead of his time, he just had the bladder on his back not stomach
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Since we are on Lionel, here is his position from his 51.3 km Canadian Hour record. Seems like that should be good enough for Kona
While in the first photo he’s far back on the saddle joking around, the videos look legit. I believe he has something like this pole extender (but made by Giant?): Aerobar Adjustable Risers – Velobike
Which his D2Z .66 poles insert into.
The superman position when aero tested was not better than Obree’s original position according to his own biography. And he’s gonna need a new helmet.
I’m not sure this was ahead of its time - there are several camelback-under-the-jersey (worn on the back) in the world tour from the late 90’s
If it’s photoshoped perhaps, but it seems like a ton of money to fabricate a custom cockpit just to troll around. I think he is legitimately going for it, just not sure it will work.
But the superman position was/is superior to UCI legal aero tucks. It’s logical that having your arms perfectly straight in front of your shoulders would present less frontal area and have a greater chord length than standard tucks. Getting the bars more stretched is usually going to reduce CdA, the issue is that it’s hard to hold for more than a few minutes. But I suppose that could be trained if the gains were big enough.
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From the looks of it, it isn’t a custom cockpit, but a D2Z .66 - or at least how it looks to me.
https://drag2zero.co.uk/product/drag2zero-66/?v=5435c69ed3bc
There’s a reach adjustment on it, and he probably just set it to max reach before he figures out what the real setting should be
If you look at the picture of Iden, it seems like he is waaaay at the back of his saddle likely practicing his zero watt downhill tuck at 55kph + following legally at 12m without pedaling at all (likely on a 3-4% downhill of which there are a lot at Kona).
Then he gets to the bottom of the hill doing nothing but maintaining contact while fueling and digesting, and then scoots up 4 inches and gets into a more conventional posiiton (like at the top of this thread).
That’s my hunch of what is being practiced here. It’s not his pedaling position we are seeing. We are likely seeing his zero watts coasting position. If he can use this to rest and maintain contact with his group frequently it is a massive win for the marathon because he will be using zero kilojoules every time he gets into this position.
Not going to lie… I was thinking the SAME Thing haha
IIRC, the arms extended (i.e. the one Boardman used to break the hour record in 1996) did not test faster than a “modern” hands up aggressive really dialed in aero position (i.e. like Remco). But the Obree position (where his hands are tucked In under his chest) was actually faster than modern positions.
Not photoshopped, It’s from a video - Gustav Iden on Instagram: "Not too much content going out the last weeks, just hard work here in Flagstaff towards Kona. Three weeks to go :S it will be tight to get as ready as I want to be in time, but we are living the dream"
If the Boardman Superman was equally optimized then you’d have to assume it would be faster. There’s a bit of a tell that most UCI positions max out their reach, and pro tri positions tend to be longer than UCI TT.
Obree’s praying mantis is ahead of it’s time. Like a bottle down the jersey but with your own arms.
Omg I need this so bad, but it doesn’t appear to be compatible with PD Aeria Ultimate basebar. Extension pedestal attach point on that basebar has a “hump” in it, this is flat. Any chance you know of a similar adapter that works with Aeria Ultimate?
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