I just figured as long as a lot of other people were looking for advise on their positions, I thought I would toss mine out as well.
It seems just like most other photos. Saddle the is too high, and I will lower it a little bit. I wouldn’t have guessed that since I thought that it felt low and I was thinking of raising it a bit. A photo or two sure can work wonders.
Any other ideas?
I am no expert, but i would definitely use a front wheel when riding outside.
jeez, man, with amateurs like you giving advice left and right, it’s a wonder that more people don’t quite triathlon in disgust. i mean, EVERYONE knows that a front wheel increases the frontal area of the bike.
burgerdp, i can tell you as an expert bicycleologist that all a cyclist needs to do is strengthen his core enough to balance on just the rear wheel, and he’ll be waaaay faster for a given power output.
trust me!
Hmmm, well, one que I look for is the proximity of the elbow to the knee at its closest point during the pedal circle.
If you watch a lot of good time trial and triathlon positions (which can often be different to a large degree) then yo may see a trend toward pretty close clearance between elbows and knees. Now, a lot of that is due to a long femur combined with a short torso- of cousre that person’s knee will be in very close proximity to their elbow. Try to find a video of David Millar on his TT bike shot from the side. His knees overlap his elbows by going inside or between them on every pedal stroke. It’s pretty darn tight. Same with Craig Walton.
So… The most conspicuous feature of this photo (to me) is the distance from your knee to your elbow. Too far IMO.
But here’s the thing: We are looking at a still photo. There are a million variables we can’t see from it. It asks more questions than it answers:
-Was the cyclist pedalling in the photo?
-If yes, were they pedalling at “race” power output?
-At race cadence?
-Was the athlete fresh or fatigued?
Those things definately affect your posture on the bike. In general, the position that looks and feels slightly too long on the trainer suddenly becomes perfect on the road as the rider’s muscles begin to contract more forcefully on the bike in the real world and some energy must now be expended (with a resultant posture change)even to maintain upright balance of the bike- as opposed to the trainer holding it up. That does change things.
So, the still photo is a tool in fitting, but a limited tool. You can see so much from watching a rider actually pedal and use the controls of the bike while pedalling.
To cut to the chase though: A little too stretched out, a little too high on the saddle but nice and low in the front provided you can actually ride like that.
I think this position could have some power and stability infused into it.
Don,
My advice: shave your legs. Or wash them.
Ken Lehner
P.S. Don and I were teammates many years ago. He was very, very fast.
Tom,
Thanks for the input. I could definitely use to shorten up the saddle to bars distance, but I don’t think I could get it shortened up to a David Millar type distance since I have short legs (30 inseam @ 5’10") and a long torso. So the distance between my elbow and knee will be a bit larger than “normal”. I’ll probably need to get a shorter stem to move the bars further back and get the armrests in a better position.
I will definitely drop the saddle a cm or so (and the bars by the same amount) and move the bars back and see how it feels and see if it makes a difference.
This is the bike I use to commute to/from work 25 miles each way (After I put on a front wheel) 
, so I can definitely ride it like this with no difficulty at all.
And - Ken I will shave before my first race this coming Sunday!