I have finally gotten around to doing this after my ride yesterday (hence the helmet- I am trying to preempt the wise cracks- but I am afraid that I instead have just invited an onslaught of even more intense ribbing- anyway…)
I have had the bike a season and I do get uncomfortable on the aerobars after 90-120 minutes. The discomfort is primarily in my middle back. I figure that now in the off season is the time to experiment and get my position right. I hope the photos are useful, and I appreciate your feedback.
Don’t know about position but I’d say you can stand to lose 5-10 of muscle (and so can a lot of other people 'round here).
edit: to answer your question I think your position is better suited for shorter TTs. It looks pretty similar to the position a lot of riders have in the tour prologue (at least the middle photo does).
Your position looks a lot like what I used to be doing. Same problem, too – back pain during sustained riding in the aero position. My two cents:
Seat is too high for how far back it is – left leg is “reaching” for the pedal, making your left hip drop slightly. After an hour of this, it will hurt.
Seat is too far back – look at shoulder angle. You are supporting yourself more with your back than your elbows while aero, and you get sore after awhile.
Bring the seat forward, then adjust the height. Read the bike fit articles on the ST website – they’re pretty helpful. I did this with my own bike and the change in comfort level while aero was tremendous.
One last suggestion – if you are not doing so already, do a lot of work to strengthen your trunk over the winter. It helps.
I’m not really an expert but I would say your knees should be closer to the frame and your global position could be a little foward… your arms should do a 90º angle.
We’re (I am) not saying he’s fat, but a lot of people around here seem to take weight training as a 4th event in triathlon. Well guess what, it’s not! You want to be as light as possible for the run, but you still want some bodyfat for the swim. That means you can’t have too much muscle mass.
I think it was really smart of you to post the pictures that you did. These are my opinions, I am not a qualified bike fitter.
First impression is that your seat is a little high. Find a protractor and measure your knee angle with the pedal at the bottom, it should be near 150 degrees. Your hips may be rocking back and forth because of the height and causing you some discomfort in your back.
Next, the angle between your upper body and femur looks OK. I think you are stretched out a bit over the bike for two reasons. Stem is a little long and you may need to choke up a bit on the aero bars. I can’t really see where the pads are on your forearms. Moving the seat forward might help too but when you move it forward, you may have to raise it a little too.
Lastly, I would bring your elbow pads in so you elbows line up with your knees, but not so much that would make you uncomfortable or restrict your breathing. Good luck in your training.
Well, so much for getting ribbed on the helmet, eh? Do we get to find out your height and weight, even though you didn’t ask our opinion on your body composition?
Ditto what everybody is saying about height. I’m not sure if it’s technically correct, but I feel more powerful when my heel is slightly below the ball of my foot at bottom-dead-center of the stroke.
Your head is also slightly crooked in relation to the horizon, notice your left eye is higher than your right. That’s pretty normal though, and difficult to correct or even notice without crossing your eyes slightly. Yes, I’m serious.
Your right arm doesn’t look totally symmetrical to your left, the elbow and shoulder look a bit higher than the other side. It looks like you are holding a bit more energy on the right side of your body all together. Again, very difficult to change this, but it’s nice to be aware at least.
In the head-on picture your right knee is out farther than your left knee. Pedal while on the trainer, do your knees track in a straight line or does that right knee do a lot of side to side movement? If so, you may want to go to a good fitter and have them put shims in your shoes.
SACoach’s list is the same one I came up with before seeing his. So, either both of us are right, or we’re both wrong on the same things. Of course, neither of us saw you actually riding, but, those are some pretty safe bets to be correct.
Freestyle’s muscular aversion is also correct, if one is trying to maximize triathlon performance.
However, like the poster, I don’t care if I have “too much” muscle to be optimal in triathlon. After all, triathlon is just a game I sometimes play, it’s not a substitute for optimal health, it’s also not my job. I’d rather be able to snap the neck of the first-place triathlete to steal his trophy, than drop 25-30 lbs. of muscle that I now have. I’ll NEVER be able to have a very narrow elbow relationship, my arms go to sleep because my pectoralis muscles press on my brachial plexus too much, therefore, I hope I’ll always have to punch a bigger hole in the wind than what is considered to be optimal. So, to each his own…
I’ll take any muscle that others are willing to give. I’d graft it right on to my shoulders and lats. Happily.
I’m no pro fitter, that’s for sure. My take is that the position looks too closed at the hips to me. Try going forward more. If that’s not the issue, try a shorter stem for sure – your arms definitely look too stretched out.
He’s not yelling, but they look worried… the smartasscrew was ahead of them and ended up getting 2nd and 4th places. Not a bad day for the smartasscoach
