Just got a P2SL and have the seat post flipped around to put me in the steep aero position. I have never ridden in this position before. I have done two rides of 1.5 hr and 2.5 hr. The most noticeable difference is that my legs felt toasted after my 2.5 hr ride that is usually easy on my rode bike. Is the steep angle possibly not for me or does it take time to get used to this different position. I tried to run off the bike today and was just too burnt out to put forth any type of solid effort.
Do I need to just keep training in this position until I adapt or look at riding a little more shallow?
Any advice or personal experiences with this issue is greatly appreciated.
Riding a steeper angle should not make you more tired than a similar ride on a road bike. If you follow the Slowman principles of riding steep then all you should really change is rotating your body over the bottom bracket. All your other measurements should stay the same.
It is very helpful to read the long article the publisher wrote about tri bike fit. Had I had it available when I first started triathlon I would have understood what I was inherently trying to do by trial and error. I eventually ended up at a position very much like he proposes, but it took a while.
The worst thing you can do is close up the hip angle too much. I used to ride-as a bike racer-in a seat angle that would have been about 72 degrees. For time trials I would bolt on the aero bars and not change anything, only to wonder why I couldn’t ride fast that way. If you were riding a road bike before, the position of the seat in relation to the bottom bracket should have moved forward and up a little.
Cervelo’s also have pretty long top tubes. If you have a short body and long legs then fit will be a problem. I owned one once and the first few rides killed me because the fit was all wrong. I had to sell it eventually. Have someone you trust eyeball how you look on the bike, or post a pic and you will get plenty of free advice here.
There is an adjustment period associated with riding steep. Although your measurements are the same, your position relative to the bottom bracket has changed, which forces the use of different muscles. If it doesn’t get better within 500 miles some changes might be necessary.
Posting pics here is a bad idea if Tom has already fit you - he knows his crap.
There is an adjustment period associated with riding steep. Although your measurements are the same, your position relative to the bottom bracket has changed, which forces the use of different muscles. If it doesn’t get better within 500 miles some changes might be necessary.
Posting pics here is a bad idea if Tom has already fit you - he knows his crap.
Interesting, I thought that it would be good to see what a good fit looks like…
I think you are judging way too early. Sounds like you made a big change. Ride a couple weeks at the current settings, then Maybe move your seat back a cm. Then try a couple more weeks. Riding steep isn’t the only way to ride, but not giving it some time you don’t know if it works for you or not. G
CDW wrote: “Cervelo’s also have pretty long top tubes. If you have a short body and long legs then fit will be a problem.”
Is this generally accepted? I haven’t been in the market for a tri bike so haven’t been comparing geometries, but I was surprised to read that some would consider Cervelos to have a long top tube. Anybody else care to agree or dissent?
I am no expert on this subject, but my P2SL size 53 has a top tube length of 52.5 with the 78 degree seattube angle, which fits me well. However if you turn the seat post around to the 75 degree seattube angle the effective top tube length changes to 55.2. I think that if I rode at the 75 degree angle I would probably be way too stretched out. So to answer your question…I believe it depends on the effective seattube angle that you are wanting to ride.
I am working on posting some pictures of my new P2SL. If I can figure it out they should be up sometime this afternoon.
hey are long(ish). I’m 5-10, fairly normal proportions, and on a 55cm frame with the saddle in the middle of the rails on a forward-facing seatpost head, I use an 8cm stem…
