It’s interesting that generally the women’s positions are more upright than the men’s. I’m sure there’s some sex specific physiology that applies, but there’s a fundamental speed/power issue that both groups are solving for.
The men are going 3-4mph faster, so the optimization shifts to giving up a little bit more power since the the exponential growth of aero drag rises faster from 28->29 than it does from 25->26. On the flip side, a women’s pro going more upright has less of an absolute aero penalty - while the power change will be theoretically the same. Imagining a situation where a degree or two difference gives up 5w of 70.3 power but gains 5w in aero at 27mph. The make should probably take this change and the female should probably not.
Everybody probably knows this already but I still think it’s really cool.
Also the average pro woman is shorter than the pro male. Not sure if relative to their legs, the torsos are shorter, but if you put someone with a short torso with overal shorter proportions on a 700c bike, position it will end up a bit more inherently “upright looking”
Beautiful shots! And there is clearly some diversity amongst the pros. Bookmarked!
I’m still developing my ability to discriminate key elements of position, but some of the comments seem like they may stem in part by the pedal stroke position. (e.g. closed angles less likely to be noted for bottom-of-stroke than top). And, I keep looking at the consecutive Findlay/Gentle/Berry positions because all 3 seem to have relatively flatter, long/lowish backs. If anything, I would have guessed Paula has the greatest anterior pelvic tilt and flatter back angle than Ashleigh or Hannah. No value judgement, just trying to understand differences.
I also didn’t understand how a relatively shorter reach would result in a more upright position. I would have thought the opposite: that the pads tend to be “farther forward” than needed = more of a stretched starting point in the bike fit.
It’s been informative to see moves from low/flat to more teardrop, shapes with angled boxing arms (also bottle fairings ) and curved backs (more open hip angles). So I’m curious to see how these positions change. I assume any changes will be to increase performance, so it may give us mere mortals an idea for some “degrees of freedom” to play with in our own positions.
He joined Retul in 2009, a sports-tech startup, where he built strong consulting and coaching relationships with athletes that went on to
win Tour de France stages and Ironman World Championships. In 2012, Steinmetz was named one of the top ten most influential people in
triathlon, being dubbed the " speed technician.'//
Matt also has the distinction of having attended more FIST workshops than any other person that wasn’t teaching them. Forget the exact years, but he would show up at virtually every workshop we put on there for a time. If there was someone that picked Dan’s and other instructors brains clean, it was Matt.
Could be one of those 10K hour things, and he spend 100’s of them at our compound…I would certainly trust him to do my fit…
Thanks for the kind words Monty. I think for about 2 years straight, I attended all the FIST workshops to demo the Retul system. I always remember showing up and hanging with you for a bit before heading into the garage to join the workshop.
I learned a ton over that period of time from the instructors (Jordan, TJ, Ian, Dan, P Swift, J Cobb) and students. I was definitely fortunate to start out with great fit mentors. I’ve always had an eye for good positions, but had no clue about “process” until Dan came an taught a private workshop in Colorado for me and a few others back in 2007. I was also able to start fitting during the early days of commercial 3D-motion capture systems under the guidance of Todd Carver who was one of the Retul founders.
Hey Marc, I see that others have provided some feedback to this already…all of which I agree with.
I don’t have a problem with how Lisa positions herself on the bars. Part of it could be that the grips are a little tall and she likes to get her hands up and over the shifters. This is a variable that is hard to get exactly right when you’re making the integrated extensions. You nee the cup/pad height to work so that they athletes arm stays in contact with the extension.
There is also a fixed length to these extensions and it could be just slightly too long? The good news there is that there is plenty of surface area for her to use in order to accommodate for the potential length adjustments.
Also, this could have been part of the course where speed was high and she was relaxing/stretching out at low power?
Yeah, Mat is the real deal. We didn’t overlap with our time but I have followed him all along and liked his insights, posts and products he and 51speedshop has put out. I was glad to see him doing the position posts on the front page. Tri fit and TT world tour fit has certainly diverged and I have been out of the Tri world for a while so I thought it was very informative.
Did you actually see the riders in person or have you done your analysis for this article from a photo?
It would be interesting to put some context into the analysis and understand your interpretation. Especially when riders have heavily invested in other renowned and respected fit specialists who spent time with athletes.
did you notice he made a comment that while watching the race online he wrote down that athelte x could change y … that should give you a good idea .
i dont think the article is intended to be published on pub med , but its solid.and at no stage does he pretend those are definite answers, as he has not enough background info.
I thought it was pretty good analysis. He said nice things about the athlete I fitted so clearly he is a man of taste and discernment
In my opinion he pulled punches on a lot of them as I see a wide range of potential improvements.
Obviously I’ve already voiced my thoughts on Paulas bike because someone else raised the topic. In general I’d only use race photos to verify the intent of the fit. Going through pics of my athletes I made notes on a few things to discuss.
I know but… We have too until we can figure out the back and forth issue if we dont… If we dont post the whole thing ( Currently) it’s a massive game of Wac-A-Mole for you all.
) and curved backs (more open hip angles). So I’m curious to see how these positions change. I assume any changes will be to increase performance, so it may give us mere mortals an idea for some “degrees of freedom” to play with in our own positions.
