Road bike position

Hard to tell because we can't see your upper body and you keep jumping around too much. Rest your hands over the brake hoods, shift into a gear that lets you maintain a normal cadence comfortably, and set the camera for a full profile view that takes in your back, shoulders, neck, and head.

All righty, sounds like something I can do. I tried to set the camera as far back as possible..have to find somewhere else to set it. Thanks for the head up

Nctong01 said:

All righty, sounds like something I can do. I tried to set the camera as far back as possible..have to find somewhere else to set it. Thanks for the head up

Hopefully this one is a little better.

[ame=[MEDIA=youtube]DgOlPuenwLk[/MEDIA]]YouTube - VID00063[/ame]

Nctong01 said:

Hopefully this one is a little better.

Much better. First, the disclaimer. My judgments on fit are purely from my personal experience of about 10 years of racing, 20 more years of aggressive sport riding, and 2 years of sizing bikes to riders in a shop giving riders who ask for it advice while on group rides.

You look quite good. You look balanced over the bike, supporting your upper body using mainly the back and abdominal muscles. My only concern is for the hump in your lower back--while it lets you rotate your hips forward for more power now, it could hold you back and give you trouble in the future. Either that, or your hamstrings are just tight, or you're curling up to compensate for a stem that might be too short. Whatever the case, work on flattening out that hump though stretching and extending the back while riding.

Straightening the back will add one or two centimeters to your upper body length on the bike, and that will require a longer stem. It's funny, I've seen some riders automatically flatten their backs just through using a longer stem ore sliding the saddle back a centimeter. I'd try a one-centimeter longer stem and moving the saddle back just to maintain balance over the cranks. You might need more. Remember that at that stem angle a longer stem will raise the handlebar. Swap a spacer or flip the stem accordingly.

Your arms look fairly long so a slightly lower handlebar isn't out of the question. Your current position actually shows that your shoulders and neck are willing and able to handle a lower position than your lower back is giving you. Honor that. After straightening your back, lowering the bar a centimeter or two isn't going to radically change your reach because the increased rotation will be from the hips. I suggest experimentation according to your objectives, but not until you've learned to ride with a flat back.

Winter is a good time to back off a bit on the power training and work on form, so don't worry if there's a bit of drop-off in power while you're working on this.

oldbobcat said:

Straightening the back will add one or two centimeters to your upper body length on the bike, and that will require a longer stem.

a longer stem was my first thought too. also with less rise, the one you have is for a touring position. i would play with stem length and angle first without moving your saddle, you know like checking-out one variable at a time.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll probablly end up going and just getting a fit. I took your advice and actively sought to straighten my back out on my trainer ride yesterday, but I just can't hold that position very long. It really starts to bother my "sit" bones, so to speak :p. I do agree that I think I could definately go lower and for a more aggressive position.

The saddle looks about in the right place. As there's no block under the front wheel and the saddle looks level I may hazard a guess that the saddle is pointing up a little too much.

I'd work on pushing the bars out a bit first by a couple of centimeters and then working on lowering the bars a bit. You don't need the bars super low but being hunched up on the bike is never a good thing.

Remember, if you want to get good at riding in the drops you need to ride there lots when you train. It a position that's not just for racing cyclists either - the drops add another great position that allows you to stretch out a bit and ride on the more comfortable part of the bars. It takes time and it may not be the easiest thing at first but it's well worth the effort...

Nctong01 said:

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll probablly end up going and just getting a fit. I took your advice and actively sought to straighten my back out on my trainer ride yesterday, but I just can't hold that position very long. It really starts to bother my "sit" bones, so to speak :p. I do agree that I think I could definately go lower and for a more aggressive position.

Good plan. Getting fit via video on the internet is only slightly more reliable than going to a cycling forum for medical advice, which is to say is to say it's not that reliable.