Knees into chest?

Are you trying to say you're over weight? 😄

This happened to me when I stacked on some pounds. My thighs pushed up against my big gut which then put pressure on my diaphragm, which definitely impeded my breathing. I then knew it was time to lose some weight. :p

Fat Hack said:

Are you trying to say you're over weight? 😄

This happened to me when I stacked on some pounds. My thighs pushed up against my big gut which then put pressure on my diaphragm, which definitely impeded my breathing. I then knew it was time to lose some weight. :p

Actuall I'm not. I weight 185 and have a flat stomach! that's why I'm wondering if this situation is normal. I normally ride on the brake hoods or the tops, but in the Century, some wind made me get as low as possible for an extended period and that's when I felt as though my legs were coming up too far!

ltmark said:

Actuall I'm not. I weight 185 and have a flat stomach! that's why I'm wondering if this situation is normal. I normally ride on the brake hoods or the tops, but in the Century, some wind made me get as low as possible for an extended period and that's when I felt as though my legs were coming up too far!

Some people's ribcage build can make this more of an issue. I myself am more than a bit barrel-chested though defintely not heavy. (very deep front to back for its width). While it is not really a problem for me, I can certainly tell that I have much less clearance than a lot of the more waifish fellow riders. The closest restiction is not at the abdomen, but rather between the 9th-10th rib and thigh. I figure, however, I get the overall benefit from having larger lung capacity in a more aerodynamic package. 🙄 The only time I've ever had a major issue with it is when I have ridden a borrowed ride with much too long (180mm cranks), but I was more worried about hyper-extending my knees on the downstroke at the time.

ltmark said:

I've been back on my bike since retiring. Have logged 1300 miles since July 26 and rode my first Century (in 15 years) in Vegas last week. I felt good and did pretty well for 57...7 hrs 2 minutes.

However, although I'm sure my bike is set up properly, when I'm on the drops, my thighs come all the way to my stomach/chest and I feel as though I'm losing power and am all "crunched up" with each rotation. I have a slightly longer trunk and slightly shorter lower half for my size (6'😉, but not to the point where I would think it would cause this feeling.

Is this normal? My thighs don't "hit" my chest, but they come right to it!? It's almost a feeling as though I'm restricting my breathing in the lower abdomin.

I also suffer this fate, I am longer in the back than the leg and cant ride the drops as I get short of breath. It is far worse when I am "tubby" (like now). One thing that helped me abit was a new setup. I always rode quite low in the front end for sprinting but as I have got older I have raised the bar hieght considerably. This has helped emensly in general riding and comfort, but alas at the cost of my sprint.

ltmark said:

Actuall I'm not. I weight 185 and have a flat stomach! that's why I'm wondering if this situation is normal. I normally ride on the brake hoods or the tops, but in the Century, some wind made me get as low as possible for an extended period and that's when I felt as though my legs were coming up too far!

Consider moving your saddle forward (it will probably also have to move up a slightly if you make this change).

I'd say, adjust your seat height. If this is ok, maybe check your stem length. I had to get a stem extension and it helped get over that "scrunched" feeling.

Roadie_scum said:

Consider moving your saddle forward (it will probably also have to move up a slightly if you make this change).

Good tip. But, also check out the drop from saddle to bars...if it's more than 2 inches or so with the saddle at correct height, I'd raise the stem first.

Scott'sTrek1000 said:

I'd say, adjust your seat height. If this is ok, maybe check your stem length. I had to get a stem extension and it helped get over that "scrunched" feeling.

The problem with this is if the seat goes up without coming forward, you can narrow the hip angle, lose power and likely till have your legs in your chest. Stem extension may or may not be a good idea - depends whether the length of the bike is comfortable now or not.

dhk said:

Good tip. But, also check out the drop from saddle to bars...if it's more than 2 inches or so with the saddle at correct height, I'd raise the stem first.

Depends on your philosophy of bike setup and what you intend to use the bike for. Having a significant saddle/bar drop can be a very good thing if you are comfortable in that position - it's significantly more aerodynamic under most conditions. The flipside is that you need to run a relatively steeper seat tube angle (eg - seat comes forward) to maintain hip angle and stay comfortable. And some people can't get comfortable if they go too low. Then again, there are a number of studies that show that even people who train on 72 degree seat angle bikes take longer to fatigue and perform better on steeper seat tubes - 75-78 degrees.

If you want a 'commuter' position or you have some other reason to be set back and upright, having high bars and a laidback saddle is great. The basic idea is to keep the angle between the lower torso and the leg around about 90 degrees towards the middle to the bottom of the pedal stroke. This can be achieved set back with high bars or rotated forward (seat fore-aft) and up (seat height) with low bars. The effect of these position manipulations is to maintain the joint angles within the body - every part of the body is effectively in the same position, but is rotated relative to the bike.

The problem is, if your knees are hitting your chest, it sound like you haven't hit your 'bio-mechanical sweet spot' and manipulations to do with comfort vs aerodynamics (steeper/shallower effective seat tube) don't come into it yet. It's more important to get the hip angle right. This could be achieved through pushing the seat forward and probably also up to compensate for an effective lowering as the seat gets closer to the BB, or by raising the handlebars. Me and DHK are both right! Once the position is correct in terms of joint angles, then we can think about rotating Itmark forward into a powerful and aero setup or back into a more relaxed and comfortable one.

Roadie_scum said:

Depends on your philosophy of bike setup and what you intend to use the bike for. Having a significant saddle/bar drop can be a very good thing if you are comfortable in that position - it's significantly more aerodynamic under most conditions. The flipside is that you need to run a relatively steeper seat tube angle (eg - seat comes forward) to maintain hip angle and stay comfortable. And some people can't get comfortable if they go too low. Then again, there are a number of studies that show that even people who train on 72 degree seat angle bikes take longer to fatigue and perform better on steeper seat tubes - 75-78 degrees.

If you want a 'commuter' position or you have some other reason to be set back and upright, having high bars and a laidback saddle is great. The basic idea is to keep the angle between the lower torso and the leg around about 90 degrees towards the middle to the bottom of the pedal stroke. This can be achieved set back with high bars or rotated forward (seat fore-aft) and up (seat height) with low bars. The effect of these position manipulations is to maintain the joint angles within the body - every part of the body is effectively in the same position, but is rotated relative to the bike.

The problem is, if your knees are hitting your chest, it sound like you haven't hit your 'bio-mechanical sweet spot' and manipulations to do with comfort vs aerodynamics (steeper/shallower effective seat tube) don't come into it yet. It's more important to get the hip angle right. This could be achieved through pushing the seat forward and probably also up to compensate for an effective lowering as the seat gets closer to the BB, or by raising the handlebars. Me and DHK are both right! Once the position is correct in terms of joint angles, then we can think about rotating Itmark forward into a powerful and aero setup or back into a more relaxed and comfortable one.

I would disagree that you have a proper fit. In addition to the above, I would check the drop on your bars. There's a huge difference among various brands/models. I like having a very shallow drop, which is only a cm or so less than standard. But that 1cm makes all the difference in the world.

BTW, my favorite bars are Profile Design Lava. I have a set of Modolo Curvissimo (aluminum, not carbon!) with a similar drop and non-ergo bend which I like, but the reach is really a lot longer than my others. Makes me feel way too stretched out when on the hoods, even when using a 100mm stem instead of my normal 120mm. So I end up with the tops being too close in, the drops just right, and the hoods too far.

I think bars are an overlooked element of fit.