veloboy971

where's the full version at?

Nate552

Depends.

2) I'm tall with long limbs and slightly (comparatively) short torso. In the position I find myself wanting to be in (saddle is where i want it and elbows are a touch forward of being below shoulders) my knees hit my elbows. Any tips?
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Don't follow. Your elbows are forward of being below your shoulders? What does that mean? Have you been fitted? Got a pic?

waterrockets 

Elbow center point is in front of a plumb line from the shoulder center point.

Nate552

Oh, I get it. Um, get a proper fit then, you're all fouled up.

tombailey

Can you explain why you think that's "all fouled up"? From my experience and education elbows underneath shoulder (so upper arm is perpendicular to the ground), or slightly forward, is totally normal. Where are your elbows in relation to your shoulder?

waterrockets 

I'm no TT fit expert, so I can't speak to the fouled up position, but this is Nate. To my eye, his elbows are 3cm forward (bike in image is rotated clockwise a bit, so they appear further back than they are). This boy is slippery through the air.

echappist

how much does Cobb charge for fittings?

tombailey

I'd say my arms are in a pretty similar position to that. The problem for me is that with such long legs by knee can hit my elbow whereas nate has a clear gap of 2-3 inches. Currently moving from a modified road bike to a TT bike, so will be doing some fit work.

ricohman

I may do a short 4.3km uphill TT before the road race tomorrow. I don't have a dedicated TT bike so my Specialized Roubaix is it.
Any tips for a short uphill TT? I never knew TT's were this short but it is what it is. I've ridden 40km TT's on this bike and under good conditions a sub 1:10 is as probably as good as it gets for me with old Mavic CPX22 wheels and a tool kit dangling from the seat and hairy legs....
My plan is to start as hard as possible as the first km is pretty flat, then hammer up the hill as fast as I can.
Would I be better off standing at some point?
I was hoping the hill would even out the odds with those slippery aero bikes.

jsutkeepspining

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/98502766

I was looking over my tt from Friday and realized i did a great job pacing. If you look at my heart rate, and add in the average bar, my heart rate is consistently a little lower than the average on the way out and consistently over it on the way back.

O and please don't mention how slow i am. I'm trying to get faster and a couple of excuses for my slowness is that i didn't have my disc and i had just come off a very nasty crash two days before.

AdelaaR

Nice run. How they call such a flat straight line a "tour of the valley" remains a mistery though.
Don't make excuses for being slow when you average 25mph over 9 miles ... it isn't top but many people will never ride that fast in their lives.

AdelaaR

So how did you do?
I'm going to do a similar TT this summer ... it starts off next to the river de Dender and then goes flat next to the river for about 3,5k ... then it goes up through the center of Geraardsbergen and then it goes straight up "De Muur". The TT is called "Muur Challenge"
Only 5k but 20% incline with cobblestones for the last bit ... it's going to be tough I recon.

jsutkeepspining

tour of the valley is a stage race, this is just the prologue time trial.

AdelaaR

Oh I see

Nick Bain

a couple questions regarding elbow pad height vs seat height. Can one still get aero if the heights are fairly close? does one need a good drop on the bars or is that just rider dependent? I am picturing myself with elbows further forward than normal is that bad?

AdelaaR

In general, the flatter your back the more aero you are.
This is however dependant on many factors and the only way to make sure is to test it.
Your elbows shouldn't be forward as this will make steering difficult. On a TT bike with the saddle properly placed quite forward, the reach to the pads should be good.
On my bike, the pads are WAY below the seat ... for this reason.
However ... the lower you set your pads, the more cramped up you will get and this will result in power loss.
The trick is to find the position that is the perfect balance between aeroness and power.

Nick Bain

terrific thanks, I have trouble maintaining a flat back due to the way I sit and flexibility. So I just want to make sure I dont get a bike thats too small and have the bars 6 inches below the seat. I imagine my position to have an arced back like Lance.

DrWJODonnell

From what I have seen, flat back does not equal more aero. There are some very euro style super flat backed guys out there who do not test well in the tunnel. Think of airplane wing cross section or aero tubes on a cervelo. But yes, upright and 45 degree angle from your shoulders to your hips is not a good position.

Oh, and Hi all.

jsutkeepspining

Welcome back!

AdelaaR

I've been riding my new TT-bike for the last two months now and I have recently made some changes to the saddle position.
I have moved it higher and especially more forward ... it is now at the most forward possible position.
I have also slightly tilted it more to the front.
I feel this opens up my muscles more and gives me more power, but I admit I'm a newbie at this so I might be wrong about it.
Can any of the more experienced TT riders chime in on this?
Does this make sense at all or is it a bad idea?

Nate552

Hard to say without pics, but if your seat is ALL the way forward on a TT frame, it's possible you might be placing a large load on your quads. Which may work for you, especially short courses. But you MAY have trouble in a longer effort, like a 40K. Again, hard to say. As for tilt, I dunno, that's not how I would go about opening up my hips, I'd use shorter cranks.


Doc!!! Come back to school us a bit?

guadzilla

I have been trying to dial in my TT fit as well, and had a question - approx how much weight do you guys have on your arms when in the tuck? I know it is hard to quantify but some idea would be nice.

AdelaaR

Personally I have quite a bit of weight there, but I do this deliberately to keep it as much of my back as possible since I have a bad back.
I don't see any problem with putting weight on an aerobar as long as you can handle the bike like you should.

rpeterson

I put nearly all my weight on the bars, but that's the only way I can get the position I want while keeping a legal saddle position. Pretty easy to get used to.

guadzilla

Hm, I think I need to keep tweaking my fit. In a reasonably aero position, I get a lot of discomfort in my back (just below the shoulders and above the lats) and also in my triceps. Not sure why that is the case, cos I can hold a similar position in the drops for an hour. I was wondering if this was b/c of too much weight on the arms, but that doesnt seem to be the case.

Am going to take some photos and post them here tomorrow for critique and comments.