Training & Nutrition - How can you tell if you have "Long Femurs"?

I seem to prefer scooting back as far as possible and pushing a slightly larger gear. I can never seem to get my seat back far enough, unless it was on a cheaper old school 10 speed, which had really slack geometry, like 72 degree seat tube angles....and even then, I had the seat jammed all the way back.

I've read a lot about Greg LeMond and others favoring larger gears with their unusually long femurs.

Is there a formula to determine if you have this physique type? fwiw I am somewhat short (1.72 meters, about 5 foot, 7 3/4") and have a really short inseam (about 28 1/2") and relatively big feet (size 12 or so)

The only way I can think of answering this question is to look at the size of both your Femur and Tibia/Fibula. If your Femur is longer than your Tibia/Fibula then you have "long femur". If the opposite is true, then I would say no, you do not have a long femur.

Those with longer Femurs tend to make stonger cyclist. Those with longer Tibia/Fibulas make better leapers, as in jumping vertically.

I'm guessing before grabbing the ruler mine are even, since I suck at both!

The fact that you push your saddle back and mash tells me that you have strong glutes and hamstrings. I recently pulled a Brooks Swift Saddle off a bike. I loved it's fit for long rides but was struggling to get power. I got a Selle Italia Concors with longer rails and it sits much further back. I feel I've gained 15% power or more.

I spent almost two years working on cadence, spinning and riding rollers. Got up to riding at an average 95 rpm. This is not a natural condition for me. I found out last week on my trainer that I produce the same number of watts with a heartrate 15 beats lower if I climb at around 75 rpm and not 95. I believe that this is a function of fast twitch vs. slow twitch muscles. After reading about 200 posts stipulating the necessity of fast cadence for speed I am reminded of Jan Ullrich. As one of the two best cyclists in the world, he climbed at 70-75rpm. Maybe he didn't get the memo.

Sorry to change subjects, but I think pedaling style is not just from length of bone structure, but also is based upon musculature and cardio-respiratory system.

Thank you for that - I think you are 100% spot on.

I am most definitely more power oriented....not fast, mind, but put it this way - at 5'8" even when emaciated, I have a 42" chest and 32" waist. My thighs have always been large... I never have been able to bench my own weight, but as a kid in Junior High I could easily press a LOT of weight with my legs, with no previous training at all, and I was NOT an athletic kid (I majored in Lowenbrau and Lucky Strikes).

I realize the benefits of spinning and have definitely improved in this area. I like to move all around my saddle throughout the course of a ride and recognize the benefits of doing so. but generally speaking I feel that to pedal more comfortably and efficiently, I am constantly hanging off the back of my seat. When I ride a Brooks, and it starts to break in, the sit bone marks are essentially in between the rivets at the very rearmost edge of the saddle. If I scooted back far enough to be where I wanted there wouldn't even be any sit bone marks - I'd be off the seat.

I really want to get a Cervelo Team Soloist or some other bike with a slacker seat tube but until I scrape up $4000 I am still considering the seatposts...I can get the Oval Concepts 910 carbon fiber seatpost (http://www.ovalconcepts.com/productsGenereDett.php?idGenere=12&idCat=2) for $140....does anyone have a strong yay or nay on this idea - I'd be putting my 220 pounds of raging hamstrings on the seat, pushed all the way back....

What about the Thompson set-back seatpost?

The Thompson was the first one I thought of - but despite that obvious bend it only gives a minimal amount of set back...less than the cheapo post i use now (I have another thread about it here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=448743))

Been looking into some offset / layback seatposts myself, considering:
FSA sl 220
profile design fast forward (reversible, so they say)
easton ec 70