roadwarrior

This about covers it all for Jens.

Campag4life

Good post from another tall rider. I also am tallish although shorter than you and Jens and also have elbow/knee overlap...probably a good thing versus a bad thing.

GamecockTaco

not quite... needs something about geocaching... and something about Linda.

roadwarrior

I read that somplace along the line...that's obviously racing and training.

The most I ever saw in a year was Ekimov...40,000 miles.

therhodeo

His body had plenty of assistance for that though.

therhodeo

I'm a big fan of Jens, love his attitude and the way he rides but he would be the last person in pro cycling I would look to as someone who looks good riding a bike.

pallen

He should have come to BF for fitting advice. I think we could help him out a lot. Maybe if he would post a video or something...

Clipped_in

Did you see the way he was solo descending in stage 3 on Wednesday? He was not only down on the top tube, but he was going even lower by hanging off the side of it. It looked waaay crazy. With Jens being as tall as he is and the fact that he seems to be quite flexible, I think his fit is as much about getting aero as it is about power and comfort. For goodness sake, over 100 miles with over 14k feet of climbing while maintaining ~25mph average. Holy Schnikey!

snookanglr

That's the best position to explode so big.

qcpmsame 

Jens signed for another year with Trek, that is the best news I have had in quite a bit. the special frame Trek came up with for him to use this week is spectacular. It has graphics with each of his 6 children on the top tube, a wolf's head and the famous "Shut Up Legs" on the down tube as well as the German national colours in tricolour stripes. Jerseys for each of his pro teams are on the Non-drive side chain stay, here is the link to the RBA on-line article:https://www.roadbikeaction.com/Relate...ial-VIDEO.html

Jens doesn't get road rash, the road gets Jen's rash.

Thanks for the post Campag, Jens is one of the greatest riders of all times in my book, Cycling Plus called him the ultimate MAMIL.

Bill

Jseis 

Dynamic analysis with biometrics makes sense. If a pro is looking for the competitive edge in this era (not decades ago)...it's going to come from somewhere and that somewhere is a better understanding of human motion, energy, etc. Thanks for making the argument that fitting is in the eye of the beholder.

bikerjp

What about "[I] swallowed her and did chew every bit of honey out of that bee."

https://road.cc/content/news/58531-je...minisce-videos

Campag4life

Hi Bill,
Jens is great for sure on many levels and quite a story of longevity and success.

Campag4life

Only problem and I have used dynamic computer models vocationally is...models are based upon boundary conditions and models are an imperfect analog of the actual subject. In other words, they are clumsy representation of the actual complexity of say for example a human being. Consider for example on a micro level what is going on with the flexibility of the human hip and its effect on saddle height. Elasticity of ligaments and tendons comprising the hip matrix isn't part of any biometric fit model...it is much too complex. But I agree that models can be useful for reference.

Brian Ratliff

He's got a short torso and long legs. The UCI doesn't allow the saddle tip forward the bottom bracket (even with an anatomical exception). Very leggy people like that would probably be benefited by a forward saddle to avoid the elbow/knee overlap (though this would affect weight distribution adversely). The overlap can be a control issue too: one of our local track racers has a knee/elbow overlap; during a race he moved his elbow in reaction to another rider (or was bumped; was unclear from watching); his knee hit his elbow and his bike was pushed way off line from the hit.

Definitely not ideal, but I am not sure what a person with these types of body dimensions is to do about it.

I have the opposite problem. My legs are short relative to my body which forces me to larger frame sizes and makes it difficult to get the bars low enough depending on the brand of frame. This new trend of sloped top tubes has not made it better.

Campag4life

Good perspective Brian and yes we are all built differently which has a huge impact on our fit. I have a friend who is a strong cyclist and physically strong like yourself and could push big weight in the gym in his prime. We are close to the same height but he has long torso and short legs like you and our bikes are completely different. I have interest in Jens' fit because we are built similarly with long legs and long arms although I am a couple inches shorter than Jens with lower saddle height.

dbf73

but the real question is did he actually keep and use the Retul fit or go back to his personal preference?

Nick Bain

Long legs short torso the only way to get aero is to have your knees come inside your elbow like that.

also that position looks brutal for any regular cyclist.

cyclezen

Question, Always questions
Moving, changing, which is a constant process, without questioning, means we going to run into that door edge, that pole in our way, ouch!
Life without questions, observation and thinking is life without learning.

I like this thread
Some address the position 'question', others address the legend which Jens has become - it's all good. Some just don't get it...

Jens has become the 'Paul Bunyan' of cycling. At a time when cycling/road racing needs new legends.
Because he doesn't always win, because he rides from the heart as much as the head, because 'suffering' is his card, he embodies the idea that 'the effort' is equal to 'the result'. So many others could be 'this', but aren't.
Not many got real excited when Sagan pipped the sprint in Stage 3 of the Col. Pro Tour, but everyone was totally stoked by Jens' assault.
Jens makes me happy

gsa103

I'm a similar body type. I think the problem is actually more complex even. Someone above mentioned lots of options for reach with long arms. With short arms, the opposite happens and the bars have to be perfect.

One way to think about upper body fit is two circles. The first is centered at your hips with the radius to you shoulders, the second is centered on your shoulders, with a radius determined by arm length (at correct angle). Someone with long arms can adjust their CG by adjusting arm position easily. With short arms, you need to adjust torso angle and then redo the arm position.

Campag4life

Interesting perspective gsa...2 circles with center of each at pelvis and shoulder joints. Never thought of it that way.

Campag4life

He is a good story in a sport that desperately needs a good story.
You will laugh but comparing his and my fit is pretty comical. His hood position is 'almost' equivalent to my drop position.
What do we have in common? We both ride bikes...he a whole lot more and faster than me.

OldTryGuy

Million Mile Freddie Hoffman, https://miles4melanoma.com/freddiehoffman/, has it over them all.

Before we moved to Fl., Freddie gave us a custom made wall plaque with a set of his 50,000 mile chain rings. Freddie gave Mike Fraysse https://www.usbhof.org/inductee-by-year/63-mike-fraysse his first wall plaque.

Jseis 

Back in the day...Car and Driver would super tune a car to see what it would really do. They'd mess with timing, distributor springs, carb jetting, etc, and then measure rear wheel HP gains. I view fitting as similar and the future will probably be even more interesting. A convergence of biomedical engineering and athletic performance gets you to motion, energy and that means power. Imagine a cyclist being asked to stretch, warm at certain Vo2 or change position or do X and then the analysis reveals where the gains are. I'd be really surprised if this wasn't already happening because if winning is a game of inches..it's also a game of a few watts on the other guy. Why else would Froome go OSymetric? (and what would a fitter say about that!?) This will never eliminate the head and heart (aka Jens) but it is aperformance enhancement of a different sort. I'm basically a C&V kinda of cyclist but as a closet gear head..I love the tech and that + human performance evolution continues unabated.

BoSoxYacht

I think Jens knows what works for him.