Originally Posted by
oldbobcat
Regardless of how you want to tilt your upper body, maintaining a straight spine is important. Many riders, mostly men, I've observed, appear to need to curve their spines at the pelvis, shoulder, or both. I don't understand why.
I've been researching and experimenting with the flat back thing in the months that have passed since making the comment that you quoted above. My current understanding is that the notion of an aerodynamic "flat back" is something of misnomer, as described in this article:
Link. What competitive cyclists call a flat back seems to really be just a
flatter back. The forward pelvic tilt gives the rider a head start in terms of levelling out the torso coming off of the saddle but some curvature of the spine above the pelvis is still required. So, even for the very fit and competitive, the flat back position would still tend to be taxing on the back to some degree.
My experimentation with flatback riding has been quite successful and I owe the community here a great debt for pointing me in that direction.
The benefits that I've accrued:
1) More aerodynamic, obviously.
2) Greater comfort in my neck and shoulders.
3) Significant power increases which seem to be result of greater glute recruitment, just like everyone claimed would be the case.
4) Less weight on my hands.
Out of the gate, I've had three problems with the flat back position and all seem to be diminishing with time as I adapt:
a) More taxing on my lower back. I think that this is just a matter of conditioning.
b) A little friction related saddle pain. I think this is just because new parts of my posterior are now the contact points and they will need to adjust. Or I'll need to tweak the saddle.
c) My cardiovascular fitness seems a little out of whack relative to my newfound power. I've got some new short burst watt generating capability which is fun. I tire out on it very quickly however.
I agree with the notion that cycling itself doesn't seem to be enough to condition one to flat back riding. There are quire a few instructional videos kicking around meant to address exactly this issue.
One anoying problem that flat back has caused me is that my bikes no longer seem to fit as well. It seems that I'll need more reach if I want to ride flat back, either by way of larger frames, longer stems, bars with longer reach, or some combination of all of those.