patentcad

That second photo does look much better.

Nickel

Here are the results from lowering the seat, putting the spacers on top and slightly rotating the aerobars.

Jynx

Everything looks pretty good except the seat height although it is hard to tell from the pics. The seat looks a little low judging by the angle between the thigh and shin but you have your ankles raised (like you are on your tippy toes) in the first picture. Judging by the second picture your back leg looks good and you have your foot more parallel to the ground.

As of now I would just start putting on a lot of miles and making small changes to what feels good. You are pretty close though.

Shayne

Your looking fast! Faster than me. Get out there and start hammering and good luck in your races.

sprintf

That's looking pretty good. Get out there and ride in that position and you'll be able to tweak it for your best fit. Remember to take it up to speed when you're making adjustments because it can feel completely different when you're just cruising.

MDcatV

funniest thread I've read in 2008

*new*guy

you need to get out (of this subforum) more

MDcatV

^I cant imagine how much time I'd waste on BF if I actually ventured out of the road bike racing forum ...

waterrockets 

I think you've got it pretty well dialed in. The seat height is probably just going to be a personal preference thing from here. I'd say to go give it a shot on the road. Get a good warmup, then do a 10m interval. In your last minute, pay close attention to where you're sitting on the saddle, and how high the saddle feels. If you're scooting forward on the saddle, but readjusting back because of the beating your knees are giving your elbows, then you might consider moving the saddle back -- in anticipation of wanting to ride further out on the tip.


Just see how it goes. You're getting really close.

Here's a straightened version:

Nickel

Thanks for the advice, I am going to take it outside for testing.

Why is this thread funny? Isn't it joyful to see someone go from looking ridiculous to somewhat like they know what they are doing?

Enthalpic

It's not.

Now you just need to find tight clothes to wear for the race. Feel free to post pics if you want advice haha.

gsteinb

indeed.

waterrockets 

I think it's pretty funny that Jynx was like "a little lower... no, no, a little higher" That first shot did make it look too low, but I think you just need to ride it. Your legs will tell you if it's too low.

Jynx

+1

It is hard to tell from those pics. A couple of cups and some wooden furniture blocking the view, plus a bunch of different ankle angles change the leg extension a lot. Ride it as is and see how it goes.

Snuffleupagus

Indeed

I think the point MD was getting at is that it's funny as a forum full of dudes is trying hard to contain any innuendo because you're one of approximately 3,200 cute cyclist girls in the continental US, and one of approximately 7 that is willing to post pictures on bikeforums

GuitarWizard

That pretty much sums it up...

Robobo1

Boys, boys...

Nickel, how was the Synergy TT?

I think I may do my first TT this Wed. night at Black Dog. No aerobars, it'll be stock class for this guy!

Edonis13

pretty much. there are so few of them that when we see one on the MUP it completely disrupts our focus and we spend about 10 seconds looking at each other with that " did you see that? yeah? should we turn around and go say hi???" look.

your position has changed dramatically in this thread nickel. good luck with the TT.

Nickel

Well, it's probably a good idea to test the position more than just the night before. I will still have a lot of little adjustments to do. It was a better idea to run the seatpost a tad high because I felt that I did slide down on the nose of the saddle. My left arm kept falling asleep which was the biggest problem....besides missing my start by about 5 minutes. I also found out that my bike clock is slow. All these new discoveries!
I also stupidly messed up my ramp up because the course ended up being a lot longer than I expected (by 2mi?) and I ran out of gas too early. Learning experiences I guess. I had a nice ride home to St Paul with my tail between my legs. At least I missed the rain.

My biggest problem that today has verified is that my fitness is not improving with the races. I was doing really great until the first race week which coincided with build1. My first race went well and it has been all downhill from there. One big problem is what I think would be muscular endurance, or trying to turn a hard gear at a high cadence for a long period of time. I might repeat my build1 as I don't really have a race I was planning on doing until the end of June.

I guess my desire to do things correctly outweighs any reservations about posting.

ridethecliche

It's all about the learning process.

You got out there and learned something. Well done.

I have yet to do a TT, don't know when I will either. Maybe I should give one a shot at some point...

waterrockets 

Did you notice if your forearms and hands stayed put? If you tended to scoot up or down the elbow pads, that could give you an indication to move the extensions in or out.

Regarding your fitness, have you just plateaued, or do you feel like you're getting slower? What has changed in your training?

Nickel

My arms were moving around. It seems like with these bars I have to rest my forearms on the pads in order to hold onto the bars. Wanting to creep onto the rivet of the saddle was making me want to put my elbows on the pads. I don't have to worry about another TT until July which will give me a lot of time to get this correct and comfortable.

I think what has changed the last 3 weeks has been with so many races/rides that I haven't been able to do my own planned training just from being so tired. I use a M->Sun schedule which has been running:
M - Group ride
T - Crit
W - hills
R - rest
F - leg opener
Sat - Race
Sun - recovery

The crit would make me feel pretty crappy on Wed which was my day that I like to do a course emulation of the Saturday race (try to come up with similar elevation & distance). Thursday I was pretty tired so I was just commuting. Friday I would try to do something short, add in tempo plus a few sprints. It felt I guess more 'racing into shape' than actually having time to do my own stuff. By the 3rd week of this I was feeling pretty bad on Wednesday and ended up just not doing much until the day before the race (last weekend) where I just blew up on the first hill.

I think if I had skipped the crits and did my own thing, it may have worked out better?

How I feel is that I cannot use my big chainring and anything respectable in the rear set of cogs in anything other than a sprint. This was a bigger problem last year that I noticed so I worked on gym stuff in the winter, did big gear, low rpm stuff, and stayed seated and spun up all the hills I could, when I could get outside. I felt like I was making a lot of improvement as it was a lot easier to hold a higher cadence in a harder gear. Anytime I try to push a bigger gear now my muscles are just saying NO but my lungs are saying Is this it? I haven't changed anything on the bike, position-wise.

Enthalpic

Putting some weight on the the pads is OK.

Unless the group ride is very easy for you, 3 hard days in a row is too much. If you race every tuesday and weekend you can get away with little else. Many would say cut the group ride, but I personally find them very fun and motivating.

You mentioned you have been losing weight. Is your weight still going down?

Snuffleupagus

3 hard days per week is pretty much all I'm good for. Looking at your schedule I'd advise more tempo on Wednesday, or if you want to focus on hills do it on Sunday in place of rest and take Monday off. Try just really hitting it no more than 2x per week and riding tempo/recovery the other 3.

Nickel

Most of my weight was lost during the winter and I have been holding steady at 124lb-ish for at least 3 months. I haven't rechecked my bf% again to know what muscle was lost but my upper body lifts have maintained pretty well during this time.

One thing has happened is that I feel I can no longer do my gym lower body workout. I tried incorporating it my first week of build1 and felt it almost the entire week (I am not focusing on strength, just maintenance and so am lifting so that 2x12 is not too much work). That made me nervous so I tried moving the lift day around but I still didn't feel that good. I have been doing bodyweight stuff which has been fine. I didn't know if that could make me lose some strength.

The last 3 weeks have introduced a lot of VO2/anaerobic training (via the crit) which is also new to my training. My peak was scheduled for July but I feel like I should have started everything a few weeks earlier.

Thank you again for all of your help!

Oops edit: The reason why it is weird for me to put my elbows on the aerobar pad is that my hands are then past the bar. I guess I might have monkey arms to go with my monkey legs.