Seat Height on Trainer?
 

Hey all,

In the last month I've experienced some hip soreness on the stationary trainer that I've never gotten on the road before. This is the first winter I've used a trainer, and I am wondering whether it has something specific to do with the lack of movement/freedom of the bike. Anybody have any insights to this? I had my wife record a video and there is a little bit of rocking in my hips from behind but not much. Is it possible my seat is too high, and I am just noticing it now because of an extended period in a fixed position?

Rocking = seat too High

Sit on the bike, pedal a little bit ... just spin to get comfortable ... then put your heel on the pedal and drop it to the 6:00 position. You should have a little bit of bend in your knee. Just a little bit of a bend.

Although I can't rationally explain it, it always seems like I have to fiddle with my seat adjustment a bit when I transition to the trainer for winter, and again when I head back outside in the spring.

My fit requires a fully locked-out knee with heel on pedal. Some people like a few mm gap between heel and pedal. I think this has to do with preferred ankle angle at the bottom of the stroke. For fine tuning I rely on a feeling of power during pull-back at the bottom of the stroke. Too much leg extension and I don't feel powerful. Too little extension and my hams feel cramped and not sufficiently extended. I feel that difference in just a few mm variation in saddle height.

Thanks for the responses. I checked my fit details from last June, and the saddle was in the same spot as it's been since then, so I'm still not sure why I never noticed it over approximately 1000 miles until this winter.

Having said that, I did the heel check described, and wasn't even touching in my shoes, so I lowered my saddle 5 mm. I still have to get pretty darn straight to get my heel on the pedal, but I noticed an immediate positive change in my ability to maintain a certain gear on the trainer, and an overall lower perceived effort. I also feel after two rides like my post ride soreness is mitigated at least a little bit. I'll have to see how it feels after a few more rides.

Based on this is seems clear to me that my seat position based on my fit was for sure too high, but I still am curious what factors would lead to me noticing it indoors vice out on the road.

Proper fit isn't based on some number or method really, it's results based. Proper fit is supposed to allow you to pedal with more power, more speed, more endurance, etc. So keep messing with it, with all aspects of it. Try different things, see how they feel, how they affect your ability to get up the road. I'm always messing with my fit here and there. Your body is always changing.

You may notice it more on the trainer because you're frozen in place and there's nothing else going on. Outdoors, you're out of the saddle more, moving the bike around, and generally there's a lot going on. The trainer is a good place to mess with fit, except that there's no benefit to being more aero on the trainer which is completely different out on the road, so there's that. But it's easy to mess with aero position on the trainer too, as long as you realize that more aero isn't necessarily faster on the trainer . . .