|
 Cycling
is full of prodigious numbers—the distances ridden, the calories
consumed, the tires trashed. Another statistic that can seem
astounding is the number of pedal strokes made.
Let’s suppose it takes you six hours to ride a century and you pedal
at the rate of 90 rpm throughout. As you cross the finish line, you
will be making pedal stroke number 64,800.
Whoa, that’s a lot! But it barely registers on the scale of what
happens during a full season. For example, during the year in which
I had my biggest mileage total, I figure that I got there by pushing
the pedals around approximately 13,340,000 times.
Can
you say, repetitive use injury? You can see why cyclists are good
candidates, especially if we aren’t pedaling from a nearly perfect
position.
Your body and bike must fit together and work together in
near-perfect harmony for you to be efficient, comfortable, and
injury-free. The more you ride, the more essential this is. If even
one thing is out of whack, it’s a good bet that it will cause a
problem during thousands of pedal strokes.
Fortunately, it isn’t difficult to arrive at an excellent riding
position. But it does take time and attention. You need to be
careful with your initial bike set-up, then conscientiously stay
aware of your body and the need for occasional refinements. As time
goes by, your position will stabilize and you’ll be riding in a
smooth groove.
The
following guidelines come from my experience and the advice of
various experts. One is Andy Pruitt, Ed.D., the director of
Colorado’s Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. Andy has probably
solved more position problems than anyone during his years of work
with elite cyclists.
As
you work on your riding position, always remember Pruitt Rule No. 1:
“Adjust your bike to fit your body. Don’t force your body to fit the
bike.”
Frame:
Measure your inseam from crotch to floor with bare feet 6 inches
apart, then multiply by 0.68. The answer is a good approximation of
your road frame size, measured along the seat tube from the center
of the crank axle to the center of the top tube. As a double check,
this should produce 4 to 5 inches of exposed seatpost when your
saddle height is correct. When the crankarms are horizontal, the top
tube should be right between your knees when you squeeze them
together.
Arms:
Keep your elbows bent and relaxed to absorb shock and prevent
veering when you hit a bump or brush another rider. Hold arms in
line with your body, not splayed to the side, to be more compact and
aerodynamic.
Upper Body/Shoulders:
Don’t be rigid, but do be fairly still. Imagine the energy wasted by
rocking side to side with every pedal stroke on a 25-mile ride. Save
it for pedaling. Also, beware of creeping forward on the saddle and
hunching your shoulders. There’s a tendency to do this when pushing
for more speed. Shift to a higher gear and stand periodically to
prevent stiffness in your hips and back.
Head and Neck:
Resist the temptation to put your head down when you’re going hard
or getting tired. It takes just a second for something dangerous to
pop out of nowhere. Occasionally tilt your head to one side and the
other instead of holding it dead center. Change your hand location
to reposition your upper body and give your neck a new angle.
Hands:
Prevent finger numbness by moving your hands frequently. Grip the
bar firmly enough to keep hands from bouncing off on unexpected
bumps, but not so tightly that it tenses your arms. For the same
safety reason, keep your thumbs wrapped around the bar instead of
resting on top. Move to the drops for descents or high-speed riding,
and the brake lever hoods for relaxed cruising. On long climbs, grip
the top of the bar to sit upright and open your chest for easier
breathing. When standing, hold the lever hoods lightly and sway the
bike side to side in synch with your pedal strokes, directly driving
each pedal with your body weight.
Handlebar:
Bar width should equal shoulder width to open your chest for better
breathing. A bit too wide is better than too narrow. Make sure the
hooks are large enough for your hands. Modified “anatomic” curves
may feel more comfortable to your palms. Position the bottom, flat
portion of the bar horizontal or pointed slightly down toward the
rear brake.
Brake Levers:
Move them around the curve of the bar to give you the best
compromise between holding the hoods and braking when your hands are
in the hooks. Most riders do best if the lever tips touch a
straightedge extended forward from under the flat, bottom portion of
the bar. The levers don’t have to be positioned
symmetrically—remember Andy Pruitt’s rule. If your reach is more
comfortable with one lever closer to you than the other, put ‘em
that way.
Stem Height:
Start with the top of the stem about one inch below the top of the
saddle. This should give you comfortable access to every hand
position. As time goes by, think about lowering the stem as much as
another inch (not all at once) to improve your aerodynamics. If your
lower back or neck starts complaining, or if you notice you’ve
stopped using the drops, go back up. Never put the stem so high that
its maximum extension line shows, or it could be snapped off by your
weight on the bar.
Top-tube and Stem Lengths:
Combined, these two dimensions determine “reach.” Depending on your
anatomy and flexibility, your reach could be longer for better
aerodynamics, or it may need to be shorter for back or neck comfort.
For most riders, when they’re comfortably seated with their elbows
slightly bent and their hands on the lever hoods, the front hub will
be obscured by the handlebar.
Back:
A flat back is the defining mark of a stylish rider. Notice I didn’t
say a great rider. Anatomy and flexibility have a lot to do with how
flat you can get. Lance Armstrong, for instance, has a rounded back
that’s not picture perfect and yet he still manages to go down the
road pretty well. The same was true for John Howard, once
America’s dominant road racer. I’m in their boat (back-wise, not
speed-wise). Once you have the correct reach, work on flattening
your back by imagining touching the top tube with your belly button.
This helps your hips rotate forward. You don't want to ride this way
all of the time, but it'll help you get more aero when you need to.
Saddle Height:
This is the biggie. You’ll find various methods for calculating this
critical number. Here’s the one I like best. It has become known as
the LeMond Method, because Greg brought it to us from his
Renault team in the 1980s. (Invite a friend over so you can help
each other and both wind up with primo positions.)
Begin by standing on a hard surface with your shoes off and your
feet about 6 inches apart. Using a metric tape, measure from the
floor to your crotch, pressing with the same force that a saddle
does. Multiply this number by 0.883. The result is your
saddle height, measured from the middle of the crank axle, along the
seat tube, to the top of the saddle.
Add
2 or 3 mm if you have long feet in proportion to your height. If you
suffer from chondromalacia (knee pain caused by damage to the
underside of the kneecap), a slightly higher saddle may feel better.
However, it should never be so high that your hips must rock to help
you reach the pedals. If this formula results in a big change from
the height you’ve been using, make the adjustment by 2 or 3 mm per
week, with several rides between, till you reach the new position.
Changing too fast could strain something.
Saddle Tilt:
The
saddle should be level, which you can check by laying a yardstick
along its length and comparing it to something horizontal like a
tabletop or windowsill. A slight downward tilt may be more
comfortable, but be careful. More than a degree or two could cause
you to continually slide forward, putting pressure on your arms and
hands.
Fore/Aft Saddle Position:
Sit
comfortably in the center of the saddle, click into the pedals, and
set the crankarms horizontal. Hold a weighted string to the front of
your forward kneecap. For most of us, the string should touch the
end of the crankarm. This is known as the neutral position. Loosen
the seatpost clamp so you can slide the saddle to get it right.
Seated climbers, time trialists, and some road racers may like the
line to fall a centimeter or two behind the end of the crankarm to
increase pedaling leverage. On the other hand, track and criterium
racers may like a more forward position that breeds leg speed.
Remember, if your reach to the handlebar is wrong, use stem length
to correct it, not fore/aft saddle position.
Butt:
By
sliding fore or aft on the saddle you can bring some muscles into
play while resting others. This is a technique favored by Skip
Hamilton, my teammate in the 1996 Race Across America. Moving
forward emphasizes the quadriceps muscles on the front of the
thighs, while moving back highlights the hamstrings and glutes—the
powerful butt muscles.
Feet:
Some of us walk like pigeons, others like Charlie Chaplin. Your
footprints as you leave a swimming pool will tip you off. To make
cycling easier on your knees, shoe cleats must put your feet at
their natural angle. This is a snap with clipless pedal systems that
allow feet to pivot freely (“float”) several degrees before release.
Then all you need to do is set the cleats’ fore/aft position, which
is easy. Simply position them so the widest part of each foot is
centered on the pedal axle. If you experience discomfort such as
tingling, numbness or burning (especially on long rides), move the
cleats rearward as much as a centimeter.
Crankarm Length:
In
general, if your inseam is less than 29 inches, use 165-mm crankarms;
29-32 inches, 170 mm; 33-34 inches, 172.5; and more than 34 inches,
175 mm. A crankarm’s length is measured from the center of its
fixing bolt to the center of the pedal mounting hole. The length is
usually stamped on the back of the arm. If you use longer crankarms
than recommended, you’ll gain leverage for pushing big gears but
lose some pedaling speed.
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