Triathlon Bike Setup Tips
The goals of improving a triathlon bike setup are going to be geared toward going faster on the bike and being able to run faster off the bike. There's a lot of ways to skin this cat, but research often can show us shortcuts or places to bet our chips when we're trying to improve.https://youtu.be/2pQaApJAym4Starting with going faster on the bike: ideally we'd like to be more powerful since having a higher average power output over a given distance means we go faster. But we can't lose site of how important efficiency is on the bike -- this is how much energy it costs us to go a given speed. If we go faster but at the expense of a lot more calories then this might not be a "win". If we go faster, or even the same speed, as our last race though, and spend less energy then this is a huge benefit.An easy way to get more efficient for race day is to simply spend a little more time on your race bike. Many athletes spend a lot of time on their road bike, and might not break the triathlon bike out until closer to the race. A 2005 study found that the more time you spend in your race position, the more metabolic efficiency increases. So don't save the race bike for race day and train more often on it. How often? This study didn't provide any guidelines on how often to train on the race bike. A good rule of thumb I've used with my athletes is that greater than 3 months out from the race, at least twice a week, from 3 months to 1 month out just over half of your rides should be on your race bike and in the last month, all but one or two rides per week should be in your race position.
Get Low and Go: Torso angle/Shoulder Angle | Triathlon Bike Setup
Many triathletes get hung up on upper body positioning on their bike. With such an emphasis on aerodynamics in this sport, many are fooled into going too low on the front end of their bike. When we're too low on the front end, this places extra flexibility requirements on the hips, spine and shoulders. In most cases, athletes don't have the hip or lumbar flexibility and in order to reach the handlebars they're forced to stretch through the shoulders (increased shoulder flexion). A 2011 study makes clear the problems with doing this. Besides this being uncomfortable to do for long periods, they found that while torso angle correlated with aerodynamic drag (lower the torso - lower aerodynamic resistance), shoulder angle correlated with power output. Increase the shoulder angle too much (they recommended "middle ranges") and you'll decrease the power generation capabilities.This is something I've seen for some time from a bike fitting and PT standpoint -- I've long written about the importance of mediating the position of the scapula. Protract the scapula too much and your efficiency on the bike will suffer. Increasing shoulder flexion (and protracting the scapula) stretches the latissimus and serratus anterior muscles, both of which are important for spinal stabilization in direct ways (the lats originate from a large portion of the lumbar spine) and indirect (the serratus anterior work in concert with the transverse abdominus and other anterior stabilizers of the torso). Torso stability is required to act as a bridge between the upper and lower body so that we can squeeze every last bit of power out of our pedal stroke
Gee-I'm-a-tree (geometry)
Steeper seat angles have been around for a lot of years in triathlon bikes. There is very little dispute in their effectiveness, and one reason for them that is often referenced is that they "work the muscles differently on the bike to save our 'run' muscles." This may be a bit simplistic, but not entirely untrue. A 2010 Journal of Sport Sciences article found that steeper seat angles (81° versus 73°) led to faster overall bike-run times. Much of the running time benefit was found to occur in the first 5K so it's thought that the "residual effect" of riding a bike is minimized with a steeper seat angle -- the authors guess it has something to do with "changes in substrate availability, thermoregulatory, cardiovascular and biomechanical factors felt immediately after transition from cycling to running".This doesn't seem like earth-shattering news, and I'll agree that this is something that is generally accepted. But let's look at this from a different angle:It's clear that riding in an aero position with a 73° seat angle puts our muscles in a less than ideal position to work. What's important to take away though, even in this era of predominantly steep seat angles on tri bikes, is that you don't have to be on a 73° seat angle bike in order to have your muscles working at the wrong angles. Many of the triathletes I see in my fit studio come in with their hips and hands in the wrong place for them to generate consistent power. The wrong placement of the saddle and aerobars can cause your "steep" tri bike to affect you the same as a 73° seat angled bike.This type of study might make you think that erring on the side of being further forward with your saddle is the answer. But a 2012 study will quickly disabuse you of this notion. It tested cyclists and triathletes in their standard saddle position, saddle all the way forward and all the way back and examined forces applied to the pedals, muscle activation, and lower extremity biomechanics. It found that,"There were large increases in knee joint angle and mechanical work and rectus femoris activation along with smaller hip work at the forward position on the saddle."Essentially being too far forward caused the athletes to lose the balance in their pedal stroke and heaped more work onto the quadriceps while the large hip extensor muscles were inhibited. This just further paints the picture that a proper tri bike fit is all about a careful balance in hip and torso positioning. Research Note: Remember that research is not infallible. In fact it's quite fallible. You can't simply take an abstract and proclaim it law, so qualifying, correlating and confirming ideas through practical experience and other research studies is critical. Drawing conclusions from any research study should be done so narrowly, so practice caution and learn how to read (and read into) these studies: