A few weeks ago I switched my long Sunday rides from the TT bike to the road bike. Sunday before last, on my first ride to the windward side in ages, I was struck by a postural weakness I have known about for years. Now I find myself on the path to correct it.
On a long ride it starts with my left wrist refusing to stay on top of the hoods. It wants to roll outward, as if up-shifting. (This might not make sense if you use electric shifting.) It begins very sneaky. I notice my hand position isn’t right and roll it back. Eventually, my wrist gets tired, then my shoulder and biceps. Eventually, control of the bike is compromised. On that Sunday I was in a great deal of pain from Sea Life Park all the way home.
Before Covid I worked frequently with Dorian Cuccia, and he noticed my habit of sitting offcenter. A simple test for this is to ride on a straight road with no traffic and look down. The top tube should be perfectly centered over the bottom bracket. If your eyes focus on the bottom bracket, close one eye at a time - the top tube should jump side to side symmetrically. I often see the top tube viewed with the left eye well to the left, and with the right eye, perfectly centered. This means my body is shifted left.
Another puzzle piece: I get a hot spot on my left groin, rarely if ever the right. When I pay attention to my ride position I feel distinct pressure on my right sit bone, and after the ride little if any hot spot.
What’s happening is my hips are angled. Not rocking as with a high saddle, just tilted down on the left side. A simple way to feel this is to stand (off the bike!) and slouch like a teenager, most weight on the right leg. Feel the hip bone fall down on the left side.
It’s clear to me why this position causes irritation in the groin. The left sit bone is not taking the load, shifting it to soft tissue. I am still not clear about the connection between this and my left arm, but given how interconnected all these pieces are, I’m sure there’s a connection. However, there are other factors, which is why bit fit is more art than science.
Let’s not forget about my return after a long absence of long rides on the road bike. Some of this can be explained as a sudden increase in muscle use, the change from the TT bike position. My legs are fine. It’s my arms that are unhappy.
I spent a lot of time on today’s ride paying attention to my position. I also shortened the duration. The result was a much better overall feeling, although I still have some stiffness in my shoulders and back, but nothing like last week.
During my ride and while paying so much attention to my position, I was struck by how different the demands on the arms are between swimming and cycling. In swimming, force is applied with the elbow high, the fingers pointed down and the palm facing back. To achieve this position requires a full outward rotation in the shoulder. On the road bike, on the hoods, shoulder rotation is neutral and, ideally, the elbows are low. The angle of the elbow bend depends on how aggressive the position is, but most casual riders use a mild bend, and too many resort to straight, stiff arms due to a lack of strength or a bad fit. What I realized was that the elbow bend is similar but everything else is different. Meaning muscular activation is different.
Here are some videos that show what I mean.
Example of swim high elbow https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XQ5s3sucLDU
Bike bent elbows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAXXJdTkWkY
What led me to this insight was the extra swim work I have been doing. At Honu I always struggle with the swim, so this year I decided to put extra swim workouts in my plan. After my crash I could not swim, so as soon as the wounds healed I went back to an aggressive swim schedule. I have been swimming four times a week, and it feels great in spite of the occasional shoulder soreness. You know, the good pain. So, my question was, why do my arms feel weak on the bike in spite of all this swimming? That is what led me to suspect that it is because the demands are different.
An important rule in triathlon is specificity, an impressive sounding word that means train the way you will race. Swimming is great for endurance, but contributes little else to cycling and running. In the next training block I will switch one morning swim for a bike and incorporate a simple, short exercise routine using stretch bands into my wake up routine. I know the correction will take time, but it will never happen without starting.
I hope you are enjoying your summer as much as I am.