PeteHski

Firstly I don't believe for one second he is a bad fitter, but your question is interesting. I guess there are multiple reasons. For a start she's riding on the hoods in the video in a relaxed position, so she will be lower when in the drops or bending her forearms more. If you watch pros in a modern peloton, they mostly ride on the hoods like she does and lower themselves when on the front or riding solo on the flats. Here is Eddy riding on the hoods in the bunch. Not so different really.

tomato coupe

One snapshot from a fitting session tells you very little about the actual fit or the abilities of the fitter.

Carbonfiberboy 

Her fit and position is pretty much perfect. That's what it looks like.

I haven't posted this video in a long time, so here it is again. I think this is the sort of thing you are advocating, but with the more usual words accompanying it. If your fit is as good as hers, you're doing real well.

genejockey 

Wait, you mean Merckx didn't ride all day in the drops, with his face a mask of pain and determination? Imagine that. It's almost like the pictures Timtak posted were special moments where Merckx looked especially badass, rather than being representative of the many hours he rode in Grand Tours and Classics, week in, week out, for years.

timtak

If he were not very flexible then using the drops would have resulted in a mask of pain and determination but I think that it is the fact that he is putting pedal to metal that results in that face in the first two photos. In the third, though in the the drops, he looks quite relaxed.

The only way that this lady is going to get her chest out of the wind, with this saddle position and pedalling style,


She can't stay long in the drops

is if she triples the length of her stem, or rides in a pace line, peloton, or pack.

I always ride alone. 99% of the riders I see are riding alone. But so many folks ride as if they were riding with others. Where does this imaginary pace line come from?

genejockey 

And, according to you, you only ride for about an hour. Competitive cyclists ride a lot longer than that. Let me know when you can ride in whatever position you advocate for 4-6 hours a day for 3 weeks.

genejockey 

One should always be cautious of concluding that one has seen something that generations of others, especially those who have made a career out of studying it, have missed. It's possible, but not very likely.

Apropos of nothing in particular...“But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.” - Carl Sagan

Bob Ross

You say that like it's a bad thing...

You say that like it's a good thing...

timtak

I ride about 3 hours a day with my back pretty level or more level than this lady.

It seems to me that the chest to the wind style of riding toe down, but without a timtaked stem, only became popular in the past 20 years. I think it is to do with increased cooperation due to radios and economics (greater funding).

Yes. I think that road bike riding works a lot better, is more fun, more of a work out, more exhilarating, and still comfortable (if you are not inflexible) if you ride with your chest level to the ground. Road bike bars were made to encourage it and until about 25 years ago I think it was quite popular. To do it either you need to
1) run on your bike with toes down and use a very long stem
2) pedal forwards from the back seat, bunched up at the back.

Sorry. I don't think that riding on ones own is a good thing at all. It is merely a fact. I see the the university club and a small local bike shop club rides once in a blue moon but I see solitary riders every day.

tomato coupe

Riding positions changed because of radios? Sure thing bro!

genejockey 

Horse...water...drink.

timtak

Greater communication leads to greater cooperation, and in this case, a pace line of guys in riding positions which only allow them to ride the front of the line for a few minutes but it doesn't matter because the team coach will tell each rider (probably with real time power readings) when they are falling off the pace and need to hand over to the next sprinter. It makes for boring races, but with data on how much gap a breakaway can be given depending on wind, elevation, riders in the break, and condition of the pace line all available to the coach, and the riders following his orders by radio, it makes for a very effective race strategy....that is especially non applicable to the vast majority of amateur solo cyclists. Pros used to be relevant.

tomato coupe

This is pure nonsense. It’s a fantasy you’ve dreamed up to explain a change in rider position that never took place.

Hermes

Closed thread. Off topic.