And there have been pro riders whose positions were unusual in their eras--Sean Kelly sitting as upright as a weekend rider and winning half the classics in the 80's, and Hugo Koblet racing flat-backed through the 1950's. David Feldman
Schotte/Girardengo/Lygie)
> Greg Lemond talked about this in his book, which I own and like to reread
> from time to time. He even talks about how some of his contemporaries
might
> have been more competitive with him if they'd learned to raise their
saddles
> a bit, but that he was glad they hadn't made this discovery!
>
> I think it's fair to say that, as in many sports, over the years and with
> the increase in scientific study of the human body in action, we've
learned
> to take better advantage of what our bodies can do. It's one of my
constant
> quandries over the winter, when I continue to ride but ride much less than
> in the nice weather - to keep my saddle where it is or to lower it. It
> always feels better lower in the winter because, I assume, keeping it
higher
> requires muscular adaptation of some sort. This winter I kept all my
> saddles at their in-season positions and I seem to be surviving it
alright.
>
> Sometimes there is progress, and while Grant Peterson and others may argue
> that the more stretched out, more bent over position of modern riders is
> favoring performance over comfort, it's nice that each of us has a choice.
>
> Steve "would that I had longer and straighter legs" Freides
>
>
> Charles Andrews wrote, in part:
> >
> > I'm wondering if the racers in the middle years of the last century
actually
> > used what we might consider an incorrect configuration: saddle too
*low*;
> > legs not nearly fully extended on the down-stroke. I seem to see a lot
of
> > this in photos of hill-climbs: the riders appear to have lowered their
> > saddles for some reason, and their legs are not extended to the extent
we'd
> > regard as correct... so that if those riders had set their bikes up
for
> > full leg-extension, their steeds would look a lot more like Merckx's
bike in
> > 1969 or '70.