- Back at the Abu Dhabi tour in February,
Matt noticed that some of the pro's positions
were getting even more extreme.
Stems were slammed and in some cases
they even had the nose of the saddle
tilted ever so slightly downwards.
- Yeah, and after some really high level investigation,
I found out that it was because the UCI
had relaxed the rule on how far the nose of the saddle
could be pointing downwards.
So, the old rule was three degrees but now
the pros could tilt it downwards nine degrees
allowing them to get into a far more aero position.
We've just got our fingers on the pulse.
- Yeah, we have, but would that position work for everybody?
Well, guess what, we have got some stems to slam.
- [Matt] We have.
- We're going to put them on our bikes
and find out firstly, if we can actually ride
in that position and secondly, if it's faster for us.
Time to slam some stems and get into some kit.
- How low can we go?
(upbeat music)
- [Matt] Now, there aren't many
flat roads here in Alta Badia.
In fact, we can't find any, but what we have found
is a two point one kilometre stretch of road
that is ever so slightly downhill.
This is to allow us to do the sort of speeds
the pros do even though we can't match their power output.
We're going to do three runs each
trying to average three hundred and thirty watts.
(upbeat music)
We're both going to start with our normal set ups,
mine being a 12 centimetre negative six degree stem
with a ten mm spacer, whilst Dan uses his standard set up
of a 12 centimetre negative six degree stem
and both of our saddles will be horizontal.
(dramatic music)
- Right, first one done, 2.1kms,
2 minutes 28 average power 332.
(upbeat music)
- Okay the first run with my normal stem set up,
a time of 2:36, average power 326.
(bass music)
- [Dan] So, here is my bike, with a slammed stem
and doesn't it look pro except for the extra bits
of head set space on the top but we'll ignore that.
- [Matt] And check out my bike,
not only do I have a negative stem,
lowering my position at the front,
but in addition, my saddle has been tilted downwards
to the maximum UCI limit of nine degrees too.
- [Dan] Now, that's our standard runs done,
lets get slammed.
(upbeat music)
- Well that was my first slammed run.
I've got to do two of those,
but I was three seconds quicker by average one watt more,
so, not much in it although my back's a bit sore now
and I felt like I was recruiting different muscles.
But it certainly felt aero but the results, well,
there's not much in it, marginally faster.
(upbeat music)
Results time.
- Yeah, we've just been talking through them
so they're not a surprise to us but Matt,
you saved on average five per cent.
Your power however was ever so slightly higher
for the slammed section, only by a couple of watts
but that might have played a small part in the time savings.
For me, I saved on average nine seconds
and that is despite quite a big anomaly.
For the first time I did the slammed run,
my time was actually very similar to those
on my normal set up however, after that
I averaged about eleven seconds higher,
so, overall, a nine second difference.
That gave me a percentage difference of six per cent
which is actually quite a bit isn't it.
- Yeah, I mean I think it just shows,
I mean, I think it's definitely something
to take into consideration, I mean,
I think what you have to look at
is how it actually felt, I mean,
and we need to mention that I actually slammed
or tilted my saddle down as well to the maximum nine degrees
allowed now by the UCI, so I had a very different position
to the one that I'm used to, but I did feel very low,
did feel very aero, I rode on the drops
for all six of my runs, but the one caveat for me,
was when I finished my first run slammed,
I had quite a sore lower back
that thankfully it's gone now,
but yeah, definitely a bit of a twinge,
so I think if you are gonna look at slamming your stem,
you need to do it slowly and incrementally.
- Yeah, well a couple of points from my point of view.
Firstly, I wonder whether I did try to be more aero
when I had a slammed stem because I'm thinking
well I'm really low at the front,
I'm going to take advantage of this
and perhaps I could get myself slightly more aero
in my normal position.
I also think my slammed stem there
is probably quite a similar position
to what I had as a professional rider.
Now before we started this video,
I did think that on my normal set up now,
when I've got my arms at ninety degrees
that I was super aero, but
looking back at some of the footage,
I'm perhaps not quite as aero as I thought I was.
My back wasn't quite as flat as I thought it might be
in that normal set up, but yeah, I wasn't as comfortable
on those slammed set ups, it was harder
to put out the same amount of power for me personally.
I just can feel it these days in my shoulders and my neck,
I'm just not used to being in that position for that long
and I don't think I'd be able to sustain it for very long.
- Well I spoke to a few of the pros earlier in the year
about this position, but what you have to bear in mind is
they change positions, I don't know, October, November,
and have the whole winter to train
and adapt to that position, whereas we had no time at all.
We basically slammed, got on and rode hard for two kms,
but talking about the distance as well,
we only rode for two kms but saw respective savings
of five and six per cent, can you imagine the advantage
for a pro, five or six per cent over a four or five
or even six hour race.
- Yeah, certainly going to be a bigger percentage,
well, not a bigger percentage but more power,
'cause they do far more than us of course.
So, is it worth it for you at home to slam your stem.
Well, we've been chatting about this
and we think the answer is probably no,
unless you've got an enormous amount of time
to get used to it and also some time to put aside
and actually do some stretching
because it is an extreme position to be in.
Bike riding is painful enough isn't it?
Going up climbs, really pushing yourself,
feeling the pain in your legs
and often other parts of your body,
so, to add some extra strain onto your neck
and your shoulders and all those other bits that hurt,
when you're really aero,
I don't think it's personally worth it.
- Yeah, and I think a lot of the geometry of frame,
is the endurance geometry of a lot of bikes these days,
if you suddenly slam from riding
at a relatively high position at the front,
you could actually do yourself some damage.
There's no harm at all in trying to adapt your position
to get more aero but our advice would be
do it slowly over a longer period of time.
- Yeah, well, if you haven't yet subscribed
to the Global Cycling Network,
you can do so now by clicking on the globe
which is somewhere on the screen
and as Matt just said, the biggest thing
in terms of aerodynamics, is your body
and you can change your body shape
on your bike quite easily.
We've got some tips just down here,
on how to get more aero.
- And to see the video that led to this video,
slammed extreme positions of the pros,
click just down here.