Hi,
I remember on one of the EC’s podcast, Dave (or was it Ronan?) talk about his favorite saddle allowing him to rotate his pelvis. He identified that tilting so your “hole” pointed up or down! I can’t remember which way as I was thinking about my posture on the bike today.
Is it best to roll to point it back down towards the bottom bracket or to roll to point it more to the sky?
I hope I have used acceptable language!
Thanks
Daniel
It’s a forward tilt and this reply has to be 20 characters
You want to rotate your hips forward, shifting your weight from your sit bones to more of your perineum.
think of a rocker running from your front to back through your legs. The goal is to rotate your hips forward on that rocker, which will allow you to get a lower position up front.
My favourite “post” about this goes back to 2007 when the great Joe Friel discussed hip rotation: Joe Friel's Blog: Road Bike Posture. His analogy of your pelvis as a bowl of water that you pour out has stuck with me throughout the years.
Your friendly neighborhood PT here to tell you that not everyone should seek a flat back and anterior pelvic tilt all the time. It is often better, but don’t consider it to be the holy grail of positioning, it doesn’t work for everyone.
For those of us who aren’t racers, the forward pelvic tilt also helps you maintain the lordotic arch in your lower back, which helps avoid back pain over time. This from the Cleveland Clinic:
”The lordotic arch refers to the natural inward curvature of the spine, particularly in the cervical (neck) and lumbar (lower back) regions. This curvature helps maintain posture and absorb shock during movement.”
The danger of maintaining lordotic curvature when riding is that people overdo it when seeking a “neutral spine”. IMO, the posture of the lumbar spine should not be the same as if you were sitting upright in a chair with “good posture” and simply hinging at the hips. You want available flexion and extension ROM through the spine when riding. An overemphasis of lordosis or neutral spine reduces available lumbar extension.
Another PT echoing this. “Correct posture” isn’t a good way of seeing how we position ourselves in chairs, on bikes, etc.
Without going down too much of a rabbit hole, can you expand on what is good to do when? At 77, I know my body has different requirements and challenges than that of a 24-year-old attempting to maintain a maximally aero position; I just want to be able to keep doing something I love for as long as I can. Of course I know that no one can give specific advice to someone they haven’t seen in an online forum, but perhaps some general guidelines?
It was this Performance Process podcast and article: Review: The Wove Mags might change how you think about saddles
And here’s a bit more: Your Bike Fit Begins With Your Saddle — Wove
And the (negative) role that aiming for evenly distributed pressure on the saddle has on the lower back: Pressure Mapping and Bike Fit Outcome Variables — Wove
Thank you! This post finally made the position and goal click. I have been trying to wrap my head around this contour longer than I care to admit!
