Bike setup - What is correct?

I have recently been watching a few stages of the tour of Qatar, and have started to feel a little unsure around the set up of my bike. 

I have never had the benefit of someone filming me cycle, or even take a photo of me in the saddle for that matter. But I cant help but think if I look right when I cycle and for that matter, whether or not I am getting the most out of my quads and calf's and actually burning them out sooner by not being in the right set up from the off.

It is something that I plan to go into my cycle retailer for advice on, as there is so much information available on the internet it is actually quite difficult to assess which set up is best for me. I guess that is the important question "which set up best suits me?". There are many methods of saddle height alone; the 109% rule and 26o knee angle at the bottom of a given pedal rotation appear to be the most common. But when I watch the lads on TV, I am sure that their legs appear to have less than a 26o angle at the peak of each rotation. Their seat height seems to be so high and that has led me to believe that mine is too low. 

I also don't feel completely comfortable when I am down on the drops, which has added to my cause as I always think the drops are an effective way of improving time by increasing a riders streamline. 

I am 6ft 4, and have a 61 inch frame which is obviously not all that common in the pro tours (that is a complete guess and I could be very wrong). So going into long distance rides with that burden, as well as the weight disadvantage that accompanies a 6ft 4, pizza loving chassis, I am super keen to pull back as many seconds as possible through setting up my seating position and bike as effectively as possible.

Feedback on this topic will follow, but opinions are very very welcome too.

Contador Tests Positive

I was fairly disappointed by the news that Alberto Contador was handed a 2 year ban for testing positive for the performance enhancing drug clenbuterol. I really do not know a lot about the drug itself, but from what I read it is designed to control weight, which is pretty essential for a mountain climber. There are still a lot of questions around the verdict handed to Contador, particularly as only a small amount of the substance was found in the sample. But I read a very interesting opinion on one of the sports websites today, which correctly highlighted that a sportsman competing at the level Contador is, should be in complete control of what he is taking in and for that reason there is no excuse.

As a result, Contador lost his 2010 tdf (tour de France) title, which in a way, I do see as a bit of justice for Andy Schleck, as Contador was catapulted toward victory that year by an 'ungentlemanly' attack up the mountains, when Schleck had a mechanical problem (his chain jammed) with his bike (see video below).

Andy Schleck has already come out and said he does not see the award as a victory, and would rather win the tdf outright (a statement that was expected, given the circumstances).

For a guy like me that revels in the sheer ability of each tour de France rider year after year, it is very sad to see the verdict handed out today. I hope that the damage this is likely to have on a sport plagued with doping scandal in years gone by will be limited by the time the 2012 tdf rolls around. That is very unlikely though.

London to Brighton

Following the success of my London to Paris experience, I decided to embark on a shorter distanced ride to Brighton the Saturday after we arrived back from mainland Europe. It is 'only' 52 miles, but there is one daunting task that I just had to try - The Beacon. A category 4 climb. I had never attempted a category 4 before, and I knew that it was going to be tough given the amount of stories I had heard from numerous colleagues at work.

The one thing I did notice as soon as I was outside the M25 was how lovely the countryside is. It is very easy to forget how beautiful England actually is, by living in London. However, the lovely countryside was outdone by the state of the country roads. They were shocking, compared to those in France. My hands were still shaking days later, following the turbulent time they received for a solid 30 miles of rugged tarmac.

There are also two category 5 climbs along this trip, which are there purely to wear you down before you arrive at the beacon. They are the equivalent of a boxers jabs, slowly wearing you down before he hits you with a big right hand! The two hill climbs are quite well spread out in terms of distance though, which gave me enough time to recover, but I had still put some effort in and they both certainly had an affect once I had reached the monstrosity that some call the beacon.

You can see the beacon as soon as you begin to make your way down through the village of Ditchling. It dominated the horizon, and I looked at it and let out a small noise along the lines of 'bugger'. I have since read that the key to climbing, is to remain calm. I remember been anything but calm at this stage. For some reason I got butterflies in my stomach, and became very short of breathe, which made it all the harder. That all disappeared once I began to climb though. I was actually very surprised as to how close cars are too you throughout the climb. Infact, a que soon formed behind me, almost as though they wanted to see if I would make it to the top! That, along with a fellow cyclist who decided to catch me up and then chat to me on the way up got me through the climb. I have never felt such a sense of achievement as I did once at the peak of Ditchling Beacon. I could taste the sea and as the law of gravity dictates, what goes up must come down!

Once at the top, it is a lovely decent into Brighton from there. A just reward for all the effort to get to the top without getting off.

My total time was just short of 4 hours I think, but that was mainly down to stopping constantly to check the route (I had no GPS). I fully intend to do it again very soon, hopefully with Rob and Josh in tow this time! Let battle commence again!!

Route map can be found by clicking on the respective hyper linked words