I’m 6’-6" or (1.98 Meters) 215lbs or a(95.25 kgs), im 34 years old with a 250 watt FTP. i recently placed 19th place in my first and only race in Lincoln, NE (USA) at the 2023 summer gravel worlds, with penutbutter mud and about 14 miles of non negotiable single track. i have only been riding since 2020 but started taking it seriously this year. My goal for 2024 is to place top 10 or even podium. my question for the Tall riders is.
what are your biggest obsticals as a taller rider?(minus short doorways)
Has your dred for the amount of times youve been asked if you play basketball driven you into a sport thant nobody could have ever guessed?
What is the best training program that has help elivat your abilities?
Has having an abnormaly large torso been beneficial to your aero position?
Tell me Everything you have experienced as Tall riders, whats been difficult, whats been easy, what are your strengths and also weeknesses. this is an open discussion, answering my questions is optional.
Thanks.
Trying to get aero. I only 189cm so not super tall. But even at my height, getting low is hard. I’m sure people behind me love to sit in my draft. But it’s hard getting aero being tall. My bike is bigger. My legs are longer which means my saddle is higher. Sitting behind little guys I feel like I’m on the front…
I’m not tall in the sense you’re talking, but at 193cm and ~77kg I find the biggest issue is getting decent fitting kit.
Shorts are always too short, or the bib straps very hard on my shoulders.
I’m currently having a break from TR, but seemed to be having great results from Pol Base and Build prior to stopping.
I’m 6’ 4” and 190#. Flat time trials are my best event, have done several sub 55 min 40Ks. Monster off road climbs at altitude….it’s like a completely different sport. I like big mountan riding …. but it’s gonna take awhile lol.
Oh yeah the bigger they are the harder they fall.
Joe
I’ve probably had at least 10 people draft me In my first race, we are a drafters delight. I have no shame using every opportunity to sit behind someone and chill. It’s saved my cheeks from blowing up on many occasions. Our engines are more like semi’s than hybrids. It’s a dance that for sure
Two weeks ago I was on a group ride and the ride leader came up late in the ride, when we were doing 24-26mph, and said “get behind Mark and don’t redline and get dropped.” Mark is a little taller at 6’ 4” but skinny and not the best draft. But a lot better than the 5’ 6” and shorter guys that weigh a $1.50 or less.
I’m only 6’4" (193cm) and 96kg (211) but with longer than average legs and arms. Can never get a decent fit in shirts or jeans and cycling kit varies widly from XL to 3XL.
Agree about being a great draft for others and when I was cycling more regularly was often told to slow down on flat sections during club runs but still sucked a bit at hills. So was a bit of a diesel.
If I’m looking at bikes I discount lots based purely on maximum saddle height and stack and I’ll never have a good looking road bike as I believe most marketing pictures are M sized - the same bike in XL or XXL … hmmm…
At club ride stops mine’s the bike with the highest saddle.
On the plus side I can usually get a pretty good view in crowds. The negative being I stand out a bit.
“Half off, Half off” from the lightweight goats.
Feck off, you don’t wait on the climbs so I’m wearing you out before we get to them. It’s about whole ride speed not just the climbs.
Choose your race wisely and don’t pick the ones with lots of tight corners. The bigger the bike, then longer the wheelbase, and the wider the cornering radius. And the taller you are, the higher your centre of gravity. Both don’t help with extra tight cornering.
I think @Nate_Pearson is tall, though he’s never mentioned it on the pod, so he may have some insight.
Tall people would do well to have droppers on all their bikes! Nate has talked about this a bunch and as a 6’5" dude, I totally agree. It takes some of the white-knuckle terror out of big descents.
I find it hard to get aero, I feel like a big sail
My son is 6’8" (200 cm) , 180 lbs (82 kg), just tested FTP of 425. After a high school career primarily focused on XC MTB and CX, he’s becoming primarily a road racer in college. We were just talking about this when he was home on break, and he said it’s definitely getting aero. (In true bike geek fashion, I asked him if he thought shaving his legs was worth it, and he responded “Not in terms of improving my CdA, but it looks cool”). He’s interested in trying TTs, but appropriate sized dedicated TT bikes are hard to find. He just left for an informal 10 day training camp in Arizona with several former HS friends who all race (one of whom just signed to UAE’s development team), so I can see if he has any additional insights after that experience.
In terms of the OPs other questions
-in middle and high school, his biggest limiter was chest/back pain. Part of this was the difficulty in keeping up bike fits with his growth, part of it was a congenital condition called pectus excavatum (where the sternum curves in). He had a procedure to correct it the summer after his sophomore year (2020, so a whole year without racing afterwards). Just from the procedure, his cardiac output increased 30%.
–He also started working with a professional coach (former XC and marathon MTB national champion and pro), and stuck to his workouts religiously. From what I can tell, nothing specifically tailored to his size.
–Also helped having a very talented neighbor/friend/teammate to train with.
Finding bikes and kit that fit is the biggest problem. Manufacturers often design for a model size and then just scale it up for bigger riders, resulting in all sorts of weird dimensions.
I’m 197cm and 83-87kg. Getting aero has never been a problem for me, of course my cda isn’t the lowest absolute number but it’s pretty good. Being able to monitor the front of a road race from 40 riders back is also handy tactically.
Punchy hills around 60s long are a weakness as I’ve got c.20kg more mass to accelerate than many competitors… But getting a gap and holding it late in the race while getting low and railing corners is a strength.
Being a tall rider doesn’t need to be a hinderance at all. Don’t listen to people banging on about W/kg either. Absolute watts is more important than W/kg for virtually every race (e.g. the Combined Score which equals Watts^2 / kg , is a better predictor of one day race results for elite riders than straightforward Watts / kg)
The amount of times that I have ordered XL bibs and they’re way too tight on the shoulders gives me a headache. the best XL bibs that fit my long body will have to be Pedal Mafia and Rapha, Rapha’s are still snug but by far the best padding that I’ve had.
My first gravel group ride, I experienced this and I will never make that mistake again. I did not do my research, Nebraska’s gravel is unpredictable and around Lincoln the gravel is frequently replenished. I pulled on the breaks while going too fast into a corner on some 38Cs, luckily I had not made the jump to cleats so I was able prevent myself crashing harder than I did. this was also my first experience with how nice and supportive the cycling community is.
For me it’s finding a bike that fits. I’m 1,90m (6‘3) with long legs and arms. Currently im riding a BMC Roadmachine (endurance geo) with a 140mm stem and even though it’s quite relaxed on paper I’m having a 14,5cm saddle-to-bar drop.
The bike is still to short for me, problem is, most longer reach bikes would put me on a 16-17cm drop.
I think my biggest struggle is bike nutrition, eating enough, overall replenishment. I burn through calories and glycogen faster than i thought i would, i went from 230 to 202 from the biggining of june to Aug 14th all while eating astronomical amounts of food. i have the engin of a diesel, i can produce alot of power, but i burn through fuel, once im cooked its hard to come back from.
What does your son ride for a road bike? Seems like he might need a crazy long stem on most XL bikes. I’m guessing Canyon XXL frames would work. 
I’m on a Specialized Roubaix 61cm with a 140mm stem, and I’m “only” 6’5" 
Yes, Canyon XXL frames for road and CX–not sure what stem length he has on his road bike. He has an XL Blur for MTB, and I know that’s got a longer than stock stem.
Having the Canyon XXL’s as an option has been a big relief. My brother-in-law is 6’9" and, before law school, spent a year playing professional basketball in Europe and even made it to the NBA for a few months. When he got serious about road cycling about 10-15 years ago, he ended up having to get a custom Leonard Zinn.
One advantage is that he’s very easy to identify in the starting grid, especially when he’s wearing a skinsuit with tiger-striped sleeves.
