Bike fit question. I have Cervelo C-3 on my trainer and a Tarmac SL7 for outdoor riding. I have noticed that riding outside I feel tightness in my glutes. It usually takes 5-6 outdoor rides to get used to it. When I ride on my trainer I feel the effort more in my quads (no glute pain) and my power is higher. Not going to lie, my power feels better on the cervelo (not sure if customary on endurance bike vs more aggressive bike). I’m very tall (~196cm) and wondering if a better bike fit for my Tarmac would solve this or this is just a function of an endurance bike (ie less pain in glutes) vs race fit. Appreciate any advice.
Have you compared the position (e.g., saddle height, saddle for / aft, handlebar drop) between the two bikes? If not, I would start there. If so, how far off are they?
Using the glutes is usually considered to be preferred over quads as they are normally stronger/ more fatigue resistant. Do they need to be more seasoned?
Outdoors it is more important to be aero so that would be my priority. There are a number of stretching and flexibility exercises that are useful if you aren’t doing them already.
And as @AlphaDogCycling suggests, compare the bike fit. You may benefit from something in between.
Assuming you’ve haven’t deliberately set up the 2 bikes the same…
More glute engagement is usually a consequence of closing hip angle/hips further back relative to the bb. Some glute engagement is a very much a good thing, but you can have too much of it.
I think this is a great instance where getting a bike fit, then (assuming the result is satisfactory) duplicating the key measurements on the second bike is the best option.
Despite different bikes (road, CX, Mtb), I have the same fit (saddle height to pedal spindle / saddle to handlebar). I had a professional fit and they said to replicate across all bikes.
You should be able to replicate the same fit across your two bikes. Are these the same?