The Bike Fitting Mega-Thread

100% you need to move some things around in major ways… And the UCI guidelines would be the absolute last worry if I were you. Unless you’re on the podium of some high level UCI sanctioned races, you’re in the clear. (I also believe that you’re allowed one morphological exemption based on anatomy, I know that it applies to saddle fore-aft for TT, but I assume road as well) As mentioned, you’re saddle looks way too far back. Based on the top photo, notice the position of the center-point you made of your knee. Your knee is “behind” your entire foot(green line). This means that in what is supposed to be the most powerful portion of your pedal stoke(which is just prior to this photo in your stroke), you’re forcing yourself to push diagonally towards the front of your bike(see yellow arrow), rather than straight down. And with that, you’re then not using gravity, and your body weight, to help the quads. What you’re then having to do is “pull” with your arms in an attempt to drive your hips and glutes forward. This in turn won’t allow you to relax your upper body or back, so you’re not opening up your hips at all, as you’re requiring that tension to have something to back up your pedal pressure.

So, to start… Move your saddle way forward. I’d say 40mm as a starting point. You mention that you encounter pain when you do, so make sure you raise it as you move it forward. If you’re comfortable with the saddle “height” you have now, understand that you’ll have to physically raise your saddle a few mm for every centimeter you move it forward(this is due to the fact that you’re measuring saddle height along a ~74degree seat tube, so by essentially moving that plane more vertical you’re shortening the horizontal distance that plane covers).
fit2
See the second photo I attached. The red line is your current fit. The blue line doesn’t change the length of any of the lines, but simply pivots the whole leg forward, and then allows the upper body to adjust accordingly. Notice how much more open your hip is, how “on top” of the pedal stroke you look, and how much more solid your shoulder angle is, as well as your forearm and wrist…
fit3
With that change, you might have to tweak your bar position, but I bet it won’t be far off from ideal. Keep in mind that it’ll feel weird for the first couple rides, but I can assure you that it won’t be worse off for you than where you’re at now…

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