Nose-down saddle tilt improves gross efficiency during seated-uphill cycling

Abstract

Riding uphill presents a challenge to competitive and recreational cyclists. Based on only limited evidence, some scientists have reported that tilting the saddle nose down improves uphill-cycling efficiency by as much as 6%. Purpose: here, we investigated if simply tilting the saddle nose down increases efficiency during uphill cycling, which would presumably improve performance. Methods: nineteen healthy, recreational cyclists performed multiple 5 min trials of seated cycling at ~ 3 W kg^–1 on a large, custom-built treadmill inclined to 8° under two saddle-tilt angle conditions: parallel to the riding surface and 8° nose down. We measured subjects’ rates of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production using an expired-gas analysis system and then calculated their average metabolic power during the last two min of each 5 min trial. Results: we found that, compared to the parallel-saddle condition, tilting the saddle nose down by 8° improved gross efficiency from 0.205 to 0.208—an average increase of 1.4% ± 0.2%, t = 5.9, p < 0.001, CI_95% [0.9 to 1.9], d_z = 1.3. Conclusion: our findings are relevant to competitive and recreational cyclists and present an opportunity for innovating new devices and saddle designs that enhance uphill-cycling efficiency. The effect of saddle tilt on other slopes and the mechanism behind the efficiency improvement remain to be investigated.