Mid-Season Tune for Heather Jackson

May 23, 2017

Heather Jackson is already known as a beast on the bike, but I had the temerity to suggest more was on the table. "Heather Jackson rides strong, I wrote. " She rides hard. She rides fast. But I think she could ride a little lower.”

Above is the image to which I referred, from Oceanside 70.3 earlier this year. A week before Chattanooga 70.3 Heather Jackson checked in with Mat Steinmetz at 51-Speedshop in Boulder, Colorado.

"Just a quick report back on Heather's new position,” her husband Sean Watkins (Wattie Ink) wrote me. "She did a 4 and-a-half hour ride this past Saturday on the bike and was super comfortable and able to ride her prescribed power, and in her words, 'it felt easy.’ She's way more aero dynamic, comfortable and able to put out more power."

"How did the new position hold up during the race?" I asked Sean. "For sure, she loved the new position. She said that she felt comfortable all day, was able to hold and or exceed target power numbers and felt amazing on the run off a really aggressive bike ride.

"She also notices that she is riding a bit higher cadence with the new position and able to hit or exceed her power target with the higher cadence. After Ironman Boulder in three weeks she is going to move from 170mm cranks to 165mm, which we believe will be the icing on the cake.

How did the Chattanooga race work out for Heather?