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@scarlet
Comfort
Comfort is king in my long-distance world. Mostly, this seems to come down to tyres plus contact points for me. I was a complete mess after PBP last time. I did a write-up after the event and noted my ailments: my achilles tendons were agony, I couldn't walk for a week. My backside was as sore as you would expect after 72h in one pair of shorts. And I lost feeling in both hands, mostly my little and ring fingers. All these eventually got better after a month.
I'd had a bike fit in advance of PBP. Although we made some tweaks afterwards, I don't think the position (saddle position, bar position) was to blame for the ailments. I have found some solutions and tested them since: aero bars relieve the hand numbness, even if I'm only on them for 30% of the ride. And midfoot cleats solve the achilles issues completely, however...
So, I have always had some issues with calves and achilles since my running days, but I didn't expect them on the bike. The problems at PBP were a surprise. After a lot of reading around, I decided to try a midfoot cleat position (I shifted my Look Keo cleats back 15-20mm). This reduces the load on the calf a lot, at the expense of sprint power. And I had no sprint power anyway.
I set about my shoes with a drill for the first attempt (and have drilled a lot of shoes since then, although I have discovered https://mid-foot-cycling.com/ since). If anyone is seriously interested in how to do this, I could do a write-up. But midfoot cleats have been a big improvement for me in all my riding/racing. There's a draw-back; with my foot 20mm further forward, and 175mm cranks, toe overlap is a pain, so for this new project, I'm looking for a frame with a long front centre. 610mm or more would be ideal between the BB and front axle.
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