I was wrong, bike fit IS everything

OK, now it's been proven!  Sunday I raced my fastest bike split ever - 2:48:06 for 56 miles which is a 20mph average. 

I was at the Marquee Half-Iron triathlon-turned-into-duathlon down in Tempe.  The swim was turned into a 5K due to the lake closing (rain = urban runoff = lake closed until e. coli testing can be done).

After the 5K run came the 56 mile ride.  I rode the entire ride except a few turns on the aerobars - something I've never been able to do in a race before.  And that's on 8 weeks of training since the new cockpit & fit were done, for a total of 12 weeks this year.  After the bike I turned in a 1:59:35 run, which is off my HIM PR by only a few minutes, so I didn't cook my legs on the bike either.  5:16 total time.

This is the correct aerobars, seat, and fit all working together.  I'm really happy with the results so far.

Congrats on such a successfull race!

Bike fit is incredibly important...but don't sell yourself short!  Looks like some great fitness improvements were at play as well!!!

I won't go so far as to say that Fit is EVERYTHING... but I will say Improper fit is fatal!

Being a clydesdale doesn't change the fact that it's extremely important to get your Fit right.  What you have now might be functional and may not cause injury, but a proper fit will also help increase your efficiency and power output. 

I'm not a clydesdale, nor a particularly fast cyclist, but I've been riding my bike for nearly two years using the same fitting system as you ("well, uh, my feet reach the pedals, so...."). I did a fit last week. My seat was nearly two inches too low.

I'm not going to blame two years of knee trouble just on that, but whoa. Two freakin' inches.

Nice job Bruce.  That is a respectable time for sure.  Well done...but gotta agree....there's some fitness improvement there too.

Awesome!

not sure which fit you went with...but i have personally done BG FIT and have seen fitted by RETUL folks.  these guys know what they are doing.

My first bike I bought the guy fitting me told to stand next to the bike, and told me, 'Yep, looks about right, we'll need to lower the seat though'.   That bike never fit and was a pain to ride.

My second bike I got fit and it feels like an extension of my body.  The Speed Concept isn't quite there yet, but its close.  I keep messing with the seat and I think I need to drop my bars about an inch.  The guy that fit me did an okay job, but being in a tri bike my back has adjusted to the position and is looser now than it was when I bought it.

A little, but not a lot. 

The bike course was a shorter loop of the IMAZ course; at IMAZ it's three 37 mile loops and here it's two 28 mile loops.  I've never averaged higher than 18 on that course, and each time I've spent ~50% of the time in aero, and that time was often uncomfortable with some neck pain and some wrist pain.

On Sunday the conditions were ideal (low temp, low wind) and that helped, but what made the difference was that I could stay aero for all 56 miles - comfortably, with no pain, and feeling strong.  No neck pain, because I've been training in aero.  No wrist pain because I use ski bends now instead of R bends.

Bruce, I'm right there with you. Have been for a couple (three actually) decades.

I will, however, add an emerging realization to the "Fit is Everything" ethos that is a modifier:

" Bike Fit and Conditioning are Everything".

Here is what I mean:

There has been a societal push to "sell" fit (literally and figuratively) as the singular answer for comfort and performance on the bike, especially for new riders. Good. We've learned it isn't the entire story though.

Problems is, as an industry, we left something out, and this is: Conditioning for sitting on the bike correctly.

Good bike fit, especially for new riders, is more than just getting a person comfortable on their bike. That is a crucial start point, because: In order to ride well, first you must actually ride. From that start point the new cyclist may aspire to improve their performance. Go faster. Be more efficient.

Some people think bike fit is a one sided "facilitation" of adjusting the bike to make you comfortable. It is not. At least, not entirely.

The emerging side of fit for the current athlete culture acknowledges that most new athletes come to the cycling sports from a non-athletic or quasi-athletic background and at an advanced age- over 20. They need to condition themselves- their bodies- to sit on the bike and work effectively. Some of this is done in the cycling "school of hard knocks" where it is simply time in the saddle "getting your seat", losing weight and learning the sport of cycling. Some more of it is time off the bike building the muscular core, the complimentary muscles, reinforcing the skeleton and connective tissues through adaptation. These things are necessary to acheive an optimal interface with a bike.

Also, as fitness is adaptive- it ebbs and flows with work- so is bike fit and position. So it is a moving target that bares revisting.

It is great to see this realization creep into our sport though.

Ok, what kind of bike fit are we talking about?  My new bike (a Trek Equinox aluminum tri bike) was "store fit".  The owner of the LBS (a good one, I believe) put me on the bike and made adjustments for about ten minutes.  

Next level, the big tri shop near me (which has a very good reputation on our state forum for fitting) has their $125 Bike & Tri Positioning System Fit, a fancier "Retul" system for $225 which includes 3D measurements using infrared markers while you are in motion, and finally for $300, all that but also a Pedal/Shoe fitting.  The fitter I spoke to said the basic $125 fit took between a half hour and 1.5 hours and was the correct fit for 99% of the people out there.  

So again, how extensive a fit are you guys talking about here?

I discuss it partway down this thread (from the first post here): http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=240355&posts=11&start=1

This was a Serrota based fit, $200 for 2 hours.  Based on what you describe, it's equivalent to the $225.  I didn't do anything with shoes or pedals.