So I went to my bike fitting today...

Yeah, I know - one week out from my first tri - why am I just now doing it? Well, I just never got around to it. But I finally did right my wrong..

Short story is - I bought my bike back in the beginning of the year from CraigsList, and found a bike who's rider was nearly the same exact body build as mine (except he was in shape..lol..). I'm 6' 2" - and at that point was at around 220 lbs. (now 197). So the bike felt good right off the bat and I just got on it and rode it. But I had read that I really should go get the bike "fit" to me..but I just kept putting it off.

So today I went to South Main Cycles in Belmont, NC and spent an awesome two hours with Steve there and can't tell you how much I learned - it was fantastic. I don't know *anything* about road biking other than that I'm a huge fan of the Tour and watch it every year..so the only things I know I picked up from that. Steve put my bike on a trainer that is setup in front of a flat screen, hooked up to a computer that runs a program that varies the intensity of the ride with accompanying video on the TV (it is really cool). A data set at the bottom shows RPM, speed, watts, grade, averages, mileage, etc.. Within just a couple minutes Steve made the observation that I was a "masher" and not a "spinner". I had no idea what those terms meant, but he suggested that for better endurance, I might try to pick up my tempo (I was down around 50-60) up to 80 or 90. I also was having a tendency to stay in the smaller front ring and the higher back gears, which puts an angular strain on the chain. My Quintana Roo bike (like most TT type bikes I guess) are designed to spend a lot of time on the big ring up front. Sure enough, once he pointed it out, I could tell how much smoother the chain sounded and felt.

I had been under the impression this would be some measurements of me on and off the bike - and it was - but he really worked me (relatively speaking). I'm a novice, in training tri(er?) with my first sprint this weekend, so I'm still working on my fitness. I'd guess I did about 15 miles at the fit session, with grades up to 13%, so I was sweating really good. I know that's not much mileage for most here..but for me, that's some work (I counted it as my ride today..lol..). He took a ton of measurements on and off the bike and really spent a lot of time explaining the physiology of why the adjustments should help. In the end, we lowered my saddle a few centimeters. He said he wouldn't normally drop it so much so quickly, but the amount I ride and the time I've been riding (only a few months) means I probably didn't develop too bad of habits. Dropping the seat gave me a better ankle to knee angle at the bottom of my pedal stroke - prior to the drop I was extending my leg quite straight and he said that could be problematic for my knees over the long haul.

He also mentioned the whole "scraping the mud" part of the cycling stroke that I guess a lot of novices like me forget about..that you can actually pull backwards at the bottom (resulting in a push almost naturally with your other foot) before transitioning to the upstroke pull and you can eek out a bit of extra smoothness there. I had never thought of it honestly. (That's why he's a professional bike fitter..and I'm not..) He also took measurements of my arms and elbows and tilted my handlebars forward a few degrees based on my stated position preference at this point. I told him I'm pretty much a rookie, just want to survive while I build into this triathlon sport, and he agreed. I pretty much spend 90% of my time on the upper bars by the brakes and only rarely drop into the aero position at this point, so he made the comfort adjustments based on my predominant position at this point. He said if I start to get into longer tris at some point, the aero position will be good for efficiency, and getting a break because that is much of what the bike portion is about for some riders.

Anyway - I was really impressed with Steve's thoroughness, his ability to explain things, and his ability to seamlessly weave tips and suggestions in with the why's of what he was doing. I wish I'd gotten the fitting done months ago - but I feel great that I'm better set up on my bike now. Last week the same shop did a total tune-up on the bike and I'm just really impressed with their whole operation. I'll definitely be going back.

Any-who - just thought I'd share my bike fitting story. Sorry if it's a TL;DR...

Me at the fitting: http://www.mudspikeftp.com/BIKE/BIKE-005.jpg- (yeah - I know..hairy legs, I haven't totally committed to the cycling tribe..lol..)

BeachAV8R


Edited by BeachAV8R 2015-07-20 3:34 PM