I thought this would be handy for a variety of reasons, my having tinkered around with my position over the year, wanting to get a racing bike and also with a view to time trialling. So I phoned up and booked a session, which took place in central London a couple of days ago.
It turned out to be quite an experience and certainly value for money. I had a fitting a year and a half ago but that just took some basic measurements and put them into a spreadsheet. It was useful (primarily in getting me to heighten my seat) but this was in a different league.
All in all it took around 3 hours to get measured up for a road bike and a TT bike. The major differences from my earlier fitting were that a lot more time was spent measuring/sizing up my body, the fitting took place on a special bike mounted on a turbo (the "bike" had clamps all over it so pretty much every aspect of the frame could be varied in length/angle) and I got videoed.
Each of these had a bit of a revelation..
When I got measured up I found that my right leg is shorter than my left and that I carried my right shoulder lower than my right. Both were news to me, despite living with my body for nigh on 50 years. I also have a tendency to slouch (which isnt news)..
As a result of the leg length difference I got some "wedges" fitted. These fit under my cleats and have a couple of effects. Firstly I have got more on the right foot than the left (which sorts out the difference in leg length) and secondly the angle my feet a bit differently so that they are more in line. The difference these made was amazing. I always thought my right leg was stronger than my left because it felt like it was doing more work. I realise now it was because it was over extending on every stroke. With the wedges fitted both legs feel like they are in balance.
Videos of me cycling were a bit of a downer. I had fondly imagined I had a lovely straight back a la TDF riders. In fact as the picture below shows I look more like Quasimodo then a bike pro. (Reminds me of similar experience I had when I got videoed for some golf lessons. The person on the screen looked like a different person.)
It also shows how far back my knee is compared to the centre of the pedal. After quite a bit of adjustment I ended up looking like this:
Back is a bit straighter (but this is something I have to work on). The effect is to feel much more connected through the pedal stroke. Apparently this is as a result of my glutes working and helping my power. (IOW I need to get my backside working).
Phot also shows how my knee is over the pedal when its horizontal, which certainly feels a lot better.
Once road bike sorted, we looked at TT. This was my first experience riding on aero bars and it was a surprise. I thought they would be uncomfortable but in fact they were really easy to ride on. I managed to find a comfortable position quite quickly and found the bars actually to be a lot easier than riding on my drops.
Anyway here is how I ended up looking:
Not perfect but then looking at some pics of the pros below then there is quite a bit of variety and I don't seem to look like a creature from another planet compared to them.
I left the fitting in a pretty good mood and headed home (aside: stopped for a pint with Phil at Paddington, talked of Munich and beer festivals nearer home, one at Oxford couple of weeks away..)
I set up my Giant winter bike with the new settings and had a roller session. Turned out pretty good, certainly felt a lot more connected. When going hard nothing in my legs seemed to be out of balance or especially stood out in pain terms and limiter was my aerobic capacity, which is I guess how it should be.
Looking forward to trying it on the road..so set up my fixed with new settings (looks a lot different now) and will try it out later today..
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