If the Bike Fits; Ride It!

Elvis, meet Colnago. Colnago, meet Elvis.

The Bicycle Doctor had my new bike and I in for a session yesterday. The good news is that it looks as if the relationship will be a good one. Sure, we each had to make some compromises. We each had to admit that we had made mistakes and that for the relationship to be a long and strong one we each needed to be sensitive to the needs of the other. Communication and sensitivity will be the keys to a long and enjoyable relationship according to the advice of the good Doctor.

There are so many theories on bike position that I have avoided going in for a fitting thinking that they were as likely to muck up my position as they were to make me more comfortable or more powerful on a bike. But after both Buster and The Boss recommended that I go to the Bicycle Doctor to see Doctor Tom I finally relented. Click HERE to see the method I had previously used to set up my bike position.

Doctor Tom is well-known around these parts. As much for the famous Saturday morning 'Drop the Doc' ride as for his years of riding bicycles and owning and running a local bike shop. What I really like about Tom is his willingness to cut through all of the crap and get down to what really matters on a bike; comfort and power. He also subscribes to the LeMond method of getting the knees square and over the pedals, which makes sense to me.

First off, Tom had me spin easily on a trainer. He observed me from the front and the side to get a feel for where I was in relationship to the pedals. He then measured my hip angle; both with my foot at the bottom of the stroke and with my foot at 9:00 o'clock. From that he made a quick conclusion that my shoe cleats were too far back. He moved them forward so that the ball of my foot would be slightly behind the spindle of the pedal so that I could get maximum power on the forward and downward portion of the pedal stroke. This also opened my hip angle slightly which hopefully results in a bit more power.

The measurements also confirmed that my saddle was too low. We spent the next few minutes raising the saddle, spinning and measuring, until we found the optimum height. He would continually ask me how the position felt because he believes that the "feel" of the rider is every bit as important as the science of the fitting. He would rather that a person be comfortable than for a person to fight to be in a textbook position.

Since the seat tube angles back at 73.5 degrees any upward positioning of the saddle also required some compensatory movement forward. As the saddle goes up it also goes back because of the angle of the seat tube. To get this right Tom used a laser beam to accurately get a saddle fore/aft position that placed the forward part of my knee directly over the pedal spindle when the pedal was at the 9:00 o'clock position. This, according to the LeMond method, provides more efficiency as well as less stress on the knee joints. The neutral-knee position.

Note the position of the tape which marks the starting point. The saddle went up 1/2 inch (12.7 mm) and it went forward 3/8 inch (9.5 mm).

Once those positions were dialed in the next thing to measure/adjust was feet angle. By this I mean the rotation of the foot from side-to-side (the deflection from flat of the inner part of the foot to the outer part). That last line was confusing, wasn't it? Just go HERE for a better description of the problem as well as the solution, from Lemond Fitness.

Doctor Tom again used his laser device from in front of me to measure the deflection of my knee position in relation to my foot, the so-called forefoot tilt I was trying to describe above. From this measurement he was able to determine that I did in fact have some foot deflection. The solution was to insert some plastic wedges in between the sole of my shoes and the cleat to compensate for my forefoot tilt. Tom said that the classic knee-in riding position of years past has been proven to be less efficient and more likely to cause knee injuries that the neutral-knee position. Look at some old pictures of professional riders or watch some old Tour footage and you'll see riders with their knees bumping the top tube on each stroke. And then remember that many rider's careers ended with knee injuries, something we don't hear a lot about any more.

After that we spent some time making sure that my position felt good. I did feel 'tall' on the bike and I could feel the wedges on my shoes but none of it caused pain or discomfort so that was good. But I didn't feel particularly powerful either. Tom said I needed a few days of easy riding so that my muscles could get used to the new position before I would feel any benefits. New positioning means that different areas of the leg musculature will be asked to do more work and those muscles need time to 'break in'.

Then Doc checked my elbow angles as I rode the hoods and the drops. He said that handlebar width and stem length have more to do with comfort than with power so whatever 'felt' good was good. How refreshing, a shop owner not trying to sell me some equipment to solve a non-existent problem. I'm beginning to like this guy. The last thing he checked was handlebar height. He thought that I might want to raise it a bit due to the 1/2 inch rise in my saddle. But since it felt good to me the way it was we decided to leave it alone for now. if I experience any low back pain I can creep the bars up a bit.

As we were finishing the Sram rep stopped in to give Tom a demonstration of the new 10 speed shifting componentry. I hung around for the demo and my initial reaction is that it's nothing special. No features that break any ground when compared to Campy or Shimano, no weight savings and it's priced about the same. I see no reason to switch. But I do think that competition is a good thing and if this forces Campy and Shimano to innovate, all the better.

The fit session ran $75.00 and for that Tom also set up a second pair of shoes for me. Was it worth it? Only time will tell. Since I'm about to log some major mileage I should be able to give you an update in a week or so.

For some general tips on bike position go HERE. For more on the Greg LeMond system of fitting I recommend that you find a copy of his book, "Greg LeMond's Complete Book of Bicycling". In addition to his ideas on fitting you'll find tons of other useful information. And for a contrary view, just to add to the confusion, go HERE.

Later that evening The Boss took me out for a moderately paced 30 miles and what I noticed the most were the wedges in the shoes. I could see that my knees were staying vertical and the side-to-side swaying was all but imperceptible, so the wedges seem to be working. My legs were more sore than usual the following morning and that I suppose can be attributed to the muscles working a bit differently than before. I'm not talking about severe soreness, just different.

I've got just a few days before I begin the second annual "50% of the miles, 100% of the effort" Tour journey so hopefully my legs will quickly adjust. Speaking of the Tour journey, I do plan on posting a ride report every day so please stay tuned. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about you can peruse my posts from last year by clicking HERE and HERE. Essentially, I ride 50% of the Tour de France mileage every day of the Tour. It's hard, it's fun. You can keep track of my progress by clicking on the "Tour Mileage Chart" in the column at the left. And if you're in the area of Milwaukee, WI and want to do one of the rides with me just send me an email, I'd love the company.