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The Importance of Proper Bike Fit
by The Bike Messenger

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Published: 02/25/2006

Today I went and got a bike fit done by Ray Woodford. Among other less obvious issues with my position, I found out my seat was WAY too high. I'll tell you why I decided to get a professional bike fit done in the first place...

Having been off the bike for about a year going into this season, I had some issues to contend with, including a knee that liked to be sore for no apparent reason (it started when I was racing before my layoff, but it got progressively worse DURING my layoff) and some extra weight to take off. Using "some" is actually being nice. What can I say, I guess I'm getting old -- hell, I'll officially be a "master" catgory racer in a few years. Having the aches and pains that come with aging, a body that was not totally cared for like it should be, and the "portly" body which I possessed when I started training, I thought it would be prudent to make sure of two primary things:

• Minimize injuries which are avoidable and unnecessary.
• Maximize efficiency and power output on the bike.

...oh and probably a third thing...:

• Maximize COMFORT on the bike.

I have started to realize that the third bullet point is probably the first reason to get a bike fit.

Comfort on the Bike. I think comfort is something that many riders overlook in their never-ending quest to make their bikes lighter and more aerodynamic. I like to look at it in the folowing manner: perhaps you have to ride for 10 minutes before your ass goes numb to be comforatble? Perhaps you're just not comfortable riding your bike for more than 45 minutes? When I say comfortable, I mean really comfortable where you're not thinking "holy cow, this kind of sucks". This would intuitively tell you that...

If you are not comfortable on the bike, two things are likely to happen:

• You will never maximize your efficency and power on the bike, as you will need to constantly adjust and re-adjust your position during your rides and races. Putting thought and effort into these on-the-bike adjustments is counter-productive to not only your power and efficiency, but also to your focus and concentration.
  
  
• You will be injured by stressing muscles, joints and tendons into positions that are EVEN WORSE for the body than what cyclists normally experience already. A proper bike fit is not "snake oil" - it will not keep you from sustaining typical overtraining or overreaching injuries - but it can minimize injuries simply caused by bad positioning. Not only will your knees, but your back, arms, and neck -- and just about every other part of your body -- will thank you.

My goals for getting a bike fit are to develop a more efficient and powerful pedal-stroke AND to just be comfortable riding my bike. I hope to concentrate on the things that make me faster -- like training consistently and hard. Workout number one is in the books with my new position, and although it's impossible to tell what the long-term results will be (perhaps I'll let you know down the road), I definitely felt fantastic during tonights workout. Like I said before, I don't expect it to be "snake oil" or "the magic pill", but I do suspect that it is going to make a great deal of difference over the long-haul.

Go get a bike fit - the worst than can happen is you'll screw up your currently awful position. Oh, and while you're at it, stop using that seat that feels like you're riding on the edge of a stone tablet just because it weighs 10 grams less!

See you on the road.

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