So today I went up to Sports People to get my clip on aerobars installed. Then be fit to my bike.
I expected a couple things to happen.
1) He would comment that I bought the wrong size bike. This happened. I asked in what way was it the wrong size. He said it looked to be too small but let's wait until I get on the bike.
(for the record if my bike's top tube were a centimeter taller, I would have no standover clearance maybe even negative, ouch!) More on this later.
2) I would be told my biking speed is being limited by my lack of hamstring flexibility. I think this may have been mentioned 5 times. Ha ha.
Once we got the clip-on aeros in place. He got me onto the bike to get a look at my pedaling stoke. He asked "you said that you were feeling out of position climbing hills?" I said yes, that was one of the reasons I had mentioned in our call earlier. He then explained that my saddle height was too low and that I would definitely be lacking power during climbs as a result. So I was out of position on the saddle because I could only get the power of full extension if I were to "stand" another inch or so above my current position.
So first adjustment is higher saddle position.
To get the aerobars in a good position for me, he flipped my stem over. Which I believe made the stem more parallel to the ground. It was angled up slightly before.
He then had me try them out. He then brought up an issue Shawn mentioned in a previous post. Flat back or arched back.
This guy is all about flat back. Bend from the waist, not from mid-torso/abs, that's just going to constrict breathing ability....
In the aero position, it will be possible for me to do this. It will be tougher for me to do this in the hoods or drops. This is because if I didn't add aerobars to this bike and was there for a road bike fit today, he would have put a longer stem on the bike so that I would be able to stretch out further to be in the hoods or drops. (remember he said the bike was too small initially).
I guess I had never looked at what part of your arms rest on the pads for the aero position. So once we had discussed the fact that I'll be a bit more crunched in the hoods or drops. I asked about the pad position. He said it should be a plumb line below your ears. So I looked up some pictures so you can see this. How'd you do setting yours up Shawn?
This is an abbreviated version of what happened. He did a ton of tweaks to get to where we ended up. I was probably there about 60-75 minutes. He also got my bar tape put back together nicely. I had made a mess of my left side, he called me on it.
So after we had it all setup, I asked if he still thought it was too small. He decided that it was fine. If I were to take off the aero bars, he'd put on a longer stem is all.
Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to use my power meter until I come up with something that will fit between the aerobars to put the watch mount. I'll be back to cadence and speed for awhile. Again without a place to mount the watch, I'll just have it on my wrist. Not very useful while biking, it also doesn't always catch the cadence signal as well.
I'd like to have this resolved before the Mooseman. I'll admit I'm a bit of a slave to the numbers. My HR mostly but because that's something I've trained with, it would be stupid for me to change away from that for the race.
After the fit, I went directly to the Y parking lot and did the easy loop there. I figured it would be a safe place to get familiar with the aero position. I didn't find it too different to ride in this position and was comfortable quite quickly. My initial thoughts about it are:
It's now a drag having to move your hands to the shifters.
Man these things had better be on tight. If they were to loosen up, it would be one heck of a wreck.
I didn't have a speedometer, so I can't tell you if it's made an instant improvement.
I can say without a doubt, that the seat height adjustment has made hill climbing less awkward for me.
I did 2 12 mile loops today. So 24-25 miles, often times I've found that when I get to the 15+ mile rides my right hip would start to give me grief. That didn't happen at all today. I'm guessing the saddle height fixed that for me.
Unfortunately, my lower back still complains more than I'd like. That's probably because of my tight hamstrings..... I guess I'd better stop typing and start stretching.
If I get a chance I'll post up some pictures.
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