Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Pre Bike Fit Thoughts

I'm a couple hours from going in for my Retul bike fit. I went back and forth quite a bit trying to decide if this was worth the money. It's not like I'm ever going to get money back from this investment. The whole thing for me is injury prevention.
As you might remember last year, I had that trouble spot just below my right knee. After my runs, I was having to ice down and I had 24 hours of trouble. Heck when Jim saw it he really figured something was disconnected or damaged. Initially I thought this was a run injury, seeing how my knee popped that one morning during a run. I'm not positive it was exclusively a running injury. It's really difficult to be positive about anything when you are training three different sports. I am positive about one thing though. My right hip/lower back hated being on the bike for more than an hour all of last year. So there are 2 things from last season that I'd like to try to fix.
Then of course I have a new saddle and my new cleats and pedals. My right ankle and knee has not been happy with this change at all. I'm not sure what's up. I'm not sure I can even describe it well to someone so that they can offer suggestions. My current fit is bad enough that I've taken a week off the bike going into this fit because I don't want to get used to my current bad setup. I also didn't want my ankle and knee to be injured.
All that is probably more than enough reason to want help getting a bike fit. Now the next part of the equation. Trusting the person fitting you.
Laurel Wassner recommended Drew at Ridgewood Cycle Shop to me. There is a big +1. Pros are happy with their fit. Next, I wanted to find out more about this guy. Well he's finished 4 ironman races. Another +, he's a triathlete. I say that because if he was a road biker, he might not be knowledgeable to the finer points of a triathlon fit. (especially me with my clip-on areobars). Alright, I'm definitely feeling confident about my choice.
So what's in the back of my mind right now? The fact that every bike shop I go into, when they eye me up to get a bike size they peg me for a 56cm and I'm on a 54cm. My legs are so short I can't stand over a 56cm top tube. I'm definitely curious to see what types of adjustments they will be making. Heck, maybe this bike is just all wrong for me and I should buy a properly sized Cervelo. ;-) I'm joking. I'd be really surprised if they tell me I'm on the wrong frame. I'm not going to be surprised if we have to swap out stems or seat posts tho'.
I'm sure there is more, but I feel this is just a rambling post at this point. I'm excited. Looking forward to fixing this problem with my right side, then getting back to training. Only 103 days until the Columbia Triathlon!

PS: I had to smile when I saw that Laurel has the picture I took of her at Uberman up on their new homepage.

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