I find myself towards the end of the work holiday year with days off still to take. As I'm not able to carry more than a few vacation days over into the next holiday year I often take a few early or late November long weekends. This is precisely what happened on Monday, a day where I found myself in Bournemouth to take in the sights of the peer, the slot machines and the golden sands. The other, and more important reason for this seaside visit in the rain was to have a bike fitting with the good people at Primera Sports.
Recent bouts of minor, and seemingly healed, injuries aside, 2011 has been relatively uneventful on this front. I rode for most of the summer without any major pains or niggles which for me and my past history (3 ops on the left knee and 2 on the right) was most welcome. Naturally I'm keen for this good fortune to continue, particularly as I'm in the middle of a winter training that's using intensity rather than volume as the driver for physiological adaptations.
It's this higher intensity that caused me to seek out a decent bike fit. While of course I could use Google as my guide I'd rather spend some cash to know, and here's the important bit, to see I'm riding in the most efficient and injury reducing fashion as is possible.
To this end I chose the Retul method over something such as Specialized BG Fit and while I'm sure both would be more than suitable, the Retul method's use of 3D image capture means I'm 100% sure everything's as right as right as can be with not a plumb line or knee angle measuring device in sight.......
The Fit
The fit takes place in a little alcove of the shop that fits the Retul image capture device, a turbo trainer and plenty oh proactively positioned highly priced bike loveliness. Anyone for a Lightweight wheel set or a Dogma frame perhaps?
Anyway, the fit started with the chap explaining what was going to happen and giving a basic overview of the science and rationale behind what we were looking to achieve. We then spoke of my goals, riding style and injury history before undertaking a few tests on my flexibility (legs straight with hands flat on the floor).
We then moved onto the next stage which saw LED markers attached to 8 points on the body (the wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle, heel & joint of the little toe). This all complete I jumped on the bike and pedalled in my natural style which enabled the Retul system to build an exact anatomical profile of my pedalling style for comparison with what it "should look like".... so to speak.
 |
| Above: Screen grab of Retul image capture (not mine by the way) |
 |
| Above: Overview of LED placements (again, clearly not me) |
Having captured this data the chap went on to make a few changes here and there on the bike before I jumped back on and did the same thing again. This went on on for a good hour or so until we were both happy with my new riding position.
Once this was complete I went off for a coffee and left the chap to take precise machine led measurements of my bike and its set up so I'd be able to recreate what we had achieved on any given bike in the future
So what changed?
We concluded I was riding the right size frame and had a correctly sized stem for my height and flexibility. My cleat position and was also in the right place and didn't need touching. We did make a 20mm reduction in saddle height while also moving it forward 15mm which I suppose is quite an adjustment. It's hoped this will improve efficiency and offer more stability throughout the pedal stroke which in turn should enable me to produce a higher rate of Watts for a given heart rate.
Conclusion
With 4 hours post fit riding in my legs I can certainly feel the difference. The lower and pitched forward saddle position has given me a feeling of greater stability - my hips certainly feel stronger in the pedal stroke with less side to side rocking motion than before. As for efficiency and Watt creation, it's too early to tell. I'll certainly be looking at the data over the weeks and months. Perhaps I'll report back on my findings come the spring time.
At £148 a session it's clearly an expensive option (Specialised BG fits seem to be around £120 give or take) although for now I feel it was value for money. The fit was well organised, professional and actually quite enjoyable.
While it's still early days at the moment I would recommend the service to others. Riders seem to be happy to spend a good couple of grand on a bike and hundreds on shaving a few grams off a set of wheels. For me, I'd rather spent the cash on this type of fit and perhaps but back that Mince Pie come the Xmas period.
No comments:
Post a Comment