This week I scheduled a pro fitting for the new ride. This is one of the most important things you can really do for you bike. A bike fitting sets up everything on your bike for you! This means the seat height, saddle position, bar position, stem length, crank length, etc. As soon as I got my bike I knew I needed a fit, so I set it up. I’ve had some fits in the past but this time I decided to go top of the line.
A company called ERO is located here in southern california. They do fittings and so much testing for top pros all around. Many professional triathletes come here to do real work aero testing on the velodrome. So needless to say they know their stuff! One of their fittings is a local guy here to Long Beach, he is a professional track rider named Nate Koch, aka “The Showman”. He actually does the fittings out of the same shop I normally go to so I booked an appointment with him.
The day before the appointment I got a reminder and letting me know to make sure to bring my bike, and all my ride gear. Since you will be riding and what not so you should fit with what you use. So I got there and brought all my in and Nate was there setting things up to start. First thing was we sat down and he asked me some questions. Starting with the feet and going up, things like any numbness in my feet while riding, any issues etc. The feet, knees, back, shoulders, hands etc.
After that he pulled out a table and I layed down on my back and he checked things out. My right leg is a bit shorter then my left for example, and he checked out my flexibility in my legs, hips and flexors. Then after all that it was to the fit bike, where we started pedaling and setting things along. He started with the measurements from my new bike and we went from there. He started to put some motion capture dots on me to find my body in space while pedaling. A camera would find those spots and capture a bunch/second and then find out all the angles and what not of my body while riding.
We started there and then started tweaking the position, see how it felt and record to see the numbers. It was very cool to say the least. Small changes really changed the body position and how it felt on the bike. I that can be the hardest part, when a small change happens it’s hard to express what that means in feeling. The motion captures adds to it, so if it feels the same but your hip angle is different that really tells a story.
One of the biggest thing is to find the right saddle, that can be such a challenge. So tried a couple and right now sitting on a demo ISM saddle to try out. Nate then transfer all the numbers to my bike and set it up. Next step he told me was to go out and put some miles on it. Call him if anything feels off in some way. With my session I have 2 follow up sessions to really find that perfect fit. That is great cause it’s a lot of pressure to get it right 1 time on the trainer. Out on the road is completely different, so that’s the next step and lets see how it goes.
Okay this post is long enough… lets ride!
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