Over the past few post you have heard from me about my new bike and the history of the bikes I have owned. I also told you how he most important think is that the bike fits you. It is not so much how much it costs, how much it weights, or how pretty it is. The single most important this is how does it fit you? Even if you get totally aerodynamic like you see on TV with professionals it will not do you a bit of good if you can not generate the power or if you can not hold the aero position for long.
Just this past October I was in the NBC van watching the Ironman triathlon. The camera man I was with was going back and forth between the top man and the top woman. So when we were done filming the woman we had to drive up to the men. Along the way I watched many of these professional men riding. You will not believe how many professionals were just standing up on their bikes by mile 80 of the bike. Here are these very fit looking triathletes, with very expensive bikes and very aero cone helmets standing up on their bikes catching as much wind as possible. Did they just give up or are they just hurting too much. What a waste of equipment! I can bet you that some of these just could not hold the aero position anymore because of either, a bad bike fit or lack of fitness.
Over the years I have had a few bike fits, but last Tuesday I had the best bike fit I have had. I live in Boulder Colorado and there is a place called the “Boulder Center for Sports Medicine”. Their bio mechanics laboratory is quickly becoming the Mecca in bike fitting for top triathletes from around the world. Not only had the likes of Peter Reid and Tim Deboom stopped by but just a few weeks ago Torjborn Sindballe the current Hawaii Ironman bike course record holder stopped by. Like he needs more help on the bike.
I decided to not only bring my new Trek bike but also brought my current Ritchey steel bike so that they could see what I was riding first. They took my bikes first and I was met by Tammy Dick who began by first checking my flexibility. Remember what I said above about not being able to hold your aero position. Well, lack of flexibility is the number one reason for this. Turns out I have flexible hamstrings but my hips themselves are not so flexible. Tammy took some measurements of asked me questions regarding any issues with my knees, hips or back when I ride. My most recent problem is back stiffness. So Tammy took note of all this and proceeded to walk me over to my bike for a warm up.
Todd Carver who is the biomechanics expert decided to take a look at me on my current bike first. So I mounted and they observed. Then I warmed up and rode to a 70% effort. At this point they rolled the film and all the cameras went on. There is a set of cameras all around me that film all the movement. But before the cameras go on Todd placed a set of little reflectors in all the points of interest. Those include the knee, the foot, the hips and others. The film from all the cameras is synched up afterwards and a three dimensional stick man is put together by the computer. With this stick man they can measure precisely my knee angles, my knee tracking over the pedals, my back swing, etc. All these angles are then compared to what is statistically appropriate for bike riders. They also see if it all makes sense or not based on what was discovered in the physical exam and my current back problems. Turns out my current bike position was perfect. Well perfect but for a road rider. So that meant that as long as I never got down on the aero bars and just stayed in the hoods it was right on the money. Well unfortunately I am not going to race bikes. They concluded that as son as I got down on my aero bars I was putting too much stress on my lower back for two reasons. One, I was too far back on the seat so I had to extend out thus putting pressure on the lower back. The second reason was that being back also caused my lower back to sway just a bit too much when in the aero bars. Working on my hip flexibility and losing some pounds from my stomach will help this but I am not there yet. Their suggestion; take the aero bars from this bike off and use it as a road bike. It is perfect for that.
So now we move to my new Trek. The goal now would be to find a position that will make me aerodynamic by allowing me to get on the aero bars without putting stress on my back. To do this we have to open up the hip angle. So we do this by first moving the seat forward and raising the seat height. So basically I am getting pushed up and over the bars. This opens up my hip angle and when I lower myself on the aero bars I will be more supported by the bars and not put so much stress on my back. They also raised my bars to further open my hip angle. As I get fitter and work on my flexibility I may be able to lower this as long as I have no back discomfort.
One of the things they did was measure my power output at 70% effort, apparently I was producing 200 watts on my Ritchey and I also produced 200 watts on the TREK. Being on top of the pedals more on the Trek put my quads to more use. My quads felt the effort for sure. But yesterday on my ride I already feel better about it.
So there you have it. I had a great experience and learned some new tricks during the process. Now I just have to get used to the new position and ride the bike easy for a while. This is the best time of the year to get your new bike fit. Changes in bike positions can make you faster but your body needs to get used to it. So if you do this in the racing months it may not be a good idea since you may have to ride hard and potentially get hurt if the changes are significant.
This week was another great week of training for me. I had some small breakthroughs in the pool. We did a set of about 250 yards three times ending with a very fast 50. For the 50’s I went 30, then 29 and a 28 on the last one. I can not remember that last time I went a 28 for a 50 in a set off the wall. I was psyched. Later in the week we did a set of 4x200 IM and I went a 2:35 on the last 200. That was not that fast for me but fast because it was the last 200. That 50 fly in the 200 adds up. Finally today I had another awesome long run. 90 minutes average HR 129 and max 138. Then in about 30 minutes my HR was down to 49 sitting in the couch. That is the one thing about getting that aerobic fitness and training aerobically. Yes the muscles are sore and can hurt but the body can recover very fast. I drank a bunch of water after the run to make sure dehydration was not going to play a factor. Then I had a banana about 40 minutes after the run and dinner an hour after. I can not eat much after a run. It gives me stomach cramps if I do. So I hope tomorrow I wake up feeling recovered.