I slept in this morning, although I intended to ride earlier. However, rest is an important aspect of training that has a domino effect if we reduce it significantly. After last night’s 25K run, I was still recovering, as my legs felt a bit weak when I encountered headwind on my ride. Two hours of committed riding with focus on spinning my compact-crank (had this retro-fitted this week) and the feel of new tyres, I grabbed lunch and then headed home. My ride felt good as my measurements continue to serve me well on my custom-crafted bike. The entire frame was not made from a mould, but constructed by hand from my measurements.
Here is an article one by of my Twitter friends, Victor who wrote what I believe is worth considering if you want a comfortable, long ride. Seek an experienced bike-fitter locally to refit you. Stock-frames are not built exactly for you body, unless you are willing to reconfigure your posture, flexibility and muscular imbalances to fit yourself to the whole bike. Here are some self-help suggestions you can use prior to your actual bike-fit.
7 bicycle fitting tips to make you more comfortable (and faster)
Though there is no substitute for seeing an experienced bicycle fitter, there are a lot of simple things you can do on your own.
Adjust your seat height. A properly adjusted seat-height is the most important aspect of bicycle fit. A rough starting point is with your foot at the bottom of the pedal stroke you should have around a 30-degree bend in your knee. This will give you a pretty close approximation of your saddle height from the bottom bracket to the top of the saddle.
Adjust the cleats on your shoes. I strongly encourage you to have the cleat position professionally evaluated. If set up incorrectly ,you will be wasting power and in some cases cause muscle strain and injury. The basic idea is to set the rotation of the cleat so that the center lines up with your natural gait. The fore and aft adjustment is dependent on your style of riding, body asymmetries, among other variables.
Raise your handlebars. A higher bar-height will open up your torso to hip angle and help with saddle comfort. Lower-back, hamstring, and hip flexibility are key to this positioning in this area. Improve your flexibility and improve your position. Raising your bars is also a good thing to do when you are not riding as much. Your flexibility will change as your fitness changes.
Level your saddle. Your saddle should generally be level or the nose pointed slightly up. If the saddle is uncomfortable in this position there may be something else that needs to be adjusted.
Level your bars. The drops of your handlebars should be roughly level or slightly up. This helps keep all the hand positions open.
Tilt your aerobars up slightly. By tilting your aerobars up slightly most people will find a more relaxed position for their upper body. Aerobar set up is a complex issue because of differences in design and use.
Put insoles in your shoes. Most cycling shoes have no arch support at all.
Victor Jimenez is a bicycle-fitting specialist and the owner of Bicycle Lab. Bicycle Lab is based in Carrboro, North Carolina. Go to http://bicyclelab.com and sign up for his cycling tips newsletter.
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