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Old 04-12-12, 09:47 AM
  #23  
Hermes
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The most important aspect of fit is comfort which is very important in racing bicycles. I cannot imagine doing a 3 week grand tour if I was in pain due to the bike not fitting. I cannot imagine doing a 2 hour road race and sacrificing comfort and being in pain for the sake of speed. It is just not done. I can say that tooling around riding slow results in my ass getting sore but it is never a problem racing.

What performance cyclists do is adapt their riding position to optimize power production and lower aero drag. Typically, this is a work in process and occurs by making incremental changes over time. My road bike fit is the same as the last Retul Fit I had in 2010 and my track and TT bikes have been modified for aero performance and power production.

IMO, most bike shop and even pro fits are static. The cyclist is fresh and strong and can sit on the bike with great posture and do whatever the fitter requests. Also, this is the fit and posture that is used when tooling around with friends or riding in a relaxed state. Most, if not all, of the weight will be on the hands and sit bones. As time goes on, the hands, neck, shoulders and ass start to get sore from supporting the weight and one starts thinking that maybe I need a better or at least a different saddle.

Typically, what is not taken into account is the fit when you are tired and generating more power. In this case, there is a lot of pressure on the bottom of your feet and you feel the stress in your knees. However, the hands and ass feel good because the feet are now dynamically supporting more weight.

If you are not climbing, you have slid forward on the nose of the saddle with your arms bent on the hoods or in the drops with your quads doing a lot of work. The wind is tormenting your face due to the speed. Knee over the pedal axel is long gone since your knee is now in front of the pedal axel and your entire body has rotated toward the handlebars and the effective seat height is less. If you have an old Brooks saddle you are riding on the rivets an expression coined for racers when they were at full power. Life is good and all focus is on power production in a comfortable, powerful position.

If you are hill climbing the body position shifts again as you slide to the rear of the saddle to engage the glutes as the effective seat height increases as the body rotates the other direction. Cadence is slower and you are grabbing the tops of the handle bar as the torque in your knees is of epic proportion and the soles of your feet are glued to the pedals by the force generated by the glutes virtually lifting your ass off the seat. Once again the feet support more body weight yielding a comfortable ride.

The body seeks a position on the bike to make the most power for the terrain and cadence being driven by the mind.

When I trained with the Russians they changed my fit a couple of times based upon observation on a long rides when I was tiring and what they observed as I rode in different postures at different cadence.

The bottom line is that comfortable fit with a great aero position is elusive and not easy. Comfort, in many cases, is a function of power production and ones ability to change body position. Fit changes dynamically on the bike as road situations change and the cyclist adjusts.
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