Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Went to get fitted today

Not the "included with a bike purchase" fit, but rather the "two and a half hours, complete package" fit.

Lots of small changes made including shims under the liner in each shoe, lifting the left side of each foot 5 degrees. (apparently my left foot is weird) Small cleat adjustments. We raised the seat nearly an inch, and moved it forward some.

There are two bigger changes we made. The first was moving the brake levers up to where they should be. they were very low on the drops causing more pain in the wrist than expected. The second is we'll be replacing the stem with a longer model. They had the right length, but only for a larger diameter handlebar so they had to order it.

I'll report back after I put some miles on it. And again after the stem gets installed and I put miles on that. Just riding the trainer today I'm already a lot more comfortable on the bike.

Where'd you have it done?

Where'd you have it done?

I meet with Frank @ BGI North. I'm pretty sure he saved me a lot of time and money trying to get things right via Trial and Error.

let us know how it worked out for you.

the last part should be in later this week. I'll be putting fifteen miles on it tomorrow commuting to and from work with what's been done so far. Just cruising on the trainer it already feels quite a bit better.

I'll post again after tomorrow's ride, and again after Thursday when the remaining updates are done, and I've finished riding with Nebo Ridge. Going to dive into the "Bumble B" group with is 17-19 miles per hour over 25 miles. Which is 2 to 4 miles an hour faster than I usually average. I just know the best way to get faster is to ride with people faster than me. :)

Maybe Craig B. will be there this week.

Frank @ bgi north did my intro fitting. Just the little adjustments we did made a tremendous difference in my comfort. Maybe next season I will do one of the better fittings.

I need to correct that previous post..... remove Randy, substitute Frank.

I can't believe how much of a difference the 5 degree shims under the shoe liner makes, and the minor adjustments to my cleats...

I think each cleat moved less than 2mm in any direction but on the trainer my knees feel a lot better.

Frank is a good guy. I can't wait to see the new show room they're building.

I don't live to far south of you (Castleton Area) so if you happen to see a short fat guy riding a black/white trek 1.5 going up and down the monon or fall creek Greenway, give me a shout. I may also be seen riding with a friend on a trek madone 3.

why the shimms? One leg shorter? did he measure your legs?

actually I apparently stand with my feet tilted. These correct the angle from the bottom of the foot, allowing my knees to move up and down rather than tilting in and out on each pedal stroke.

See "in shoe wedges" on this page. http://www.bikefit.com/products.php

the last part should be in later this week. I'll be putting fifteen miles on it tomorrow commuting to and from work with what's been done so far. Just cruising on the trainer it already feels quite a bit better.

I'll post again after tomorrow's ride, and again after Thursday when the remaining updates are done, and I've finished riding with Nebo Ridge. Going to dive into the "Bumble B" group with is 17-19 miles per hour over 25 miles. Which is 2 to 4 miles an hour faster than I usually average. I just know the best way to get faster is to ride with people faster than me. :)

Maybe Craig B. will be there this week.

I'm going to try to be there, though I may be on the old Trek, as I'm taking the Synapse in for its initial tuneup after work tonight, and it may not be done until the weekend. I've got about 250 miles on it, and the shifting is getting a little sloppy. Nothing some cable tweaking can't fix, I assume, but since the service is free, I'll let them take care of it, along with going over everything else they go over during this service. I'm also planning to make the jump from the Cs to the Bumble Bs this week if I can get there on time.

I also have an appointment for my initial fitting with the Synapse next Monday evening. Should be interesting.

Frank is a good guy. I can't wait to see the new show room they're building.

I don't live to far south of you (Castleton Area) so if you happen to see a short fat guy riding a black/white trek 1.5 going up and down the monon or fall creek Greenway, give me a shout. I may also be seen riding with a friend on a trek madone 3.

I'll keep an eye out, too. I usually ride a white Cannondale Synapse. I live near 96th and College and like to use the Monon to get out of town to the north, taking it up to 161st (as far as it's currently paved), then heading east to go up into Westfield, or, like this past Sunday morning, to Noblesville and on up to Cicero before heading back west to finish up a 53 mile loop (http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/47079876). Early Sunday morning is a great time to ride that area. The next step is to expand that loop to the west to include Lebanon, Whitestown and Zionsville.

I'll keep an eye out, too. I usually ride a white Cannondale Synapse. I live near 96th and College and like to use the Monon to get out of town to the north, taking it up to 161st (as far as it's currently paved), then heading east to go up into Westfield, or, like this past Sunday morning, to Noblesville and on up to Cicero before heading back west to finish up a 53 mile loop (http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/47079876). Early Sunday morning is a great time to ride that area. The next step is to expand that loop to the west to include Lebanon, Whitestown and Zionsville.

I usually start out at the fall creek trail,head south to the Monon, then north until 161st and back. 43ish miles. I,m working on my first half century.

I got about 80% of my bike fit done by trial and error over 2500 miles of riding. It's the last 20% that I needed help with. It helped a lot.

Craig, if you see someone in the SLOW b's this week wearing an orange BikeMS Wisconsin Jersey on a naked (clearcoated) Trek Pilot 2.1 (1/4 carbon...) that looks kinda like this guy......

215753
215754

That's me :)

If I can make it, I'll be in a solid yellow Fondulac Bike Club jersey. I don't know which bike I'll be on - either the white Cannondale in this pic:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/2011%20Tri%20Indy/05.jpg

Or this old Trek, though it now has yellow bar tape:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/IMG_0667.jpg

Well, my Thursday schedule just got blown out of the water. We've got a client coming in at 4:00 for what I'm sure will be a long meeting. No shop ride for me this week.

Absenth, if you make it, let us know how the Bumble B ride goes.

I love it when that happens. ;)

I expect the Bumble Bs to drop me like a hot rock in the first 15 miles. Honestly, that's ok with me. Those 15 miles will still have a lot of benefit :)



Well, my Thursday schedule just got blown out of the water. We've got a client coming in at 4:00 for what I'm sure will be a long meeting. No shop ride for me this week.

Absenth, if you make it, let us know how the Bumble B ride goes.

I am encouraged by hearing so many bike fitting stories; everyone says they make a world of difference. Getting mine done on Friday... crossing fingers because I was supposed to get one almost a month ago now and had to cancel due to my wheel crapping out. Right now I'm having a really tough time surpassing 65 miles without feeling lots of pain. Hoping a fit will alleviate that.

65 miles doesn't mean its a fit issue. I see your weight in your Sig, that is a long time to be on a bike, things are bound to hurt.

things start hurting with anyone regardless of the weight.

mith: I know what you mean about things hurting. For me, its usually the hands and sometimes the right foot going numb and sometimes the elbows hurts. I stretch some on the bike, especially my hands and elbows.

Yeah for me it's my left hand going numb, my right knee starting to hurt, and my left foot starting to hurt.

The #1 pain used to be the saddle, but since switching to Brooks I've got that fixed.


Guess I'll just have to HTFU :D

knee pain could be from the saddle being too low or the saddle position. But they will go over that in hte fitting. Mine was because the saddle was pushed too far back.

yeah, i didn't mean things hurt because he is heavy but more that because he is heavy obviously it takes him longer to do 65 miles so the time in the saddle is going to make things start hurting. I remember how my neck felt after i did 112 miles last year. my training for it was more about getting my body able to handle that aspect than it was getting fit enough to actually pedal the miles. of course I chose to do that ride on the aggressive road bike. on my other bike I could have been more upright but probably would have been slower

Absent, I checked out that ride because I would like to meet a few people to possibly ride with. Why does everyone do rides on Thursdays? The wife is in class that night so I can't get out. Oh well, maybe next semester.

Absent, I checked out that ride because I would like to meet a few people to possibly ride with. Why does everyone do rides on Thursdays? The wife is in class that night so I can't get out. Oh well, maybe next semester.

Even the BGI rides are on Thursdays.

CraigB, to top that off IUPUI and BGIWellness partnered this year and are promoting riding. I enrolled in that and they do their rides Thursday as well. I'm just screwed :-D

knee pain could be from the saddle being too low or the saddle position. But they will go over that in hte fitting. Mine was because the saddle was pushed too far back.

Or too high up. WHERE the knee pain is can tell you a lot about what's causing it. Rear tends to mean a too-high saddle. Front tends to be too low. Inner and outer tend to deal with foot placement on your pedals.

good call richard! :)

I pick up my new stem tomorrow which will complete the fitting. However I went for a ride out of the Nebo Ridge bicycle shop tonight, and with the seat, and cleat adjustments so far I've already noticed a big difference.

I admit I pushed myself harder tonight than I normally would. Although my average Heart Rate doesn't really show it. I added a full 2.1 miles per hour to my previous fastest moving average speed over distance. (previously 15.1mph over 62.5miles) Tonight was (17.2mph over 26.39 miles.) The biggest difference was pushing 18-24 miles per hour to keep with the group, or sprinting off the stop signs to 24 miles per hour to keep up with the pack didn't hurt nearly as much as it did previously.

Garmin Ride Data Link: (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109401365)
Ignore the area between the green and red markers. I'm not sure how to edit out the erroneous data.

Saturday I'm planning a 40k (25 mile) ride with my friend James on a route we've ridden before. And Sunday I'm thinking about trying to ride my first Century ride. I'll let you all know how it goes after that.

Craig, you missed a heck of a ride tonight :)

Craig, you missed a heck of a ride tonight :)

Yeah, yeah... ;)

Seriously, I kept checking my watch during my meeting, hoping it would finish up in time. No such luck. We didn't wrap up until 7:30. And next week is a big push to get a job done before out of town clients show up for the weekend, so I can almost guarantee Thursday and Friday will be late days. Sheesh.

Glad to hear the jump to the Bumble Bs went well.

Got my fitting done yesterday. Moved my saddle up significantly, replaced the seatpost with a setback seatpost, lowered my bar ends, and I was done. He said to expect my hamstrings to be sore because in my old position I was not utilizing them very much. He said after I get accustomed to the fit, after a few weeks, I should move the seatpost up another whole inch. He doesn't want me going up that much in one shot, said it will be very uncomfortable to do that.

Took the bike out for a long ride today. Was planning on a metric, but had bailouts planned in case I didn't feel right with the new fit.

The first twenty miles were magical. I was going faster than I'd ever gone before... into a headwind on top of it all. At the point where I usually start to feel my knee aching a little, I felt like I just hopped on the bike for the first time in a week. Suddenly I'm going up inclines that I had to use my granny gear on last week... in my third chainring today. Hills seem much easier now than before.

However. I've noticed that I'm hunched down more. In this position, my massive girth seems to be constraining my performance, in that I am not able to get enough air into my lungs to handle my old cadence of 85-90 for sustained periods. On the other hand, I found it much easier to "mash" at 75-80 than ever before; I'm guessing since there's less stress on the knees and I'm using more muscles, it was easier to turn the pedals with more force. I am pleased at this, because I think this means that as my beer belly (not sure why I call it that, I don't drink! Maybe soda belly?) slowly melts away, I will be able to gain performance simply by being able to breathe better. Previously when I cycled my legs always felt "lactic" and were a large constraining factor on my performance. Not so this time; my legs felt fresh and new for the entire trip. It was really rather amazing.

I did have to take a bailout route however, and ended up with 45 miles instead of 62. Around mile 35 I started getting some massive back pains in my lower left back. This is not entirely new to me; I suffered the same back pains at the beginning of the season when I first started cycling again. My hypothesis is that my body is acclimating to the newer more aggressive position much in the same way it acclimated back in May. I only hope I don't accidentally throw out my back and lose a week of cycling... also like I did back in May.

Right now my legs feel like they did at the start of the season. There's that "oh hey, I'm one of those muscles you've never used before. We'll be getting to know each other really well" feeling all over my legs now. I missed that feeling.

Unfortunately my left one cramped up really bad as I was stretching it to itch a mosquito bite. Drank a can of tomato soup after the cramp, thinking maybe I'm running a potassium deficit, but more than likely it's just that the muscle hadn't been used this hard previously, and it's cranky.


I am encouraged by this. I just hope the back pain subsides again. I cannot possibly see myself completing a century if that continues.

Wow...your saddle must have been awfully low.

As far as being girth-restricted and that leading to abandoning your higher cadence efforts, are you riding in the drops? If so, there's no need to unless you're desperately fighting a headwind. Even at my largest, I never had constricted breathing when I rode on the brake hoods.

Wow...your saddle must have been awfully low.

As far as being girth-restricted and that leading to abandoning your higher cadence efforts, are you riding in the drops? If so, there's no need to unless you're desperately fighting a headwind. Even at my largest, I never had constricted breathing when I rode on the brake hoods.

I have flat handlebars, which are now lower than the saddle.

I originally raised the saddle on my own 3 months ago, but kept it low enough so that I wouldn't have issues mounting it. However after trying out the higher saddle today, I must say it was just fine mounting, so I guess my lower weight and stronger knees help me get up there more easily.


One thing I just noticed is that my left arm is very sore. I can't really explain this, but I noticed as I was hefting my bike up on the stand to check out the wheels. Now I'm having trouble lifting my arm above my head without it hurting.

In my fitting they moved the saddle up quite a bit, on two 20+ mile rides now I can say my legs, and especially knees appreciate the adjustment. The cleat adjustment and shims helped too I'm sure although those are much more minor adjustments than the saddle was.

Friday afternoon we replaced the stem, which moved the handle bars out about 2/3 of an inch, and up a bit. This allows me to ride on the hoods, with my forearms parallel to the ground, and still have a flat back. As a result I'm using my lower back a lot more to hold myself up, and my arms a lot less.... My elbows and wrists appreciate this a lot.

I fully expected to be uncomfortable for a few rides after the fitting, and I have been. luckily it's been minor. Primarily saddle sore, and a little bit in my hands.

Good luck Mithrandir! Hopefully you'll adapt and appreciate the fitting as much as I have.

mith: you might consider raising up your stem. Or you can get an adjustable stem (I did both).

ith: where does your arm hurt? Outside elbow?

Can't really raise the stem easily, it's an old threaded headset.

My upper left shoulder is where it hurts.