timely thread for me as i've just resolved (or at least addressed) some fit issues i've been dealing with.

last year at the beginning of the race season i got a pro fit (serotta cert'd fitter). it was my first formal fit, though i'd done a lot of self fits on the trainer using level and plumb lines and angles and such.

we had a weekly hill climb series at that point on a climb i knew quite well. the week immediately after the fit i didnt show any improvement, and was horribly sore after (to be expected, obv). the NEXT week i knocked 2 min off of my previous time (around 40 min) for a 5% improvement with no other changes.

it was a big breakthrough and i had a really solid first season racing, top 10s in all of my SRs and state championships. BAR win, upgrade, all that etc...

sold my bike over the winter, but neglected to save my measurements, and when i got my new bike i basically fit it by feel over the winter. i took a tool out with me on all my winter base miles and anytime i had a sense that something felt off i would just tweak it right there.

i got a dedicated TT bike this winter as well and did the same thing. fit both of them by feel.

early season went great, esp my TT which was hugely improved thanks to a lot of hard work and the right gear.

but i never felt as good or comfortable on my roadie as on my TT bike, and while i had a couple of exciting breaks and a crit podium, i never really felt like i was in good form this season.

then i crashed in mid june and lost a couple of weeks that i was counting on to be my big build weeks and everything went in the crapper.

with the season kinda shot, i figured i'd take advantage of my team shops retul fit, so i went in last week and low nd behold, i had misfit myself exactly the same way i did previously. i was way low and way forward.

corrected it and immediately felt overextended, but after about a half hour on the road i was comfortable and strong on the road bike like i havent been all season. even soliciting comments about my form from the teammates i was riding with. climbed with the elite guys on all the the steepest bit and just felt a smoothness i hadnt felt, but hadnt realized i was missing.

heres where it gets weird though:

i decided to check the leg extension that retul prescribed and apply it to my TT bike as well. since i'd self selected that fit, i figured it'd be off too. but my existing TT extension was almost EXACTLY the same as my retul Rx.

meaning i'd self selected a perfect TT fit and a crap RR fit, which goes a long way towards explaining my consistently good TT results this year and consistently meh Road results, even on FTP type climbs where i'm usually pretty strong.

lesson learned. it was a big eye opener.

i am not sure that retul or any particular fit is significantly, objectively better than any other, but i do think having someone with good measurement tools, who knows what theyre doing, help you optimize your fit can be useful.