I do a long charity ride each year - 450 miles over 4 1/2 days, with a lot of hills (we traverse the green mountains in VT, see charitytreks.org for details on the ride). I had done the ride for a couple of years on my everyday commuter bike - which is great for what it is, but is 36lbs, and not geared right for long hills. When I went to Peter, I told him that what I was looking for was something to do centuries on - that I wanted light weight, but that comfort was a priority over speed. We talked a long time about what sort of riding I did, what physical shape I was in etc. He then made a bunch of measurements of my body. For the fitting session he asked me to come to his shop with my commuting bike, and he put me on the bike on a trainer in the basement, he sat in an easy chair drinking a soda and chatting while he had me pedalling. After about an hour, he started to make small adjustments to my bike - he explained that since I wanted something for long rides, he wanted to adjust the fit for the way I rode when I was tired . After that he moved me to a fully adjustable bike thing - Serotta? - and made further adjustments on that before arriving at the geometry. It is shaped more like a touring bike than a racing bike, with longer chainstays, and the seat positioned a bit further behind the bottom bracket. Peter went a bit crazy with the lug work - the lugset was half cut when I came in for the fitting, and I loved it - he went further, and then the guy at the paint shop went further still, doing a lot of stuff that had not been specified (when I got to paint, I was already over budget).

Peter only builds frames in the winter time, the fitting session took place in December, and I picked up the finished bike in May. I rode it on the charity ride last year, and after 450 miles, I felt great, and could have turned around and ridden back.