If I were you, considering your history of injuries, I would look for a physical therapist who also has the qualifications to fit you to a bike. In other words, don't just go to any old PT and say "Hey, fit me!" but there are PT's who have the knowledge and specialization to do this.

My last two bike fits have been done by my PT, who is also a cyclist/former competitive rider. He's not only looking at my position on the bike, but also assessing my fit to the injuries/issues I may have.

In San Fran, I imagine there has to be someone like this out there.

 

3) I don’t actually have a leg length descripancy. That fitter was wrong. I’ve since had that looked at by a PT and two knee surgeons who said riding with a 1cm shim stack is probably what caused me to need knee surgery in the first place. Shims are gone.[/quote]
I wonder when i read this, with the shims placed and riding with them and thinking they developed or contributed to 2 surgeries on that knee didn’ t you have an amount of knee pain that made you question those spacers. Surely there must have been pain in that knee would it have resulted in 2 surgeries?? Why did you let it come so far that you needed 1 surgery let alone 2, as you think, were a result of those spacers. I just can wrap my head around that you ride with 1 cm of cleat spacers, don’t feel a thing a then suddenly you need a knee surgery and the another.

Jeroen

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

I'm not some kind of moron who made no changes despite a worsening injury. I sought out expertise of multiple FIST certified fitters who kept making changes and was doing a truckload of PT, but the straw that brought the camels back was the FIST certified fitter (Get A Grip in Chicago) who thought he could "solve" my knee issue with a world record shim stack installed about a 1.5 months before my first IM. I persevered through the pain hell bent on doing my IM with a lot of kinesio tape and managed to finished with a respectable time (and pace a marathon for my brother's first marathon a few weeks later) and got my knee surgery a few weeks after that.

But the bottom line, is that's all ancient history in my mind. The issue at hand is: My current fit is sub optimal despite seeking help of many fitters. I have an IM in just over 2 weeks. What do I do?

I think the answer is: stop worrying. Trust my training. Finish my race. And then get sorted on my roadie by Jim Manton in LA or Curtis Cramblett, and get them to set me up on a TT bike as well. Then hopefully I'll be done for good.

that's a "good" road fit? that person has horrible posture.

Bear with my anger (prednisone withdrawal is very real).

1. There is no barrier of entry to be a bike fitter. There are no standards. Anyone can hang a shingle and they are in business.
2. There are no minimum tooling requirements. It should be pretty obvious that to be a bike fitter, you need at least a freikin fit bike, but even that point will be met with opposition and outright ridicule by uneducated consumers and crappy bike fitters.
3. There are plentiful consumers who have purchased an absolutely lousy bike fit, and will swear up and down their fitter is awesome. There is no frame of reference.

So basically, buyer beware. What can you do? Well, you could read the two articles written on this site 1. "Reasonable bike fit expectations" and 2. "Orthodoxy" and as a bonus 3. "It's the fitter and the tools". Then you could insist on a fitter who has both the necessary tools and a portfolio of completed work.

Honestly, 90% of bike fitters completely suck. This forum or one of the 10% who don't suck could absolutely give you a better static fit with only their eyeballs over the internet, compared to the sucky 90% with unlimited equipment budgets and time in a live studio setting.

Update: I finally got my road bike position sorted by Curtis Cramblet, former fitter and PT for Garmin pro team. I really liked him and was very happy with how I feel on the road bike. My reward for finishing IM Canada was a new TT bike, which I had fitted by one of his associates. I'm curious to get the opinions of this group. As I've been shifting more of my riding from the road bike to the TT bike, I'm starting to have some knee (patellofemoral pain) and Achilles tightness (when running, not riding). I'm hoping to see Curtis next Friday but am debating the schlep to LA to see Jim M who I view as more of a triathlon/aero specialist.

Is my seat too high? Anything else to discuss with Curtis?

Do you have a video?

I don't have one handy, but I'll ask wife if she'll take one. She's not super thrilled after the hairy mess of my first ever leg-shaving last night. But we'll see.

That position looks terrible to me.

The truth is there are thousands of alleged fitters the US, and there are probably less than 100 competent enough to give you a world class time trial fit. Good chance that number is less than 50. So you should first understand what a world class time trial fit looks like, and then choose a fitter based on their portfolio of completed work.

I've been doing this for 15 years, and my list of fitters to recommend has 12 people on it.

Don't debate it.

Care to elaborate? What’s wrong with my position?

Sounds like I just need to suck it up and drive 7 hours each way to LA to see Jim. Settle this once and for all....

For a bike fit? That sounds pretty extreme.

Have you thought about doing a remote bike fitting, posting a video here and taking suggestions, or trying to make changes yourself?

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My YouTubes

Saddle is a touch too high. You need to be more stretched out.

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Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)

What I don't understand, is why there are only 50 people in the world who can do a proper TT fit. I mean, there are more than 3.5K neurosurgeons in the US alone, of which I'd consider well more than 50 to be truly world class. With all do respect (noting that you're a well regarded fitter here), how is it that there are more world class neurosurgeons than bike fitters?!

I do wonder if part of the problem is most fit appointments are just 2-3 hours. Making adjustments on superbikes can be very fiddly, and it seems like just making a few minor adjustments can consume the better part of an hour. Perhaps my fitter just ran out of time? I mean, the guy was the bike fitter and head physical therapist for the Garmin cycling team, so like, if that's not world class, I don't know what is? Yet I agree with other here, my fit isn't great. Saddle feels too high and I'm not getting enough ankle flexion (which is causing Achilles problems) and I don't feel "stretched out" enough. I almost wonder if my frame is too small, as I already have A LOT of weight over the front wheel and my aerobars fully extended (probably overly extended). Canyon makes a longer stem for this bike I could try.

I think I'm going to make some adjustments myself, and post a video here. Hopefully one of those 50 world class experts will take a look! It really does seem INSANE to drive to LA for this, and equally insane to pay this Garmin guy $400/hr (his rate, nuts, I know).

Saddle is too far forward, IMO. "Front of the knee" issues are usually alleviated by raising the saddle or moving it back. I wouldn't lower your saddle yet. Has someone looked at your knee tracking? And yes you need more reach. Always get a bike that allows for easy front end adjustments, or buy a new front end.

Hundreds of thousands of people have competently fit themselves. No one else lives in your body. Yes, a lot of fitters suck at their jobs, but even the good ones will usually just have a range of "orthodoxy" that seems to work most of the time (or gets the fewest complaints), and from there, they rely on feedback from the customer. That should include long term feedback. If you aren't in touch with your body or otherwise give poor feedback, your fit isn't going to be very good.

But if you are doing the fit yourself, at least you didn't blow too many $$$, and you get the wrench out and fix it...

the original road video...…..can you bend your elbows at all? elbows generally are bent and when you are in the drops, it doesn't look like that is even a possibility

wrong size bike or wrong bike if you can't add a few cm to your armpad reach.