I arrived at the FastSplits store in West Newton, MA, about half an hour early. The store is in a busy retail area where parking can be challenging, which is standard for most of Newton. This is an important consideration because most of the meters are 1 hour limits, and a bike fitting takes longer than that. Either park in one of the 2 hour lots, or see if they'll let you squeeze in behind the store.
The inside of the store is still a work in progress. The parts of it that are complete look good, the parts that are under construction are, well, under construction. Apparently, due to permitting delays(again, typical of this area) the Endless Pool is just getting finished(they were filling it while I was there), and there are other things that couldn't get done until it was completed. It looks like once they get their Performance Lab completed, they will be able to do pretty much any kind of assessment, analysis, and coaching you can imagine right there in the store.
When I got into the store, I was immediately greeted by Karl Small, the guy who would be doing my fitting. I told him who I was, and that I was early for my fitting. He told me that we could start in about ten to fifteen minutes. I went to get a snack.
When I got back to the store, Karen Smyers was there, and she and Karl were talking about the store's completion, what they had going on vis-a-vis clientele, and so on. Her bike(Trek OCLV TT bike) was leaned up against the front counter, and I must say, it looks like a freakin' rocket ship. I joined their conversation, since they were talking about going to Sears to pick up a treadmill, and while I don't have much to offer Karen Smyers in the way of triathlon advice, I know a heck of a lot about Sears. (You know, for me, the funny thing about meeting celebrities is that I don't so much get shell-shocked as I figure that I should leave them alone. For all I have read about her, I don't know her at all. Would it be appropriate to walk up to her and say, "You were awesome in that race! Where you beat everybody? Woo-ooo!!"? I don't know.)
After she left, Karl and I got started. I had requested the "basic" fitting, which is $59 and takes around 45 minutes, according to their web site. It is supposed to include measurements, adjustments, and tips, but none of the in-depth power analysis that the more expensive fittings give you. I figured that I would try that, and if it went well, mabe I'd get the complete fitting in a couple of months.
He put me on a trainer and had me spin for about 10 minutes to loosen up my hips. If I knew how much time I was going to spend spinning during the fitting, first, I would have given myself semi-epic points for it, and second, I wouldn't have ridden so far in the morning. My butt was sore, since by the time were were done, I had close to 5 hours in the saddle for the day. Something to keep in mind.
The first thing he asked me was what I knew about bike fitting, and what my philosophy of bike fitting was. I told him that I read slowtwitch, and that I am familiar with the ideas behind bike fitting, but that I realize that I ride a road bike, and that my goal is to become as comfortable, efficient, and fast as possible, given my current bike and abilities. He then asked me what my goals for riding were, the kind of riding I do, and the types of racing I do. I told him that my goal race for the season is Lake Placid, that I do like doing long rides, and then rattled off a few observations I have made while riding on my Computrainer.
He then told met hat he is FIST certified and explained to me the idea and philosophy behind the FIST fit, how it rotates the rider forward while maintaining proper geometry, and how it allows a triathlete to conserve their hamstrings so they are fresh for the run. He then said that it was not really appropriate for me because 1) I ride a road bike('02 Lemond Buenos Aires), and 2) my target races are on fairly hilly courses, where a very forward position might not be ideal for me. He said that unless I had any objections, we would be doing a road fit. I had no objections.
He watched me pedal for a while, and correctly guessed that I have a massive dead spot in my right leg's spin. Then he surprised me. He spent about 10 minutes going through 1 leg spin exercises. He showed me how I should be doing them, recommended variations, such as doing quadrant spinning, and told me the best time to do the exercises is during my cool-down.
We continued the fitting with Karl measuring my leg and torso angles and telling me that my lower body position was pretty good. He said that if I wanted a more aero position then I would shift forward more, but that I was about as forward as I should probably be. He stood behind me while I pedaled some more, just to verify that my seat was a touch too high. I told him that I had just gotten the Arione saddle a few weeks ago, and that I was still adjusting it. He said that he really didn't like the Arione because of how hard it is, and said that if I decide I don't like it I should consider the Terry Triathlete Gel saddle, which is what he uses.
We did not lower the saddle. Instead, he recommended that since I had apparently been doing a pretty good job making adjustments on my own with the Computrainer, and that he felt it was only marginally too high, that I try lowering the seat a little on my next CT ride, that way I could dial it in more effectively.
Next, he took a look at my upper body position. He thought that I looked too stretched out in the aerobars, and after we discussed it, he moved them back about 1.25 inches. This immediately relieved the pressure/weight I had been feeling in my shoulders, and made it seem like I was lying forward comfortably. Karl told me this was because we were shifting the load from my muscular system to my skeletal system.
After a few minutes in this new position, however, I was complaining about pain in my forearms. Karl took a look at me and made two observations. The first was that we needed to move the armrests back. The second was that the pads were so compressed that they offered no cushioning whatsoever. We moved the armrests back, and put a new pair of F-19 pads on, and that made everything super.
Then we found a problem with my Carbon Stryke aerobars. Since Profile recalled the bars, and welded the armrest brackets in place, you can no longer rotate the armrests so that they are anything but parallel to the aerobars, when in most cases they should probably be canted in somewhat.
Once we got the aerobars into a good position, Karl wanted to try making me a little more aero by rotating the bars up a couple of inches. This really hadn't occurred to me. I thought that aero meant down and stretched out, and I thought they were supposed to be flat. What he wanted to do was rotate the bars up so that there was less space between my arms and my face. He did this, and the position seemed relatively comfortable, but felt a bit awkward, if that makes any sense. He said that since I have been in the stretched out position for so long, it would take a little while to get used to the new setup. He also said that I would not be able to use the bars for leverage as much, but that the aero benefit would hopefully outweigh the need to pull on the aerobars.
This pretty much ended the fitting. He made several recommendations that he thought could improve my riding, and told me that since I already had a Computrainer and seemed to be well-informed on bike position, a complete bike fitting was probably not necessary. He felt that I could do as well on my own as he could, since the main thing that the basic fitting lacks is the Computrainer analysis. He also told me that given my power output and performance expectations, I really don't need a triple chainring setup as much as I think I do.
Overall, Karl spent the better part of an hour and fifteen minutes with me, and I felt that I more than got my money's worth. While he wasn't openly pitching me on anything, his attitude and demeanor was such that I would be inclined to recommend FastSplits for training, coaching, and the other products and services they offer. I get the distinct impression that FastSplits wants to do it right, and foster the growth of the sport as a means to ensuring its own success. Before I left, Karl welcomed me to join their Saturday morning rides, and their open water swims that start in June. He also gave me a flyer for their "fun" triathlon team(they also have an elite only team) and suggested races in the area that I might be interested in.
While I couldn't get anything more out of him, when I complained about the relative lack of longer races in the Boston/New England area, which I attribute to there being only one RD around here(and I like them, but they can only do one race per weekend), he told me he thought there would be quite a few more races in this ares in the next couple of years. Hmmmm.
In closing, I highly recommend choosing FastSplits if you are looking for a bike fitting, or have other tri-specific needs. But I also advise you that you get out of it what you bring into it. The more you know about position, fit, and what you are looking for, the more you will get out of the fitting experience.
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The inside of the store is still a work in progress. The parts of it that are complete look good, the parts that are under construction are, well, under construction. Apparently, due to permitting delays(again, typical of this area) the Endless Pool is just getting finished(they were filling it while I was there), and there are other things that couldn't get done until it was completed. It looks like once they get their Performance Lab completed, they will be able to do pretty much any kind of assessment, analysis, and coaching you can imagine right there in the store.
When I got into the store, I was immediately greeted by Karl Small, the guy who would be doing my fitting. I told him who I was, and that I was early for my fitting. He told me that we could start in about ten to fifteen minutes. I went to get a snack.
When I got back to the store, Karen Smyers was there, and she and Karl were talking about the store's completion, what they had going on vis-a-vis clientele, and so on. Her bike(Trek OCLV TT bike) was leaned up against the front counter, and I must say, it looks like a freakin' rocket ship. I joined their conversation, since they were talking about going to Sears to pick up a treadmill, and while I don't have much to offer Karen Smyers in the way of triathlon advice, I know a heck of a lot about Sears. (You know, for me, the funny thing about meeting celebrities is that I don't so much get shell-shocked as I figure that I should leave them alone. For all I have read about her, I don't know her at all. Would it be appropriate to walk up to her and say, "You were awesome in that race! Where you beat everybody? Woo-ooo!!"? I don't know.)
After she left, Karl and I got started. I had requested the "basic" fitting, which is $59 and takes around 45 minutes, according to their web site. It is supposed to include measurements, adjustments, and tips, but none of the in-depth power analysis that the more expensive fittings give you. I figured that I would try that, and if it went well, mabe I'd get the complete fitting in a couple of months.
He put me on a trainer and had me spin for about 10 minutes to loosen up my hips. If I knew how much time I was going to spend spinning during the fitting, first, I would have given myself semi-epic points for it, and second, I wouldn't have ridden so far in the morning. My butt was sore, since by the time were were done, I had close to 5 hours in the saddle for the day. Something to keep in mind.
The first thing he asked me was what I knew about bike fitting, and what my philosophy of bike fitting was. I told him that I read slowtwitch, and that I am familiar with the ideas behind bike fitting, but that I realize that I ride a road bike, and that my goal is to become as comfortable, efficient, and fast as possible, given my current bike and abilities. He then asked me what my goals for riding were, the kind of riding I do, and the types of racing I do. I told him that my goal race for the season is Lake Placid, that I do like doing long rides, and then rattled off a few observations I have made while riding on my Computrainer.
He then told met hat he is FIST certified and explained to me the idea and philosophy behind the FIST fit, how it rotates the rider forward while maintaining proper geometry, and how it allows a triathlete to conserve their hamstrings so they are fresh for the run. He then said that it was not really appropriate for me because 1) I ride a road bike('02 Lemond Buenos Aires), and 2) my target races are on fairly hilly courses, where a very forward position might not be ideal for me. He said that unless I had any objections, we would be doing a road fit. I had no objections.
He watched me pedal for a while, and correctly guessed that I have a massive dead spot in my right leg's spin. Then he surprised me. He spent about 10 minutes going through 1 leg spin exercises. He showed me how I should be doing them, recommended variations, such as doing quadrant spinning, and told me the best time to do the exercises is during my cool-down.
We continued the fitting with Karl measuring my leg and torso angles and telling me that my lower body position was pretty good. He said that if I wanted a more aero position then I would shift forward more, but that I was about as forward as I should probably be. He stood behind me while I pedaled some more, just to verify that my seat was a touch too high. I told him that I had just gotten the Arione saddle a few weeks ago, and that I was still adjusting it. He said that he really didn't like the Arione because of how hard it is, and said that if I decide I don't like it I should consider the Terry Triathlete Gel saddle, which is what he uses.
We did not lower the saddle. Instead, he recommended that since I had apparently been doing a pretty good job making adjustments on my own with the Computrainer, and that he felt it was only marginally too high, that I try lowering the seat a little on my next CT ride, that way I could dial it in more effectively.
Next, he took a look at my upper body position. He thought that I looked too stretched out in the aerobars, and after we discussed it, he moved them back about 1.25 inches. This immediately relieved the pressure/weight I had been feeling in my shoulders, and made it seem like I was lying forward comfortably. Karl told me this was because we were shifting the load from my muscular system to my skeletal system.
After a few minutes in this new position, however, I was complaining about pain in my forearms. Karl took a look at me and made two observations. The first was that we needed to move the armrests back. The second was that the pads were so compressed that they offered no cushioning whatsoever. We moved the armrests back, and put a new pair of F-19 pads on, and that made everything super.
Then we found a problem with my Carbon Stryke aerobars. Since Profile recalled the bars, and welded the armrest brackets in place, you can no longer rotate the armrests so that they are anything but parallel to the aerobars, when in most cases they should probably be canted in somewhat.
Once we got the aerobars into a good position, Karl wanted to try making me a little more aero by rotating the bars up a couple of inches. This really hadn't occurred to me. I thought that aero meant down and stretched out, and I thought they were supposed to be flat. What he wanted to do was rotate the bars up so that there was less space between my arms and my face. He did this, and the position seemed relatively comfortable, but felt a bit awkward, if that makes any sense. He said that since I have been in the stretched out position for so long, it would take a little while to get used to the new setup. He also said that I would not be able to use the bars for leverage as much, but that the aero benefit would hopefully outweigh the need to pull on the aerobars.
This pretty much ended the fitting. He made several recommendations that he thought could improve my riding, and told me that since I already had a Computrainer and seemed to be well-informed on bike position, a complete bike fitting was probably not necessary. He felt that I could do as well on my own as he could, since the main thing that the basic fitting lacks is the Computrainer analysis. He also told me that given my power output and performance expectations, I really don't need a triple chainring setup as much as I think I do.
Overall, Karl spent the better part of an hour and fifteen minutes with me, and I felt that I more than got my money's worth. While he wasn't openly pitching me on anything, his attitude and demeanor was such that I would be inclined to recommend FastSplits for training, coaching, and the other products and services they offer. I get the distinct impression that FastSplits wants to do it right, and foster the growth of the sport as a means to ensuring its own success. Before I left, Karl welcomed me to join their Saturday morning rides, and their open water swims that start in June. He also gave me a flyer for their "fun" triathlon team(they also have an elite only team) and suggested races in the area that I might be interested in.
While I couldn't get anything more out of him, when I complained about the relative lack of longer races in the Boston/New England area, which I attribute to there being only one RD around here(and I like them, but they can only do one race per weekend), he told me he thought there would be quite a few more races in this ares in the next couple of years. Hmmmm.
In closing, I highly recommend choosing FastSplits if you are looking for a bike fitting, or have other tri-specific needs. But I also advise you that you get out of it what you bring into it. The more you know about position, fit, and what you are looking for, the more you will get out of the fitting experience.
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