This fall I purchased a new bike and with the help of this site and Tom D’s I feel I have done a great job fitting myself on the bike. I have changed the seat post to Thomson 0 setback changed the stem length and taken spacers in and out numerous times. I’ve taken pictures, drawn lines, measured angles and spent time riding on the rollers to establish my level of comfort. I’m not sure how comfortable I should be as I’ve been away from riding for 3 years. I live in northern Ontario and hopefully can get on the road within a month.
My question? Can we effectively fit ourselves on a bike or do we need a professional? I love to research anything and enjoy this process. I know it will be rewarding if I can ride comfortably on the areo bars for 3-4 hours with a bike I have set up myself. I have seen pros in magazines that look anything but properly fit and seem to have great results. Are they missing their true potential?
Well, put it this way, I don’t fit myself. The last people to fit me were a commitee of Dan Empfield, Gerard Vroomen, Dan Rishworth and Fiona and Bill and Val from Mission Bay at Dan’s place. Before that it was Eddy Merckx. Before that it was Chris Carmichael.
Huntsville is likely the site for the Muskoka Half - one of the larger events in the Subaru series and a qualifier for IMC. As noted, Lisa owns that course.
Yes you can! I never got fitted on a bike and I’m doing triathlons for over 10 years. I went yesterday since I’m building a new bike this spring. Conclusion, no changes. Well, that doesn’t mean that I’m on the one and only position I could race Ironman or whatever, it just means that nothing is wrong with my possition according to the guy that fit me yesterday.
That doesn’t mean either that I’ve been right on my bike for 10 years, quit the oposite, I was dead wrong in the beginning.
I guess, if you’re interested in fitting, spend the time doing research on how you could change/improve your position and you understand the concepts, you can very well do it. I believe it has to include camera. You have to see yourself and not just feel.
If you are fortunate enough to live close to a good fitter, get it done. Otherwise, I live in central WI, and was fit for road and TT in Madison. After road racing and tri racing for 4 years, I had developed a great feel for what was a good position for me. The fitter reccomended staying where I was on the road bike, and dropped my bars like .25" or something like that. It was a valuable reassurance, but if you have been riding a while, you should be very close to where you should be at, as long as you don’t have comfort problems. While I was not fit by someone like TD, I did really fit myself. For Tom, how about an online fitting service?
I think that, to a certain degree at least, it is critical that you fit yourself. One of the things we try to do in a 1-hr fit session is educate the client on what we are doing and why. Our goal is to set you up in a good position for you today but also leave you with the tools and an awareness of how you might refine your position in the future.
We fit a lot of people who have no clue about fitting, but I think that the clients who get the most out of a fit are the ones who already have an understanding of the issues and the body awareness that goes along with it.
Anybody have a website or more info on the Muskoka Tri? I hadn’t heard of that one. Was going to do Steelhead but I think I would have trouble quailifying for any of the IM’s at that race.
Muskoka tri website is www.trisportcanada.com and is on June 19/20, 2004 (the long course with IM spots in on the 20th). If you click on the “Ironman Info” down the left hand side menu, you get a listing of the number of IM spots up for grabs. Pay attention to the first sentence on the page (“A list of…found here”) – click on the link at the end of the sentence to see who got the spots with what times.
