Last season, I was very strong on hills, and slow on the flats. In May/June I was again strong on hills, weak on flats.
I had a Retül fit done in June of this season, and broke my 40KTT time by 2 minutes (down to 1:01:12). They raised my seat 1cm and told me I could go 1 cm higher, and also rasied my right cleat as they detected a leg length discrepancy. Later, just out of interest’s sake I had a FIST fitting done. They advised I lowered my seat 1 cm, although I kept it to the PB/Retül height.
However, my bike splits in duathlon aren’t any faster. On a hilly course they are worse, on a flat course better. The run after seems unaffected, although I have very tight Psoas muscles and they seem better with the higher position so I guess it hurts less but doesn’t really affect speed. Retül has me at 18.6 cm of drop, FIST 16.5. 78.6º vs 77.4º. Retül also set my bars closer
My question is, should I swap fits depending on course? Or do I just need to learn to climb in aero better? I feel under 25kph it doesn’t matter if I’m in aero or not but perhaps with the steeper position as I move back in the seat to climb my hip angle becomes compromised. Or, is this all in my head? For 1cm lower saddle height how far back should the bars/seat go?
This has been covered, but Retul is not a fit. Retul is a tool. It is a dynamic motion-capture system that aids a fitter in fitting you aboard your bike. FIST is a protocol for fits. You can do a FIST fit using a Retul. And you can do a non-FIST fit using a Retul. What you cannot do is a “Retul fit.” As Dan said, have you ever had measuring cup apple pie? Or, rather, it’s the difference between “wood fired oven baked pizza” and “some-other-kind-of-baked pizza.”
So, what you are basically saying is that you got one fit that said one thing. And another fit that said another thing.
In both cases, what you should have ended up with is the position that felt best to you.
Can you go over the process in each case?
I have a friend who posts here…he was going to get a “fit” for $35.00 from shop A. I spoke with him and he went to get a fit…my first suggestion was Get a Grip in Chicago, second was Chronometro in Madison Wi. He went to Chronometro and got a fit…after the fit he had spent +/- $800 on the fit, and new aero bars. Now, the test would be to have him go to a FIST fitter - with the new position and bars and see if the FIST person could make any changes, and see if the changes were of any gain.
Oh, and the “friend” said that the change is like running barefoot as compared to with shoes. He with out a doubt feels that the new position was more than worth his money.
The Retül fitter hooked me in to a trainer, took measurements as I pedalled and based my position largely on the specific angles he measured. To be honest, he was a pedorthist and is relatively new to bike fitting, with minimal tri bike experience. However he does have strong knowledge of biomechanics. I had to explain what a Du was, though.
My FIST session involved a mock 5K TT in various positions on a Computrainer observing time and wattage output. The flaw I see in this is it doesn’t account for aerodynamics at all. The usual measuring of angles, etc.
Both positions feel good overall, and I’m pretty comfortable for 100-120K in either
I’ve had a hard time finding really experienced fitters in Southern Ontario, although I’m sure they exist.
Based off your very limited first numbers, both positions seem fine. You always run more drop at a steeper STA. Between the two, your first fit falls more within the normal range of what we see people preferring. 78.5 - 79 is sort of the sweet spot. So that is well within what FIST would recommend, allow, etc. Between the two, you should like one better than the other. If not, I’d probably go with the steeper/lower one.
Thanks for the advice. I do admit I trained hills more last year as I had a hernia and couldn’t run, and I haven’t trained hills much with this new position.
Time for some serious hill repeat sessions!
Thanks again, I appreciate it