After getting what I felt I might need to raise my aero bars, I went for bikefit at BodyZen in Miami ( http://www.bodyzen.com/ ). It was an hour and 1/2 drive each way but worth it. I had no idea whether I was in the right ballpark position-wise. I won’t bore you with the details, I can only say the following–I did 100 miles the next day as part of CycleFest in West Palm Beach and felt great. 100 miles is boring, but I never felt like I was out of energy. My power never let off, and I “spun” tight controlled circles instead of feeling like I was going push-push after about forty miles. I punch my Timex BodyLink every 15 minutes to give me average heart rates, and I have a Vetta bike computer with cadence, so I am pretty confident of my numbers. I usually have more heart rate capacity than my muscular endurance can call upon, but yesterday I was 12-15 beats above where I am usually at, very comfortable there and never breathing hard–well below my anaerobic threshold (A few times I was 25 beats over, still not breathing hard, and had to make myself back it down for fear that I would wear out, and finish poorly). I attribute this to my new position engaging my muscles in the most efficient manner. I picked up 15-20 watts in power. as measured by the Computrainer. Because I am older, muscular endurance is a big limiter for me. I also suspect that my muscles get fatigued faster when working out of a poor position, i.e. less mechanical advantage. I believe the benefits came in large part from lowering and moving my seat back. Raising the aero bars also helped by opening my hip angle. I also had reduced neck strain. I had mentioned getting a “sore” left toe, making it very painful/impossible to run for fifteen to twenty minutes after a long bike. My cleats were moved forward, and I had none of that pain in my left toe. I was expecting to have aches and pains in new places afterwards and today, but I didn’t. In fact, places I can usually count on for aches/soreness, in particular, the outsides of my thighs, weren’t. All of this, and none of the changes were, taken individually, huge.
The fit was supposed to be about an hour, but Lee took about three with me, because he answered every question I could think of.
So what is a bike fit worth? To answer a question with a question, what is it worth to believe that you can complete the IM distance and not come off the bike already ugly? This fit was a big confidence booster. I have been posting here for some months, and I didn’t come on just “hawk” some company. I don’t know Lee or anyone associated with BodyZen on a personal level, so my mentioning him and his company is only out of appreciation for helping me get that confidence.