It's here
Holy crapolee, it's already here. It's starting weeks earlier than year's past with respect to when I started rolling in earnest for 'cross. Dubba, Von and I got our Sunday AM session on to kick off the season...all at the right pace and effort mind you. Thank God as I would have soiled my chamois for sure if we went any harder. We will be turning up the knob each Sunday until burn into cross season in September. and JUST like last year, without fail we had a nice rattler encounter....or at least I did. I literally endoed into this thing and it went nuts. I literally jumped like 4 feet backward (into a pricker bush) and the thing rattled for the next two minutes as it slipped into the brush.
I literally took the bike down off the wall, still bespeckeled with Belgian mud. I did however bring out my Retul measurements and my allen keys and set up the bike according to my new fit. WOW, what a difference. Seat is 3/4" more forward and post height is an astonishing 3/4" higher as well. Bars are roughly 1/4" higher but I have tuned up the hoods just a bit as well. The combination of these things is unbelie
vable. It feels 'right'. I feel like I am on top of the pedal stroke as opposed to 'behind' it. I may make afew more adjustments in the coming weeks but this set up feels awesome. Amazing that it feels this way after running the same exact dimensions since 2003.
All the cross wheels came out of hiding as well. Tons of work to do here with some Dugasts to stretch and glue only after I yank off the Rhinos from last season. I am going to try and bribe Dubba with Chocolate to help me glue these beeatches again this year. I still don't trust myself....
Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 3:25PM
Reader Comments (4)
I had a Retul fit done about 4 weeks ago in Austin, TX by an experienced Cat. 1 and USAC Level 2 coach who went up to Boulder for hands-on training from the Retul folks.
After ~15 years of road racing, he moved my seat forward 6mm and up 5mm. Titled my hoods back a bit but kept the stack height the same. Kept my cleats in the same spot, but shimmed my left cleat by 4mm to keep my hips straight. Really not all that much of a change. But it feels RADICALLY different.
The results:
Lower back pain = gone.
Neck pain = gone.
Patellar tendinitis = new problem.
Hamstring twinges = new problem.
Its like I traded lower back and neck pain for hamstring twinges and knee pain.
I'm wondering how long it took you to get used to the new position, and did you have / are you having any issues with your knees or hamstrings w/the saddle being so much higher and more forward?
When do the clinics begin? I should be getting the cx bike in the next week or so! Awesome blog by the way!
-Amar
Mr. H:
Interesting. I'll forward to Todd C as well to see if he has any comments as I am not a physiologist (nor do I play one on TV!).
I'd say that those changes are pretty significant. And millimeters of change may be hard for a body to adapt. I would stress that any coach would say if you immediately started feeling pain (and the bad kind), you should re-adjust. It just feels to me that you are over extending in your stroke and your hamstrings are trying to compensate and getting worked to the point of failing (e.g. twitching). You'll have to find some sort of medium between where you were and what your fit is indicating as your optimum position. This was based on what you wanted to achieve after the fit (e.g. I am sure the fit guy interviewed you before). In my case it was pain free training in addition to looking at how to leverage my strengths (power) so Todd came up with my plan. I have about 4 hours on the new cross position (modified from my Retul fit) and in all sincerity, I feel great. Even better than my road bike to be perfectly honest.
Hope this helps! But ensure you are in communication with your fit guy too. They need the feedback!
Amar:
Ah yes, my friend, we're going to work your corpse before this summer and translate your freakish power into the beautiful sport (credit: Tim F). Stay tuned.
Greg,
How does the Retul road fit translate to cross? Do you run a different seat height? Are the bars/shifters higher?