I’m not going to waste your time by explaining the benefits of a professional bike fit. At least I hope this isn’t what this piece turns into. I want to explain how I was once on the right path and started listening to the wrong people about bike fits and am now back on track.

Let me start at the beginning. Last year I went into my local bike shop, In Velo Veritas (https://www.inveloveritascyclery.com) to size me for a used Cervelo Soloist I was going to buy. I knew I was a size 49… because on a family vacation to Hawaii, I rented a Size 49 Cervelo Soloist and had a great time on it and it felt good. Kevin started the fit and when we were done he said “Right now the numbers almost perfectly match the Size 51 Soloist out of the box.” And he was right. When the bike arrived and I got on it, it felt like a glove.

As time went on and my flexibility improved, I wanted to experiment with a different fit… I wanted to have a riding position more like Remco Evenepoel, Ben Healy, or Victor Campanaerts. So I bought a longer stem with a greater stem angle. I lifted my seatpost so I could be longer and have a lower front end. I shifted my saddle way back so I could have a longer torso and reach. I felt this made me faster from an aerodynamic perspective and I just had to pushed harder to go faster.

Right is old position and left is my new fit.

We started with me getting on the bike and Dave putting reference points on specific joint areas on my body. He described my position as more similar to a track cyclist than a road cyclist. Specifically my knee to hip angle, and it was sapping my sustained power throughout a ride. Which incidentally the VO2 test shows as my strength! I’ll cover this test and the results in a future piece. Dave then asked about my saddle and I explained why I liked my current Fizik saddle. He asked if I’ve ever tried a Specialized Power Saddle. Incidentally… I recently replaced one with this Fizik Saddle… but he highly recommended that I switch back. With my hip angle and my inseam, the saddle would compliment my body more than the Fizik.

So we slammed the seatpost down and moved the saddle forward to put my core over the bottom bracket. Dave anecdotally mentioned that when he was at the finish of a stage for the Tour de France. The first two things he noticed were how short the riders were and how low the saddles were. Ever since my bike fit I watch for this and he’s absolutely right! Do you know where you find super high seatposts? Instagram.

Finally he mentioned he would recommend a slacker stem to bring the bars up to me just a little more. Which would mean that the original Cervelo stem would go back on.

Ultimately the fit is a slightly more aggressive fit than I got from IVV at the beginning of this journey. This would account from my fitness and flexibility increasing since my original fit. But ultimately I would have been a stronger rider if I kept my original fit on that bike all these months.

How do I know I would have been a stronger rider? The following day I rode an impromptu solo century (100 miles+), at a faster pace and higher average power than my last century. I believe it was my fastest 80+ mile ride ever. And when I got home I felt great! I quickly texted Dave about the ride and how I felt like I could have gone another 20 miles if I had the time.

The next day I went back into IVV to order a shorter crankset, which was Dave’s final recommendation. It’s been a little while since the fit and I feel like I’m sitting in the bike. My average power has increased, and my longer rides are way more comfortable. But am I faster? ultimately that’s what the goal is with all of this. Have fun and go fast! Using a completely unscientific metric of Strava’s “Average Speed” and “Rides Trending Slower/Faster”… yes I am faster. The number of variables I overlook here is astronomic, but my rides are trending faster. My average power is 15-20% higher and I feel better after rides than I had before the fit. Again… a lot going on here, and very unscientific. But I’m happier to see this anecdotal evidence, than if the line on the graph was going the other direction. So I’m taking the “W”!

Ultimately, to sum up, although I’m losing 10 watts (all numbers are made up) for a more aerodynamic position. I’m putting down 30 more watts with a more sustainable position and sitting over the bottom bracket rather than the low profile. Some more anecdotal evidence to share! My climbs have all been faster. Every climb I’ve attempted has been a 7-10% PR. I think having the position over the bottom bracket would make that an obvious benefit but I’m so happy with it I didn’t want to not share.

The moral of the story? A lot of bikes on Instagram are stupid.