Bike fit is such an important part of performance; you want to make sure you get that right. Even if performance isn’t your ultimate goal, comfort would be I would guess. With Systems like the GURU DFU, and great fitters out there, there is really no excuse to not have one done.
Last year I was fit by Mat Steinmetz of 51 Speed Shop. It
was one of the best fits I have ever had. To that point Rich Ducar of the Bike
Shop Glen Ellyn has always been my guy and still to this day is the guy I go to
for final check off about things as he knows me longer than anyone else I deal
with. Mat was the first guy to radically change my already successful position
to a more aerodynamic, triathlon fit from a fit that can best be described as
an old school “Slam” fit.
It took a while to get used to the fit, but I did and was
able to go just as fast with less watts. I owe Mat for that.
I think the body always is changing and I usually like to
get tweaked 1 time per year as I recommend all my athletes to do. This year I met Nestor Rodriguez of Studeo
DNA. I was so impressed with what he was saying I asked him if he would be willing
to look at my fit, let me know his thoughts and also review the DFU GURU had
just introduced. Nes is a huge RETUL guy and I wanted to get his thoughts on
the two systems and how they differ and could work together.
Nes flew to Chicago and did just that. Mat was a rock star
and was able to provide me with original and updated ZIN files which RETUL generates
this was especially helpful as my actual TT bike is still in route home from St
Croix on TriBike transport. With these fit numbers I was able to ZIN a loaner
bike as well as input the data into the DFU to make changes to my actual fit
again, without even having my bike there. To be honest, we tweaked some little
things which may have some to do with my body changes over the year,
flexibility, strength etc, as well as slightly different thoughts on achieving
the best fit. When I say slight I am saying we tweaked various directions in
millimeter increments, not significant, which only reassured me good fitters operate
within a very tight range of each other and the rest comes down to your
opinion. It was nice to have the DFU to go back and forth instantly while pedaling
to decide which I liked.
Of course every fit is done on a trainer which feels
different then the road so when I took it out; I wanted to make some final
tweaks which I will go do today. In some respects it was good to play on a
loaner bike so I had no idea what my actual bike was different with when I
started, it will be fun to see what the physical changes are actually when it
returns.
