I’ve always known that I needed to get a professional bike fit but
I’ve just never got around to it. In
September while I was at the Rose City Tri in Tyler I happened upon Tri Shop’s
booth. I was really intrigued by the Retul
method and I decided to set up an appointment for Thanksgiving Break. Tri Shop is located in Plano, TX so I knew
this would be a day long trip. My
grandmother’s cousin lives nearby so she decided to tag along to shop and
visit.
We arrived about 30 minutes before my 12:00 p.m. appointment but
they were ready to get started. I was
shocked that Trent, the bike fitter was from Mt. Enterprise and we knew some of
the same people! We started by testing
my flexibility and core strength. Then,
he looked at my feet and he looked at me while I walked. I discovered I walked slightly pigeon toed on
my right side because I have Morton’s toe (my 2nd toe is longer than
my big tow) on my right foot. This
explains a lot (I have been concentrating on running straight).
My main concerns going in were:
upper body comfort and getting faster.
I felt hunched over and when I got off the bike to run my chest felt
constricted. Trent also assessed my
cleat position on my bike shoes. My
cleats had to be moved all the way back.
Next, I hopped on the bike and warmed up for 8-10 minutes. Trent assumed that I had gotten a fit before
based on my saddle height and position.
He was surprised when I told him that I had looked at the pros and
tinkered with my seat height and saddle position myself. Although I thought I had my saddle position
down pretty good I still felt like I was hunched over. Well, I was right but I had no clue how to
fix it. Trent changed my stem (part that
holds the handle bars on the bike) to a longer one and lowered by aerobars by 3
cm. After these adjustments I felt
instant relief, my chest opened up and my shoulders were relaxed.
Overall, I was very impressed with Tri Shop’s knowledge and
skills. I’m looking forward to going
back this spring when I buy a new bike (hopefully)!
Before picture
After picture
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