Fitting Recap

Word – the fitting was great. It may upgrade to phenomenal, but not until I get out on a long ride and feel like I’m flying on my new setup.

The damage was $1,233. Ouch. Thanks to Brian and Malia’s generous wedding gift we didn’t have to pay quite that much. We walked away with 3 road bikes fit for their owners, 2 new stems, 1 new seat, two new tires and some sort of something that cost $8. It was the cheapest thing of the weekend, whatever it was.

I got fit by Grant. He explained just about everything to me. Right away I said I wanted a new seat, no more huge man saddle that chafes my inner thighs. With my old set up my power ratio was about 47% on my left leg and 53% on my right. All the modifications brought me down to about 49/51, and at times I was even 50/50. On the computrainer I was putting out about 130 watts. My left ankle pronates slightly, so my left leg bows towards the frame, hence the chafing on my left thigh and is probably the root cause of the leg imbalance mentioned above. Simple shoe inserts should provide more stability and eliminate the problem. My hip flexibility is about 130 degrees on my right side, and about 125 on my left. My hamstrings on my left side are definitely tighter, but not so much that it seriously limits my set up. He did raise my aeropads about a centimeter to ease the pressure on my left side and brought them closer to my body – hopefully no more left shoulder cramp.

The result, I feel more confident about my cycling ability. Some of the anecdotes Grant told made me feel a little better. Riding with a bunch of strong male riders sometimes makes me wonder what I’m doing out there. But at 5’6 and 130 lbs, G was able to relate to my inability to stay with the pack on downhills, and my love of 3-4% grades that almost convince me I’m a strong rider.

Brian and Malia’s place is super cute and they’ve done a great job decorating it to make it look even bigger than it is. Their block is really quiet, despite being at the intersection of three roads. The huge tree out front probably helps. Chad and I sat on their balcony for a few moments enjoying the sights and sounds of Brooklyn. I know it’s not Manhattan, but it’s still crazy New York. I’m glad we have friends to visit there. I could never live in NY. And I don’t think I could ever summon the courage to ride a bike more than a few blocks. Can you imagine living in NY and training for Ironman? Where do train, when do you train and how do you mix it up so you aren’t totally bored a month into it?

So for the weekend our totals for training were: 97 mile bike, 6.5 mile run and no swim. We need to work on the swimming part.

- K-Bear