I just had what is called a Bio-mechanical bike fit last night – lasted 3.5 hours. It was an awesome experience and very educational. In all my years of cycling and racing (12+) I never invested in one and am now kicking myself.

The Biomechanical fit included full body measurements, a battery of mobility and flexibility tests/measures, spin-scan through a computrainer to monitor pedal efficiency and power/HR efficiency. So here’s what I found out:

• I actually have a very efficient pedal stroke. I can’t remember what the spin-scan score actually means, but low is better. He typically sees people come in with between a 98 and 106. Even before we started, I was at an 84 for both legs.
• My balance between legs was a little off at 54% right and 46% left. I also had a hitch in the pedal stroke on the left side. It turns out (and it’s sort of common) that my right leg is shorted than my left. So, I was over extending slightly my right, causing a little back pain, and under extending my left and missing power in the 12 o’clock to 2 O’clock zone – hence the hitch on the left and lower balance.
• I also have a little pronation that is transferring to my pedal stroke.
• My forward position was good and my reach was good. He said I was very aero as my arms and shoulders were inside my legs so being any closer up front would impact breathing and not gain any real aero advantage. I was comfortable in a position that had no exposed chest and no exposed back (he said this can happen when people try to get too low in the front.
• To fix the pronation and leg length thing, he used a stack and wedge system at the cleat – a little wedge on the left and wedge and stack on the right. We were able to raise the saddle almost ¾ of an inch to open up my left leg.
• Results were immediate – Right away I was running more of a 50/50 sometime 51/49 balance between legs and the hitch was gone. He said the hitch was worth about 30 watts for the same effort. AND, the scores dropped to 78 for efficiency and the score for HR to power improved.
• Here was one of the best things that I had all messed up. I thought that if you tilted your saddle forward it helped relieve pressure on the “you know�. I was totally wrong, because it causes you to shift forward in the saddle and that causes your sit bones to slide around the saddle and puts pressure on the soft tissue. I didn’t realize that I need to sit back on the saddle more so my sit bones where square on the back. This also allows me to flatten the saddle to balance weight on the bike. I road this morning and it totally worked!

I would highly recommend getting a fit if you haven’t already done so. Doesn’t matter if you’re buying a new bike or not…..

Finally, I do want to say, this forum is what pushed me over the edge. I had heard about fits, but thought since I’ve been riding for so long, that it was for newbies. THANK YOU for always saying to folks looking at new bikes “get a fit….get a fit……get a fit….�