How did I become a bike fitting specialist?

This could be a long story but I'll try to keep it brief.

The pursuit of better and becoming a faster cyclist:

Before I was a coach and also a personal trainer, I always thought the pro cyclists were pushing bigger gears, and I don't just mean an extra 3-4 teeth on the big chainring.

So I raced my bike at every opportunity, racing and trying to beat my own times cycling to work, into town, to the squash club, to my friends place, up the big climb, down the long descent. Etc etc (and this was way before Strava or power meters). I just loved cycling fast all the time.

However, even in my 20's the toll on my body took the shape of training at 85-90 % of max heart rate all the time, and a bike position with a saddle that was too high and the handle bars too far away!

Core strength consisted of resisted machine based seated crunches and back extensions, and trying to lift and push more weights all on machines in the gym. It wasn't 3 dimensional or functional or even a rounded approach.

What resulted was frequent visits to my local osteopath for pain in my hips and lower back, muscle tightness in my pelvis, glutes, quads and hamstrings from poor posture (partly hereditary - I'll explain posture types in a later blog post). I just felt out of shape and like muscles weren't working properly or in unison as one unit.

This was partly due to training in the gym on machines and not correcting any muscle imbalances (another future blog post in the making ), from my sports and a gruelling schedule of about 20 hours a week of cardio and weights training.

Something clicked when a visit to the osteopath required 2 osteopaths leaning and almost jumping and the resulting being bounced off me, to adjust and correct my pelvis into the optimal posture and position!

This I thought was bad and sparked my interest in anatomy and physiology, bike fitting, understanding the body more, and ultimately into becoming a triathlon coach and personal trainer. It was a quest to understand length tension relationships of muscles, balancing techniques for the body with functional and core strength training, and is and will be forever ongoing.

This followed an article in 220 Triathlon Magazine one month on how to set your bike up for optimal positioning and power. All I can say is wow what a difference in comfort!! Like a light bulb moment.

I still love it when I'm adjusting clients bikes when they get that light bulb moment too of realising that with a better position they can be more

Comfortable

Produce more power

Become more efficient

Save energy

Have less aches and pains

Cycle the same route at a lower average heart rate or power, or for a faster time for no more effort.

How far and how long will you wait and put up with pain, discomfort and a sub optimal position on your bike before you decide to have it set up correctly for you?

We have been conducting dynamic Bike Fitting for 12 years using the computrainer spinscan method, teaching clients how to pedal more efficiently, gain 1-2 mph on a steady state ride, and improve their cycling efficiency by up to 20%.