Turning Point
Holy Crap! So I've been having this little knee pain thing while riding for most of the winter. First I thought it was the old Shitmano pedals I was using on the commuter. Then I thought maybe I started too hard too early. Then I built the fixie, and well hell, it's a fixie. Of course it hurts.
I kept riding. Knee kept hurting and I kept riding. Every now and again I'd get a little concerned. Would this be a problem for the entire season? Was I causing permanent damage? Was i wasting my base? I'd half-heartedly read some articles on the internet about bike fit, have a good day and forget about it. Though that only lasted till the next day, when I would ride and it would hurt again.
I guess I'm stubborn or just stupid, but I pretty much knew it was bike fit. I knew my position on the fixie wasn't setup for road miles, but I kept riding. I tried a few things with the seat position and height, but nothing made that big of a difference. The only option was to take it into the shop and get fitted with the bike. The problem was when? I figured weekends they were too busy. To do it on a weekday, I'd have to take half a day off to do it right.
I got lucky. Saturday, after a painful push in the direction of the shop, I stopped in. They were kind of slow, so I took the chance. Within minutes Sean had some suggestions - longer stem and move the seat forward. Ideally your knee should be directly over the ball of your (left) foot when the pedal is in the 9 o'clock position. My knee was in a completely different time zone.
Today was the test. I think I could feel the difference by the time I made it to the end of the driveway. It was amazing. Everything about it was different, more comfortable and easier. By the time I was nearing the office, I had my hands in the center of the bars just tooling along like it was nothing. Barely a twinge of pain in my knee. Once at work, I was completely surprised to see I dropped 5 minutes off my time. I wasn't even trying. If anything I rode more cautiously for all the icy spots along the shoulders. The ride home had similar results. I even added an extra mile to the route and still did it 5 minutes faster.
Wow! I'm an idiot for waiting so long, but Wow!
-b
I kept riding. Knee kept hurting and I kept riding. Every now and again I'd get a little concerned. Would this be a problem for the entire season? Was I causing permanent damage? Was i wasting my base? I'd half-heartedly read some articles on the internet about bike fit, have a good day and forget about it. Though that only lasted till the next day, when I would ride and it would hurt again.
I guess I'm stubborn or just stupid, but I pretty much knew it was bike fit. I knew my position on the fixie wasn't setup for road miles, but I kept riding. I tried a few things with the seat position and height, but nothing made that big of a difference. The only option was to take it into the shop and get fitted with the bike. The problem was when? I figured weekends they were too busy. To do it on a weekday, I'd have to take half a day off to do it right.
I got lucky. Saturday, after a painful push in the direction of the shop, I stopped in. They were kind of slow, so I took the chance. Within minutes Sean had some suggestions - longer stem and move the seat forward. Ideally your knee should be directly over the ball of your (left) foot when the pedal is in the 9 o'clock position. My knee was in a completely different time zone.
Today was the test. I think I could feel the difference by the time I made it to the end of the driveway. It was amazing. Everything about it was different, more comfortable and easier. By the time I was nearing the office, I had my hands in the center of the bars just tooling along like it was nothing. Barely a twinge of pain in my knee. Once at work, I was completely surprised to see I dropped 5 minutes off my time. I wasn't even trying. If anything I rode more cautiously for all the icy spots along the shoulders. The ride home had similar results. I even added an extra mile to the route and still did it 5 minutes faster.
Wow! I'm an idiot for waiting so long, but Wow!
-b
posted by JenBob at
9:07 PM
1 Comments:
been doing this since 1989, and lats night was my first bike fit. just silly. I went with what I felt good. I'm excited to see the benefits of the change.
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