I had a bike fit this week, and it’s amazing what an objective view can do. I didn’t have any pressing issues; that is, I could ride without pain (well, without self-inflicted pain), but I could tell that my position wasn’t ideal. My back was always curved and I often had to hyperextend my neck when riding in the drops. I always thought my problems stemmed from tight hamstrings and a leg length discrepancy, but after a fit session with Jay Dicharry at the Center for Endurance Sports at UVA, it’s clear that those areas are not the main culprits; rather, the fact that I have almost no mobility in my lumbar spine caused by tight hip flexors and exacerbated by a weak core contributes to the problems. Of course I do core exercises regularly, but it turns out that 1) I wasn’t doing them correctly and 2) they weren’t targeting the proper areas.
Thus the majority of the time was spent addressing my biomechanical issues. The actual on the bike session didn’t take that long and didn’t result in a too radical position change. My saddle was lowered by a little more than a cm and titled forward, and the wedges I had been using as shims beneath my cleats were removed to be replaced by some in-shoe wedges. I’ve only had one ride in the new position, and so far, so good. In fact, I don’t feel all that different as far as my pedaling action goes, but one thing that has become clear after talking with Jay and focusing on some of the issues he noted is that I need to shorten my reach. Even with lowering my saddle, which effectively shortens the reach to the bars, I’m still a bit too stretched out, can’t get a good bend in my elbows, and put too much pressure on my shoulders. What really interests me is how counterintuitive some of this process has been. It looks as if I’ll be more aero with a lowered saddle and shorter reach than I was with the higher, longer position, which seems to go against most conventional wisdom (as least as I was taught) about making the on-bike position more aero.