Bike fitting

I’ve ridden a bicycle for years without getting a professional “fitting.” Big mistake!

It’s pretty typical to buy a bike at the local bike store, where the salesman nominally sets the seat height and makes a few adjustments before releasing you out the door.

Since I’m going to be spending long hours in the saddle, day after day, on our trek across the country, I made arrangements to have a fitting at one of our largest, local bike dealers. I’m glad I did.

Steve, the owner of the store and a trained professional fitter, took a variety of measurements of both the bicycle and me before putting me on the bike and video-taping my pedal motion. It seems I’ve got high arches and have been throwing my left knee outward on each rotation of the crank. Steve put some gel pads inside my bike shoes to correct the problem. He adjusted the position of my cleats, saddle and handlebars. All in all, it took more than an hour and I feel much better about my positioning on the bike.

My conditioning in preparation for the ride continues. I’ll be off the bike for a week when we go to Key West for a wedding. Only five weeks from this w/e. Our departure is getting close. Almost time to take the bike in for an overhaul.