My wife and I live in subtropical Maui. We moved here partly to break the horrible cycle of fall fitness followed by winters of undersubscribed gym memberships, eleven minute turbotrainer sessions, weight gain followed by depression and a complete loss of cycling fitness every f’ing spring. Bib knickers worn until May to ride exhausting little loops that would be non-events the summer before. Every year became a rebuild from zero. By August things are humming, long crazy rides completed. By October it’s back to commuting with lights. Too many of these cycles can make a cyclist bitter.
Careers are over-rated. What about my cycling career? Sure when you are in your early twenties an hour on the rollers is easy, squats at the gym are fun, beer drinking somehow never adds a gram of weight. Fifteen minutes on the rollers seems like an hour as you get older, in case anyone is wondering.
Good things happen when you can ride all year long. Obviously you do ride all year long. Tan lines become permanent tattoos despite the endless slathering of sunscreen. You get thinner, stay fitter and don’t have to ever own bib knickers. It is fantastic. It is such a novelty to ride your brains out in December and January that come April you can’t figure out what to do.
When you can ride year round and you do ride year round, that does present a downside. It’s easier to get trapped by the repetition and familiarity of your cycling life. Things are what they are. For fifteen years I’ve happily ridden a frame that was too large for me and had a 130mm stem, because big guys need long stems. Why did I not address that?
Perspective on your own riding can only be gained by getting some distance away from it. Either ride a different bike or stay off the bike. The first time I borrowed Frank’s Bianchi, after lowering the seat, it was a real revelation. Frank’s drop between seat and bars is huge, it changes the ride significantly. It made me question my own position, which is good. Never pass up a chance to ride another bike. It is easy to ride next to someone and see they are too stretched out, or on a bike three centimeters too small for them. But it is nearly impossible to get that same information about yourself. Is that why we steal a glance as we ride by plate glass store fronts? This is where I would praise a good bike fitter, if I had ever used one.
I forced myself off the bike for a good long time this winter to let my knee repair itself. It sucked. It sucked more than a wet cold house-bound winter because it was beautiful and everyone was riding except me. Driving a car on the our Sunday group ride route was torture. This also coincided with an N+1 purchase, a smaller frame and a shorter stem. When I did get back on the old number one it was so obvious, FFS, this bike is too big and this stem is too long! It was only after I was riding again after this decent hiatus did I notice things that had always been. My point is, you get used to anything.
So being forced off the bike in the winter serves a useful purpose I never understood. The first ride after a long interval is very instructive. Being reminded of how your shoes-saddle-hands-back bothered you is good. Try something else, out with the bad, in with the good. It’s a chance to buy new kit and work toward the unattainable perfect V-locus position.
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This got me thinking about the saddle on my road bike yesterday. I have my MTB set up pretty perfectly I think, at least no discomfort in the knees or in the sit bones. When I got home yesterday I realized that the saddle on my roadie was a good inch higher and tilted downward. Made the adjustments, put #1 on the trainer and immediately noticed a difference, especially in the sit bone region. A nice level saddle works well for me.
@ChrisO that is true, I believe they even have one in Scotland somewhere, but I guess I still think of the LBS as more of a local owner / operator one off store in the nearest town though.
@RedRanger
A while back I was doing what mauibike is talking about, going to LBS and testing out a few saddles to find something better. The real lesson was what a huge difference a degree or two of tilt in the saddle makes in bike handling. A tiny tilt down in the front and it puts a lot more weight on the bars, bikey not corner as well. As I mentioned, we get used to anything but that doesn't make it right. Yeah, a level saddle always works.
I'm evolving past sit bones. I'm now using an selle smp where one actually rotates the pelvis forward and the weight is on the pelvis forward of the sit bones. It's weid but it works. After a good 160km ride I'll post up a review of this new fangled thing.
Gianni,
"Is that why we steal a glance as we ride by plate glass store fronts? " Thank you for letting every one know why I do this... There should be a rule. "When riding by a large window...".
Its about listening carefully to the boss (your body) because we tend to let the back seat driver (our mind) overide those subtle signals. For me it is about the feet and cleat adjustments when I get on the bike after a lay off I can feel tiny twinges in the knees and if I listen before they settle back into the old groov I catch the 1/6th of an inch (sorry 1mm) adjustment that means no sore knees.
Mrs. Wife just landed a job in Miami frinckin Beach so I now become a member of the 365 club - whoooeee! Can your next article address the issues of this foreign life style in greater depth??
@Roger as usual +1
@Rob
Florida cycling: KOMs on overpasses.
@Rob
I have two words for you. Congratulations and speedplay. Float baby float.
That is big news. Miami. There is not lack of good cyclists down there. Let the tan lines begin.
I had been fighting with my fit on the bike recently. A midweek roller session (to reinvigorate the souplesse) and a 2mm change to the seat height have got things dialed in much nicer.
@RedRanger
You do want to be a small amount lower on an MTB than a road bike so be careful about going too low - longer cranks on an MTB, and a more upright riding position will mean lower saddle height (centre of BB to top). Having said that, if you ride both regularly you do want to have the positions (especially the saddle to centre of BB relationship) as close as you can manage.
@minion i took that into account.
Crap, Gianni, if we all escaped from New England like you who would be left to ride cracked roads in frigid weather.I mean it is 3 degrees and rainy here this morning. I will now go comfort myself in a vat of maple syrup.