Tuesday 29 March 2011

Bike fit

Last year I got a TT bike and thought the set up was ok - see previous post. However, during long rides recently my shoulders & back have been very sore, and looking at it now I realise that the set up wasn't right at all.

So rather than muck about I bit the bullet and booked myself in at Velomotion who do Retul fitting. This basically involves putting LEDs all over your body so that they can measure everything while your actually cycling, i.e. a dynamic fitting.

Yes it's expensive, and yes Milton Keyne's a long way to go, but it was so worth it. John spent ~3 hours with me the other Saturday, totally overhauling my position. We moved the saddle way up and forward, and the elbow pads way back and down. We changed the saddle for an Adamo so that I could rotate even further forward without crushing my tackle. You don't need to be an aficionado to notice the difference.

I've done one long ride since and it was very encouraging, much less shoulder pain. This weekend I have to do a long brick which will be a big test of the new position.

The plan for now is to see how I get on like this but to improve it further I may get new cranks - the current ones are too long for me and the frame - and upgrade the aero bars to ones with a lower stack to let me rotate round even further.

So, a bit of an investment but if I'm gonna have a decent crack at Ironman this August then I'll need to be able to ride comfortably in the aero position for up to 6 hours.

Sunday 27 March 2011

Wilmslow Half Marathon

Second time for me, looking to improve on last year's time of 1:28:15. Felt good & confident yesterday; usual race nerves this morning but got to the start feeling ready. Paced it much better than last year using my GPS watch, heart rate and feel. By 10k in good shape so pushed on and started to reel a few people in. Took an energy gel with about 5k to go and managed to finish strong. Made it in 1:22:58 so a big PB, placing me 140th and 18th in the 40+ cat. This time means that my longer distance running is almost on a par with my shorter stuff, so a great confidence boost for the coming season :-)