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Achy all over but surely the luck o' the Irish was with me on this one!
While the cop stopped the errant driver, a cyclist who had been riding in the opposite direction was kind enough to stop and check on how I was. The cop came back and offered to give me a lift back to my car; I eagerly accepted, realizing that I was a bit shook up and it was wiser to just call it a day. I cancelled post-ride plans (Fat Tuesday out here, missliz!) and soaked and rested instead.
Ready to ride again f'sure!
Hi Ladies,
Not a full time poster, but I appreciate all the great advice I read.
I finally went in for a bike fit, and he raised my saddle almost 1.5 inches! This weekend I went on a 40 mile ride, kinda hilly, and not even halfway through I thought I was going to drop.
I understand I'm using muscles I haven't been using (hams and butt) but (no pun intended!) this was really hard! We ended up dropping the seat about 1/2 an inch. I did finish the ride, but not a happy camper!
My concern is this, the guy who did my fit is an ex-racer. I am not and will never be a racer, more of a recreational rider who likes to do metric centuries etc. Would his "racer mentality" ( I don't mean that in a bad way) cause him to fit me how he thinks I should ride as opposed to what would be comfortable for me?
Currently I'm training for a 7 day charity ride, and I really want to get this fit thing dialed in.
The more you ride and more bike fit you are, the higher you prefer the saddle. You spin more efficiently. But if it hurts...
Ride for a while with the saddle where it is now, would that be an inch higher? I see too many people riding with the saddle way too low, and not only is this inefficient but not too swell for the knee. Once you're used to it, try scooching it up a bit at a time. That inch and a half seems like a big change, but over the long term it's probably better. You need to work on your spin tecnique, I know because 1- we all do, it's never good enough and 2- you'd already have raised your seat because it was probably too low to ride easy and would have driven you nuts. This guy knows you don't race, and I bet he didn't give you the full pro fit.
Keep your mind open to the idea of another seat raise later, although you may not wind up at exactly where he put it. You'll know where it's right. It doesn't matter if you race or tour, the same rules of proper fit and good form apply. You'll ride those t shirt meets much stronger. Just take some shorter rides, get used to it, your spin will probably improve some automaticly. If your back hurts, you need to hit the floor and crunch every day. Stregthening the pelvic floor muscles will help. If all else fails, raise the stem. Too low a seat will eventually trash your knees.
missliz