Pissing, Scheisse Hund! Man I forgot how hard it was to make a snow man... how did I manage to roll a ton of snow when I was a kid!? The dogs didn't really appreciate my hard work and effort.
Just got back from the Bat Cave with fellow Team Member Jenny Schulz. Well actually we went to visit Cycle Fit.de to have our bikes set up for the coming season.
Lloyd doing his Bike Fitting Jiggery Pokery Magic in the Bat CaveCycle Fit is run by Lloyd and Britta who work with some of the best names in the Cycling and Triathlon business, for example they are the Official Bike Fitting Partners of HTC - High Road... so if it's good enough for Mark Cavendish it's good enough for me I reckon ;-)
Cycle Fit headquarters is like the Bat Cave... with computers, TV monitors, machines and gadgets everywhere. Of course all this equipment has a purpose: I went to find out what the ideal bike size and body position would be, using a stationary bike that can be set up to duplicate all manner of frame sizes and bike positions... as well efficiency, power distribution and lots of other technical stuff which I'm sure Lloyd knows lots about because a lot of it was going over my head ;-).
It was weird watching yourself biking on the video analysis... while biking... man you should have seen how stable my core was, legs going like pistons! Especially stable when Lloyd put me into a higher position... but we won't let him take credit for that... it's all because of my 'upper body core work-outs'... right kids ;-)??
Anyway I learnt what frame would suit me most but also my position and that raising the seat just a cm gave me about 10 extra Watts... choice! But also raising my aero-position made similar gains without altering aerodynamics... now that is certainly a Boon and a Bonus!
See all the Bat Cave is, is a bunch of 'Wheely Trolley' things!
Jenny was retro fitted onto her bike. She already had her bike position... but wanted to 'check' it was optimum... well it wasn't. I don't have before and after pics here but a few changes were made which made significant changes to her power output, comfort and aerodynamics... hopefully she'll be able to run off the bike better too!!
So if you haven't had a bike fit done GO AND GET ONE! For a fraction of the cost of a pair of fancy aero-wheels you could save yourself a lot more speed on the bike AND the run. Cycle Fit isn't just for the pro's in fact age-groupers can get a lot more from utilizing the expertise of Lloyd and Britta
Go to Cycle Fit for more information. They are based in Bensheim near Frankfurt Germany... thanks guys love your work!
Jen Meister with a much better bike postion than the BMX stylee way she way riding before hand.So I'm off to the Canary Islands soon to live out the rest of the Winter there which will be nice :-) see you there.
But finally great work to everyone down at Challenge Wanaka! I missed not being there... that race is getting bigger and bigger, looks like a very tough day... that race has to be one of the toughest over the Ironman Distance... Kudos to all those who finished it!
Westy xxx
My niece Honor taking me out for some hardcore pacing / chatting about 'what's hot and what's not?' when it comes to 5 year old girls fashion. 
Triathlon Team Rhein Main... 'Happy Bike Riding Times' and the last time in the 'Old Kit'???
Was interesting in Wanaka spotting all the really bad bike fits, especially those using aerobars on road bikes. They were so upright that the aero benefits must have been virtually nil. There must be a lot of age groupers out there getting bad (or no) advice on bike size or something.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree Rach and I bet a lot of them had expensive wheels!
ReplyDeleteAnd aero helmets. Got to have an aero helmet when you're cycling along like a brick wall. :-)
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