It's so depressing looking out the window at the moment. I don't think it stopped raining once today and it still is. I feel like I'm back in Germany and I am even sitting her in long pants and jumper. It's supposed to be summer!
Oh, well. It can't just keep raining forever and I'm sure it will clear for some awesome rides this weekend.
The highlight of my day was the bike fit at the Queensland Sports Medicine Centre at the Gabba. The whole process took about 2.5 hours for millimeters of improved pedal efficiency and maximised power output.
To start with, little marks were placed all over my body and I was thoroughly measured. To my surprise and delight I was perfectly symmetric. So all the money I have been taking to the Chiropractor are paying off. Two years ago my pelvis was out and I had a leg discrepancy of about 8 mm. Pretty good improvement hey?! Then the bike was measured and complemented (must be included in the price :-) and the shoes and cleats were checked. I am using fixed cleats. I just like them better than the ones with float. I have been strongly recommended and advised to change so I might give the ones with float another go as I'll have to order new cleats soon anyway. The cleat position got changed dramatically. They have been moved further back underneath my foot and my heels pointed inwards before and are now straight.
With that I was ready to hop on my bike for some pedalling. First it didn't feel right as I was so used to the previous cleat position. But after a while it felt more natural and my pedal stroke became more even, round and fluent. Then the saddle went back a few millimeters and therefore automatically up a little. Now the cleat position felt really good. I could feel how my heels dropped naturally and I was using the full extension of the leg.
The last thing to be changed was the handlebar. It went down. Now I can't wait to try it out on the road. The changes made are really rather subtle and my bike set up was pretty good to start with but I'm sure it will have some impact. It felt comfortable on the wind trainer.
"Now go and rip those girl's legs off" were the departing words ... I liked that. :-)
4 comments:
jeez. the whole nibelung during one day. did they give y'all enough intermissions? i'd probably have to wear one of those astronaut diapers or something. was it on an annual wagner-fest? rumor has it that the operatic prose is somewhat difficult for even the native tongue. new zealand doesn't have enough skiable terrain at the higher elevations year? japan'd be fun too. does your club measure your vo2 max? i'm scared to do one because the crucial part of the equation is one's body mass (in kg). sadly, i have no dietary filtering system right now. don't even want to do rollers either i'm guessing because it's summer? hang in there and i'm skiing again tomorrow with a teammate (sorry!).
The Ring in one day. No way. That was over four nights and it was a marathon even though. Each part is 5 - 6 hours. Would be too hard on the musicians and singers, too.
Hamilton Pine River Wheelers (my club) doesn't do any testing but we do run heaps of club races and interclub challenges. Thinking about getting some tests done at the Queensland Institute of Sport. Just so I adjust ambition to match ability. :-)
And no, NZ doesn't have any skiing right now. :-(
we bagged the ski trip today. a front's coming in and with it, 61 mph winds, that's 96 kmh winds making visibility pretty poor. putting the fenders on the road bike and going on a survive-the-wet-chamois-booties-stave-off-hypothermia-thing for as along as we can. it's a dual purpose ride: fat burning and self-preservation.
... and here we are complaining about a little bit of rain ... :-)
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