I've never had an official bike fit before! Chuckie tweaked my bikes over the last few years and I was pretty darn comfy as a result, he knows his stuff. However, I can't very well drag my bike down to Tucson and beg CV to make some minor tweaks here and there so I was in search of some help. Kompetitive Edge was always recommending Scott of Fit and Tri to me and I figured why not!

Oh, also, there was another reason. I got new bike shoes this week and I was really nervous that I would transfer the cleats over wrong to the new shoes and then be sore for my next three rides (no, I've never done that in the past...never..who me...??). The reason for new shoes was strictly Kona. In Kona last year do you remember those big nasty blisters I had on the bottoms of my feet? They were in places that I have never had blisters before. I know why they happened and they actually started on the bike. When my feet got swollen my bike shoes crunched the balls of my feet creating a crease down the middle of the ball. That combined with the heat of the asphalt and I came off the bike with blisters. Those blisters just got worse on the run, and also I added in several busted toenails to the mix. No fun.

I tried on the LG Tri-300 shoes when the [super cute] rep was in speaking to the KE team and the demo pair just happened to be my size. I was SO stoked, they fit correctly in all the right places out of the box, AND they are moldable! Yes, you put them in your oven at 150 and then wear them for about 20 minutes and WHA LAH...they are molded to your feet. So excited!

Lastly, they make a cooling and a heating insole for them. They come with the cooling ones and I ordered the heating ones. The insole actually changes temps so in the winter you can pop the warm ones in and in KONA you can pop the cooling ones in. They work too...not a gimmick! One thing I have learned is if something isn't right, and you know how to fix it, you GOTTA fix it. Winter is the perfect time to make all those changes, don't make the same mistakes twice. Get each season started on the right foot.

Okay, so Scott...the bike fitter. He's is really cool. I knew my fit was "close" but that there were a few tweaks that needed to be made. Here is an approximate "before" shot.

I get so nervous going to people who you are paying to judge you. I always feel like I'm going to get reamed for the way I've been doing things. Scott is not like that. He 100% understood exactly why I was on 165 cranks, why my set up is like it is. He just "got me" and was able to make me a bit more comfy, and just a bit "better" but not an overhaul. He also loves QRs which makes me love him. Did you know Kompetitive Edge now carries QRs. So rad!

Scott listens. He listens very attentively and he lets you get settled into your ride and for the first while, he just watches you. He pays attention to all these little details and he asks some questions here and there. Before you know it, he is measuring you, chatting with you, and all the while, he knows what changes need to be made.

I have a couple issues with my riding style. ONE...I'm a masher. Despite working on my cadence A LOT, I still gravitate towards 82. I love 82. TWO...I sit to one side or another of my saddle. I always have since Steve Pye taught me to scoot up and sit way on the nose of my saddle. Now I seem to be completely unable to just sit straight on any saddle, I'm always to one side or another, and  I switch. THREE...because of the one side or another, I scoot up all the time on my saddle to where I almost fall off the front of it. This helps me enable my mashing habit.

Scott made some changes, actually moving my saddle foreword. This made me sit back on my saddle but in a comfy way. I'm still sitting on one side, but I'm back a little farther. Also, I was really running out of room in the cockpit. When I would go to climb out of the saddle I would hit my knees on my elbow pads. I would even hit my knees on them riding in aero. I was rather crunched. So we put a little longer stem on. Thank you Ryan...oh and the new stem is WHITE!!  I love it!

Once we did that, and I got back on, I was like "YES!" I was sitting farther back and my elbows were no longer digging holes into my elbow pads. This was so exciting because after two weeks my elbow pads were already compressed so I would just ride on really uncomfortable pads since I was too cheep to replace them every two weeks. Now, a new set of pads will last me a long time because my forearms are on them. Ahhhhh. 

BEFORE

AFTER

I had a really great experience with Scott. He's just a down to earth guy who knows that he's talking about and he has the heart of a teacher which I love. Thank you Scott for working with me and I'm so excited that my next trainer ride is going to be so much more manageable. Here's to more comfort on the bike without compramising power or speed.

Scott can be found at Fit and Tri and he works out of the Kompetitive Edge shop.