- When you buy a bike from a shop,
you should get a basic fit to make sure
you've got the right size frame,
that you're comfortable,
and it's safe to ride.
Once you've started to get familiar with your bike,
it's time to look into your position
in a little more detail.
And this is where a professional bike fit
can come in handy.
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With a time trial bike,
it's often a compromise between comfort,
power production, and aerodynamics.
So, if you've invested in a new time trial bike,
you want to make the most of those aerodynamic features
and working on your position is vital.
Several small tweaks can end up making
a significant difference.
There are many tools and software
than can be used by bike fitters,
but they still require an expert eye
that can interpret them,
but also listen to your individual needs.
Now, I need to find a position
that will suit me for a long distance triathlon.
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I'm delighted to say
that I've got ex pro cyclist and Ironman triathlete,
Magnus Backstedt, who's agreed very kindly
to help me out on this bike fit.
So, thanks Magnus.
- No problem.
- Where are we gonna get started?
- Well, normally we would start with setting
your cleat position up on your shoes.
But because you're in a mid-level race season,
and you've got some events coming up,
I would refrain from touching them too much right now,
so I rather you come back and see me at some point
when you've got a down time.
'Cause as soon as we start messing around with your cleats
you're always running that risk of having your knees
going a little bit tender, and so on,
and we don't wanna be jeopardising any events
that you've got coming up.
So, first of all,
I'll just get you onto the bike
and then we're gonna marker you up
so that the cameras can read what you're doing.
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- Well, as you can see, and now Magnus,
you've covered me in all these dots.
What happens next?
- So, we've now made the cameras able to see you
and see every motion that you make
when you're riding your bike,
so, the next thing now is that
we've gotta get you riding your bike
for about a minute or so
for your body to settle down on the bike,
find you a comfortable position,
and then when I see that you're sitting still
on the bike in the position that you normally do
when you're putting out a bit of power,
then I'll record about 30-40 seconds of image
on the computer.
And then we'll go back in and analyse that,
see what's what, make any changes,
and then we'll repeat that until
we've found the position that we're happy with.
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- Okay, so you've had a quick look.
And I know you've made some quite drastic observations.
What'd you notice, Magnus?
- Well, I've noticed that you're struggling
to open up your hip flexor on the left hand side,
which means that you're tilting over
every time you're peddling.
Most of the time, that's something that comes from
too much travelling, previous injury,
falling off your bike, even running injuries
sometimes can limit that one.
But, the biggest thing that we all struggle with,
is that we sit down at an office desk,
we sit down at home, we sit down in a car,
I don't know if you've been travelling,
aeroplanes tends to be really really nasty
on your hip flexors.
So, the first thing you can do when you're
as soon as you've travelled somewhere,
if you're having an event coming up
in the next couple of weeks,
just make sure that you stretch out
those hip flexors 'cause they make such a big difference.
Not only to your bike ride, but also to your run.
And those are the two key elements really
in any triathlon that you're doing.
So, we're gonna have a look at that.
Also adjust your position a little bit
on the saddle as well,
just to allow you to open up those hip flexors
a little bit further.
So, that's gonna be the next thing.
- [Host] Great
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- Most people that come to see you,
what's the main thing they're looking to sort,
or what brings them to you?
- Well, it comes various different problems.
It's neck problems, shoulders, lower back,
knees, anything really.
As soon as you're not feeling comfortable sitting,
you know, there's something going on
every time you're riding your bike.
It's more likely that the bike's setup
isn't quite right and specific for you.
And that's what makes the difference,
but what we do as well if obviously
guiding and advice you on what to
potentially look for, so if there's any
physical imbalances that might need to be sorted,
and obviously we keep on going back to hip flexors
with people working and sitting in cars,
and so on.
So it's more like the general package,
so, I'd say having a bike fit at least once a year
is probably a good thing to do to
make sure your body changes, you crash,
you have anything that can happen to it.
As we get older, we get less flexible.
So all these things kind of come into play
when you're doing a bike fit.
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- So, Magnus, I know you're keen to adjust my position
on my tribars here, what is it that needs moving?
- Well, number one, we need to move around your hands
and your wrists, basically.
Holding your wrists out like this,
and like you are currently,
opens up the whole frontal area,
so you're creating a massive amount of drag
coming into through in your stomach and pelvic area.
There was actually quite a famous
Tour de France rider who lost the Tour de France,
based on holding his wrists rolled out
like you are right now.
So the key thing is if we move
your handle bars in a little bit tighter,
alright, like that.
And then rotate your wrists in,
which naturally happens at this point,
it also rotates your shoulder in,
which releases a lot of the strain on your shoulders
which you mentioned earlier that you had.
- [Host] Yeah, feels comfortable, yeah.
- And, as you can see from the front here, as well,
the hands covering the majority of the frontal area
of your body means that you're slipperier in the wind.
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- And I was, I guess pleasantly surprised,
that all the things we changed were quite minimal.
Like, a few mills from what you're telling me,
but it ends up making a big difference over all.
- Yeah, and that's what we specialise in here,
is making sure that you're getting the
level of detail and understanding
the different and how the body react
in different ways with,
so just because you feel like you're sitting
right in one way, just changing it
one or two millimetres may actually balance you out
a little bit more, like the case was with you.
We actually found that you levelled out
in terms of how you sat on the saddle
by moving the saddle three millimetres.
So, yeah.
- [Host] It's tiny, isn't it?
- Yeah, it's tiny tiny details,
and everything kind of works with each other.
So the moment we drop the handlebars,
we need to adjust the saddle and so on, and so on.
So, it's getting the whole package
and that's what we love doing here.
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- That was a bike fit specific
for a triathlon time trial bike.
And the thing that really struck me
was how such tiny changes end up making
quite a big difference to my overall performance.
And I'm desperate to head out onto the road
and check it out, so,
massive thanks to Magnus for his time today.
If you like this video, give us the thumbs up.
And remember, you can subscribe to GTN
by clicking on the globe.
And if you want to watch a video
on how to descend on a time trial bike,
just click over here.
And to see some triathlon tech from our trip
to Rotterdam, click down here.