One thing worthy of mention that I’ve done since I have been back is have a custom bike fitting at race scene in Barnsley. I read all about the shop and the bike fitting in cycling weekly and thought that if it was going to make me more comfortable on the bike why not give it a go.
The guy who does it is called Freddie. He takes all kinds of measurements and puts it into the computer which comes up with your optimum position on the bike. Freddie then sets the bike jig up as the computer says and you ride it for about 15 minutes to get used to the new position. The next step is when Freddie’s experience and knowledge comes into play as slight adjustments are made by feedback from the rider and also by Freddie looking at you on the bike. After each adjustment is made you ride the bike for a while to get used to it. After all the adjustments where made Freddie set the jig up to my original position and I think he nearly pulled his hair out when I jokingly told him that it felt better. Its hard to tell what your bike is going to feel like with the new position as your just riding on the jig but as Freddie will tell you if you go down its important to stick with any changes for a couple of weeks allowing your body time to adapt.
The changes for me were that my bars and stem went up about 10mm, my saddle was moved back by about 7mm and down by 5mm. I have also been riding really wide bars at 44cm centre to centre instead of 42cm. The thing I noticed straight away was that with the bars and stem moved up it has enabled me to spend much more time on the drops, especially in races. I also feel like I can get more power down from the changes I have made with the saddle. I have been riding the new position for 2 weeks now and there is no way I would go back to my old set up! Definitely worth a trip down. You can check out their website at http://www.racescene.co.uk/