Rulers, Levels, and Tape

Photo from Jennifer Magli's Facebook McEwen Cross photo album. 

Several other writers in the blogosphere I orbit have begun to talk about how their 2010 has gone for them and their cycling goals, the ups, the downs, and the let downs. I'm sure it'll be a day or two before the "best of" lists start popping up too (I'll have a short post on that coming soon as well). 'Tis the season I guess.

 Photo: Kurt Page

I've been enjoying getting out and racing again after a long battle with a health issue that has plagued my season (and cycling) since May. Every race since PMBAR has come pretty much resulted in misery produced by a rebelious stomach that seems to think food and water should be expelled at any and all cost, no matter the intensity level or distance ridden.

 Photo: Kurt Page

Fortunately the oppressive heat and humidity of Southeastern summer has waned and cooler temps have returned ushering in the return of cyclocross season. The short, intense nature of a cross race has allowed me to compete relatively incident free as no food or drink is really required for their duration. I'm struggling to keep up thanks to my lack of form from lack of training, but what I lack in speed I'm making up for in intensity.

Photo: Kurt Page

I'm having to really dig and push myself harder than I normally would had I had the power to stay up front and rather than being frustrated, I'm actually kind of enjoying it. The stomach issue persists, but it's starting to come around and become less of a ride/race killer.

Thanks to the holiday I was fortunate to be able to get out for an early morning cross workout with Jeremy and the pups in the 'boro before work on Wednesday. During our ride I was able to swap bikes (thanks to Jeremy also being an SPD user) and directly compare differences in handling, acceleration, feel, and subtle nuances between my Rigor setup and a real cross bike. This was the first time I've ridden a cross bike in the manner intended. It was pretty weird. What I thought I would like better about a cross bike, I realized I didn't. And what I thought I wouldn't like better, I did. Go figure.

Having literally looked inside and out for a resolution to my stomach issue has me stepping back and looking at other things with new light and fervidity. I'd made some changes to the Rigor before Wednesday's ride, one that I'd been wanting to swap for some time now but just never took the time. I also pulled out all sorts of digital toys and labored over angles, measurements, and geometry. But that ride on a cross bike had me curious about a few other things, which led to revisiting geometry lessons learned years ago.

Having lost a piece of paper containing fit numbers from several years ago, I took advantage of today's "nothing to do" and set about reclaiming that information by redoing the whole shebang. I then read, researched, and questioned several theories and practices of fit.

After plugging in numbers, getting responses from those that know better, and pulling new measurements, I learned a few things. One of which is that after 7 years of cycling, my saddle height and overall reach numbers on my 2 bikes that were set by comfort and trial and error over many miles of cycling, are spot on according to 3 different fit systems I employed today. That really means squat though. I believe fit is determined more by how you intend to use your bike than by anything else, just found it uncanny that I've always set my bikes up similarly, mostly governed by comfort, and their numbers along with the numbers generated by fit systems, years later, are accurate down to the 16th of an inch*.

The Rigormootis is back to it's full page glory for 2011!

So what's the point of all of this? There really isn't one. I was just bored with time on my hands and a lack of focus for anything else. Besides, all of the geometry, math, and theoretical physics exercises will come in handy when I tackle one of my next projects: updating my Awesome Straps with the latest and greatest versions.

* no claims are made that I have the perfect fit or setup on my bikes. Nor that I am an expert in bike fitting, bio-mechanics or physiology. Numbers just added up which is pretty uncanny and a rarity in my world. Especially when it comes to my check book.