I must admit the thought of spending several hours getting a bike fit didn’t really appeal to me. I am actually pretty okay with my current position. No discomfort or injuries. Sure, I’m not winning bike races but I’m competitive at the local level within my category. So why get fit? For starters Cycling Performance Lab is one of my advertising clients and Steve is a strong supporter of what we do here at OCA. But also because the more we have talked about his process the more intrigued I became. It’s no secret anymore that Steve has been making the fast kids even faster. For this review that is precisely what I am asking. Can he make me faster? Well then…let’s find out.

First things first. Steve is super passionate about what he does. It almost bubbles out of him when he starts talking you through the bike position process. He really is a mad scientist in that lab! Second thing. Steve is equally passionate about helping people realize their potential on the bike. He spends a ton of hours working with each client. What makes his process different? His primary focus is on performance. Specifically, bio-mechanics to enhance pedal stroke efficiency for road and triathletes, plus he adds aerodynamics for triathletes. Comfort is critical for racers and non-racers and Steve has found that performance and comfort are not adversaries. Third thing. The numbers can be intimidating but they make sense because Steve takes the time to walk you through them. He has done his homework, just ask him about his research sometime.

In this session (about 4 hours) Steve assessed my pedal stroke first. I hopped on the spin bike that was exactly fit matched to my current position and set up on a CompuTrainer. We did a power/efficiency assessment for the left and right leg using the Pioneer system. This system showed that my right leg is 10% more efficient than my left leg at around 300w. I wonder why?

Bottom right corner you can see my pedal stroke efficiency left and right leg.

Next he took measurements of my feet, inseam, wingspan & height.

After that I hopped on my bike on the trainer. Steve put LED sensors in key positions to measure my angles with the 3D motion capturing RETUL system.

That is “stick me” on the screen. This is where the differences in the right leg versus the left really came to light.

Steve discovered I have a leg length discrepancy, and not a small one. I have always known that my legs have very different pedal strokes by feel. But when you see the difference by the numbers it’s kind of mind blowing. The RETUL system helped further explain what we discovered using the Pioneer system earlier. Result? The right leg is almost 10% more efficient than my left. The reason? My left leg is shorter and must work harder because the knee angle is compressed with my current fit. What does this all mean? Steve says it’s almost a 40 watt difference if I can get the left leg to become more efficient. Uh-oh, that’s around a 4 minute difference in a 40K time trial at 25 mph. Now you have my attention sir! So what’s next? Time to work on a fix.

Steve only makes the suggestions on what to change. It is up to the client to decide on what changes they want and how much to change. I decided to go headlong into this experiment, making all suggested changes immediately. Here is what my summary from CPL and fixes look like.

Summary:

Pioneer System

1. Large left/right power imbalance (43%/57%)with left much weaker than right. My experience has shown this is not solved by pushing harder with left leg. Instead, the imbalance starts in the pelvis and hip flexors because the pelvis is not rotated so the core is not engaged. Solve the imbalance by rotating the pelvis, engaging the core and lengthening the spine from glutes through neck.
2. Large left/right pedal efficiency imbalance by 10% with left leg less efficient. Due to “a” plus leg length difference found…discussed later.
3. Can improve left leg efficiency by unweighting better during backstroke, like right leg. Also, both legs are not working in sync which is shown with mostly inefficient radial power at bottom and top of stroke.
4. Oh, by the way…this all sounds negative…it’s not. Your pedal stroke is very good…Cat 2. These ideas take you to the next level.

Retul System

1. Saddle is far too low for current foot angles, with left = 47 deg and right = 40 deg. Goal is 38ish.
2. Huge asymmetries measured left to right in knee angle, foot angle hip vertical movement and femur lengths. Simply, you have a leg length difference of about 3cm in your femurs with the left shorter than the right. This explains all the asymmetries. Recommend shims in left cleat.
3. Your handlebar position is too close and too high for performance racing…it is “pushing” you back making it hard to rotate your pelvis and engage your core. Recommend adding reach and drop.
4. Saddle position is too far forward for the knee over metatarsal measurement, by at least 10mm.
5. Both feet have significant pronation with the left at 17 deg and the right at 10 deg.  recommend wedges.
6. Both feet naturally toe-out off the bike but the cleats have the feet toe-neutral on the bike. Recommend angling cleats to allow natural toe-out orientation.
7. The left knee bows out 4 degrees while the right knee is perfectly vertical. This may self-correct when saddle positioned correctly and foot angle matches right.
8. The left foot pedals at 35 deg angle while the right pedals at 27 deg.  The left is “reaching” due to the short leg.  The shims should correct this but you should focus on pedaling with the left foot flatter, like the right.

Going Forward:

I made the changes recommended above: wedges, shim, toe-out cleat angle, saddle raised 5mm, saddle move rear 10mm, increased handlebar drop and reach. These changes will facilitate your rotating the pelvis, engaging the core and lengthening the spine. Why? To correct the left/right imbalance in power and efficiency. This will make you faster. Please provide feedback after your first few rides so I know how it’s going.

So there you have it. The changes have been made. I have been on the bike for one week and will follow up with part 2 to see if the new position makes me faster. Got some work to do on the left leg pedal stroke!

In the meantime take a second to check out what Steve is doing at Cycling Performance Lab. Click here.