Look, pain is a signal that something is being damaged. Some temporary damage is going to happen under certain cycling conditions. Climbing a long hill is going to make your legs hurt, but they will respond by getting stronger (IF you rest and feed them right, which is the topic of another article.)
Some damage takes a long time to heal, and may never heal properly (especially if you follow HTFU.)
Ironically, the best and most comfortable bike fit is often the fastest for a long ride. Comfort = the body moving smoothly with no wasted effort = efficiency. Efficiency of the body helps both speed and endurance.
How can this be achieved? Fitting. People who would never expect to look good in the first shirt off a rack that has the right sleeve length somehow expect to feel good on the first bike they can stand over.
OK enough of why you should have your bike fit. How do you get it done?
A few basic measurements are critical, and many of them are counter-intuitive until you think about the mechanics of riding.
Here is how I approach bike fitting, with some explanations of the why and wherefore. It is presented in the order in which I approach a fitting. This is Part 1 of who knows how many, and starts with the foundation.
Saddle
Note, not a "Seat." The saddle is the primary point of control of the bike, NOT the handlebars.To the extent that you put weight on the saddle (and it should be limited) that weight needs to be borne on your Ischia. Your ischia are the two bones at the bottom of your pelvis that are there to bear your weight when you're sitting. Orangutans have brighly colored, hairless, callouses over theirs. You don't, so where your ischia are is less obvious. Here is a way to find them:
- Sit on a hard surface with your knees above your hips, leaning forward. Give it a few seconds, and their position will become obvious. Slip your hands under your tush and feel for the spots.
- Now comes the hard (and possibly embarrassing) part. Get up, with your fingertips still on your ischia, bend over, and have a friend measure the distance between your fingers. This will be a critical measurement in picking a saddle. No saddle narrower than this measurement is worthy of consideration. It will hurt you, badly, on a long ride.
Because of your ischia, padding extremes are bad. Your ischia will sink into a soft and cushy saddle, and the delicate tissues between your ischia will end up getting skrunched or pinched. This is bad. It can lead to numbness and/or pain in places that it is not good to be numb or have pain. A rock hard saddle will concentrate the pressure on your ischia, and damage the muscles in the region that you're trying to use to move the bike. I find about 1/4" to 1/3" of firm padding is about right.
Saddle position
This is critical to comfort and efficiency. Except on a "relaxed" "comfort" or "semi-recumbent" bike you should not be able to stand flat-footed on the ground with the saddle underneath you This is far too low for riding efficiency. Expect to have to move your hips forward off the saddle to stop the bike or dismount. The Saddle should be high enough that you can just put your heel on the pedal with your leg straight (this is a rule of thumb, to be refined later in the fitting process.)You are not done with saddle measurements yet, you need to take care of your hands, arms and shoulders, too.
Hunh? You adjust the saddle to help your hands, arms and shoulders? Yup. Absol-freaking-lutely! (Told you some of this would be counter-intuitive at first.) If your hands, arms and shoulders ache after a long ride, you need to move your saddle back. If your butt aches, you need to consider moving your saddle forward. I'll prove it to you:
- Stand with your back against a wall, with your heels against the wall as well.
- Bend forward, but don't move your feet.
Now do the same experiment, except this time move your feet out in front of you so that your heels are "digging in". Your posterior is pressed pretty hard against the wall, isn't it?
- If the horizontal distance between your feet and your tush is too small, you bear your weight on your hands and arms, instead of your feet.
- If the horizontal distance between your feet and your tush is too great, you bear your weight on your tush, instead of on your feet.
Now do it again, but this time, as you bend forward, shuffle your feet forward a little bit so that as you bend forward to a reasonably comfortable position, your weight stays on the balls of your feet. You're putting a lot of pressure on the balls of your feet and your butt is barely touching the wall, but you don't fall forward, do you? Picture all the pressure on the balls of your feet as force pushing the pedal down, and you get the idea. If you measure that distance, you'll have a first-guess approximation of a good fore-aft position for the saddle relative to the "forward" pdal.
Again this is a starting point. Do some riding and make adjustments a little bit at a time. Butt hurts? Move saddle forward. Hands hurt? Move saddle back.
EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE: If your saddle is well back, but your arms and hands hurt and you're having to push yourself back onto the saddle? The saddle may be too far back, or the handlebars are forcing you to lean forward more than you should be. Move the saddle forward OR consider moving the handlebars closer in or up.
