I’ve only been cycling 2 seasons but for some reason I already have 9x cycling jerseys!? I normally spend very little time thinking about clothing or buying it, most of my clothes my wife buys for me or I get as birthday or Christmas presents. There are basically three reasons I think why my cycling jersey collection keeps growing to the point that I should probably start thinking about running for el’ presidentia of some 3d world country.

One of the reasons that I have so many jerseys already is because I’ve lost 65lbs in the last year and still losing, I went from wearing a XXL to a medium or large depending on the brand and if I want to be as aero as possible.  So half my jersey’s don’t really even fit my anymore. When you’re racing you want your jersey a bit snug so it’s not flapping in the wind and also if it rains bad things happen if your jersey is even a little too big, I found out that in the rain the material on some jersey’s will stretch out and also the weight of being wet will open up a gap in the shirt’s collar and arm sleeves and you turn into a parachute, and to make matters worse the material being wet doesn’t let air escape like it would in a dry shirt so it really can be super annoying for training and esp. racing.

The other reason is that depending on what racing event or training ride I’m doing I might wear my local cycling clubs jersey, or when I ride with the other clubs I wear a neutral jersey as there always seems to be someone that has a rivalry with some club and I don’t want to get mixed up with that. So that means I needed a couple other jersey’s besides the 3x different sizes of club jersey’s I have now.

And the last reason is that I find that I find something I don’t like about every single jersey I own, I have yet to find the perfect jersey, here is a list of my gripes, this makes me sound really anal, maybe I a bit, but hey maybe one of these jersey design people will read this a finally make a jersey that doesn’t suck.

1. the zipper is tiny and weak or
2. has too big or small a zipper handle, or
3. the length of the zipper doesn’t go all the way down so I can unzip it all the way and get it off and on easy esp. if it’s one of my snug medium sized jerseys
4. the torso is snug but the arm bands sleeves are too tight.

So far in my quest to find the ultimate jersey I’ve found two that I’m mostly happy with

A Giordana Cycling Jersey I just got this year, the zipper is full length YKK quality zipper that works really smooth, easy to engage and zip up fast even with one hand it will open and close., the handle on the zipper is just about perfect, it’s metal which stupid as a big metal zipper handle flips around on every pedal stroke swinging into the zipper and making a clicking noise, or flip up and keep hitting in the neck or chin on every single pedal stroke. I know it’s anal but little things like that get on your nerves after a couple hours of riding. So the Giordana Jersey is nice because it a nylon zipper handle with a perfect sized plastic/rubber handle neither too small to grab full finger gloves on, or so big it flips all around.

My next favorite Jersey I picked up recently was a BellWeather Cycling Jersey, the good points are that it has material I think it’s spandex type material that stretches in all directions not just one like typical jersey material. It has some sticky rubber cycling jersey type band around the waist of the shirt, seems to help keep the jersey down, the cut is good, the fit is good. Now there are a couple things that are bad though, the zipper is only a 1/2 length, and the zipper is tiny with small anemic teeth, certainly not a YKK zipper  and small with a small flap of nylon for a zipper handle but no actual rubber or plastic ball etc. to get a grip on you can work with gloves on. Also as much as I like the spandex type material they made it so thin that I can’t see it lasting long also I made the mistake of buying a white/black jersey that basically becomes transparent when you start sweating or it rains, you can not only see my heart rate monitor strap, cycling bib straps, you can see my chest hair and man nipples ahahaa. Just looks really stupid when make a water stop at a gas station I mean you’re walking looking silly to begin with with full cycling gear then your man nipples and chest hair are visible as well LOL ahahaa In the city it might not draw much attention, but where I ride, I get into some pretty rural areas where people think an alien has landed when you come walking into their gas stations all decked out in cycling garb and kit lol…

All my other jersey’s suck for more reasons then they don’t so they hardly get worn esp. now since they don’t fit any longer, one of the good/bad parts of losing weight and getting in shape from cycling.

So let me know what your favorite cycling jersey is what brand and why.
Anyway I feel better now that I got that “off my chest” lol ahaha

I was talking with a cycling friend of mine the other day and we got into a discussion on crank length and the topic of Lance Armstrong’s Crank length came up, he thought he rides shorter cranks since Lance is more of a spinner then a masher. So anyway I did some digging around got the specs. on his  US Postal Trek 5900 bike.  So here’s the specs.

• Frame Size 58cm
• Crank Length 175mm
• Bar Width 44cm
• Stem Length 130cm

I was surprised that Lance at 5′ 9″ in height would ride the same length cranks as me at 6′ 1″ and basically the same frame height too, not sure about the reach on the bike though but I also ride with 44cm bars. Trek’s typically have a shorter top tube and I ride a Cannodale which has most likely a longer top tube so he’d probably be too stretched out on my bike.

I’m wondering now if he rides different length cranks on his time trial bike or any other bike, or his mountain bike, that would be interesting to know. I’ll update this post once I find some more info about it.

It was suppose to be 40F today, maybe it was at some point, in the sun where there was no wind, but not where I rode today, burrrr.  I thought maybe I was over dressed for my 25 mile road ride I did today, I was ok until I did the first 1 mile 4-10% grade climb, I was wet with sweat at the top and it only took a few minutes of coasting down the back side of the hill to realize the I was in for a fun next hour, esp. since the sun was starting to set and things where cooling down more, and I was riding in dimly lit hilly woods.

Then I almost got side swiped by some 200 year old lady that had no business behind a steering wheel anymore, I was on the shoulder and instead of moving away from me, she actually swerved towards me and came inches of hitting me, a few minutes later my my poor shifting problems I’ve been having the last couple rides since the mechanic “fixed” it, got a lot worse then my chain ended up snapping about 2 miles from my house, luckily I had my chain tool with me and had myself back in action in a matter of minutes.

And then to top things off I felt like my bike weighed 100lbs, it was really weird, or I just felt really weak. Maybe I just didn’t have much power because I’m just getting over a cold? I wonder if riding in the cold makes you ride slower because the metabolism in your legs isn’t at an ideal temperature? I don’t know but I’m not impressed with my riding right now cold or not. My hams and glutes where cramping up in the first 15 minutes, but eventually got better, not sure what that was about, probably my new position I’m experimenting with.

I’m jut getting over a cold and I wonder what effects that has on your ability to ride fast?

But there where some good things today I noticed too

1. I was climbing slow, but my heart rate was a lot lower then where it would be last summer doing the same hills, even though I was climbing and pushing a bit on the flats today the most my heart rate got up too was maybe 86% and that was my peak heart rate most of the ride was 70-80% even when climbing, normally I’d be at my threshold around 92% MHR most of the time when climbing.
2. I can tell I have more strength and leg power etc. but I need to put the saddle time in to take full advantage of it as I don’t have much muscular endurance, but I definitely have more power then before, and my legs don’t feel sore at all now after riding where before they’d be all rubbery and tired. If I pushed myself a little I could see that I could average over 20MPH on the flats without too much trouble, I just need to do a bunch of riding on the road and get my position dialed in.

Things I learned in general today

1. I need to get thicker gloves for when it’s down near the 30’s
2. Might not be a bad idea to have a dry shirt or two to bring with you change out after any killer hill climbs, or just wear more layers so even if you get wet you won’t get a chill. Maybe just wear a scuba diving suit lol
3. It’s smart to have your tools with you, glad I had a chain tool with me, I would have been screwed without it.
4. The crappier the conditions the more you should focus your route closer to home so you can back inside if you have trouble with the cold or you have a major mechanical.
5. You might want to get one of those side view mirrors, so you can see if someone is coming up behind you and about to swerve into you.

Review of  position changes

1. 1. the handle bars feel much better in my hands now that they’re rotated up a bit
   2. I think I put the seat up to high now? I’m just guessing as my lower back and back of legs where hurting
   3. I think I need to move my cleats forward I think I want my foot more under me.
   4. I’m probably too far forward on the seat’s fore-aft now

Clothing adjustments

I need to make some changes to my cycling clothing when riding when it’s in the 30’s, I have down to 40’s figured out

Today Temperature ~33F, and I had on

1. Head: Hood:
   Seemed to be fine until I was going down the hill after climbing, probably not much you can do hear about it though.
2. Hands: Crappy gloves:
   The gloves got to go, they sucked once they got sweating from climbing, they turned into ice cubes
3. Upper body: Thin underarmor type shirt> realitevly think polar feelce> cycling wind breakerMy upper body wasn’t too bad, but once I started climbing and got slightly sweaty the downhills got chilly, and I could feel my back get a little cold and the muscle in my back started to tighten up. So I’m thinking next ride I’ll put either another layer on or use the thicker polar fleece I have.
4. Legs: Thin pair of cycling shorts>long underwear>cycling tights>wind/rain pants
   I didn’t like how the rain pants where a bit tight, but they blocked the wind and I don’t think I was over or under dressed there.
   I think I was dressed good in the legs but I need to either get tights that are windproof or find slightly loser wind/rain pants.
5. Feet: regular cycling shoes and neoprene booties
   Feet where fine, no problems

I’ve been experimenting with crank length the last few months, I’m currently riding 190mm, as much as I like them the verdict is still out if I’m going to stay with them though. I’m going to ride them for the next couple months continously while I work on my cycling position as well, then throw my 175mm back on for a month or so and then make up my mind. I might even just go to something inbetween like 180’s as a comprimise.

I rode the 190’s the end of last season for about a month, after the end of the month they really grew on me and I felt that I was onto something as I was faster and more comfortable, but I’m not sure if that was just because I finally got a needed break from all the group riding I had been doing all summer.

Also my riding position was bad, and I’m sure was aggravated by the longer cranks, as the longer cranks made my KNOPS out even further backwards, when my knee needed to move foward, actually my knees and whole body needed to move forward. But even with the bad position I still experienced about a 2.5MPH average speed increase on my 1 hour TT loop I do at least once a week.

I’ve very curious to see what happens with my new improved position and the 190’s and then having a couple months of saddle time in on them, I think it will work out good, but we’ll see. And I’m even more curious to see what will happens when I go back to the 175’s.

What makes this testing difficult is that my body is changing and getting stronger and faster, and that it can take several weeks for your legs to adjust and get smooth and powerful on the new length of crank.

I think what I should do is shorten the time I spend on one length and go back to the other, because if I spend too much time on one length by the time I go back I’ll be 2 months stronger and it will be hard to take my results seriously when I switch cranks.

So I think what I’m going to do, is ride a bunch of easy and moderate rides for 2 weeks, and when it feels like I’m pretty much adapted and use to the new length I’ll switch to the other for two weeks and then at then end of those 4 weeks I should know which I want to say with.

I have been working on my cycling position lately after discovering I had major fit problems, currently I’m fine tuning and experimenting and trying to get closer to my perfect fit. I had an expert fitting the other day, but, I think fit is such a personal thing that they can only get you close, in the end you’ll have to know for yourself if a small change is helping.

So I spent some time yesterday marking and measuring where the fitting had me, so that I could come back to that position and reset my fit position if my position experiments don’t work. I know that I need to give each position a couple weeks to get used to and judge, but some of the things I could tell right away needed to be adjusted because it was obvious after a short one hour ride.

So these are my latest changes

1. Switched from my WTB saddle to my San Marco saddle that originally came with the bike.
2. Moved my fore-aft position forward about 3/4″
3. I assume my KNOPS is moving forward by moving my saddle forward, but when I measure with a plum string it doesn’t seem to be moving forward, but I know that it must be? I think I need to find a way to measure KNOPS better. I need to be on a trainer or someone holding me straight while I get a real plumb string not just a string with a tool hanging on the end.
4. Moved the saddle up 1/4″

These changes are based on the feeling of not engaging all of my leg muscles fully, I think my KNOPS was still too far back.

Also I don’t think I like wear the fitting put my cleat further back, it feels like it’s to far back now,  I think the ball of my foot is now actually slightly forward of the pedal axle where I like to be either right on it or slightly behind.

I was careful to make sure that I didn’t make the mistake of putting my saddle too high like I had it before, it was giving me a dead spot in my pedal stroke the fitter said, I think he was right. I like the saddle on the high side, but you have to know what the limit is.

I still need to move my brake levers closer though I think, the fitter suggested that but I haven’t had time yet.

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Retraction: 02/16/09

I removed the flaming I gave the local bike shop as it wasn’t fair as I did it at the heat of the moment when I was frustrated.
I thought by venting in writing and not arguing directly with them it would help avoid any conflicts, but unfortunately the shop read my post and took it to heart, and I feel really bad now for upsetting them, even though I didn’t mention their name they still brought it up. And they had a valid point at being upset by my post as I did not give the shop owner a fair chance to address the issue personally.

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I am new to road cycling, it was only since last year that I switched from riding mostly MTB to now riding mostly road. My unfamiliarity with road bikes made me forgiving of the uncomfortable position I had been riding around in the last year. Not knowing that their where major problems with my fit, I rode around it a terrible riding position for the past 11 months, suffering from leg muscle pain, stiffness, cramps, premature failure etc. People that I’d pass up on the MTB climbs  would pass me behind on the road bike climbs etc, I couldn’t figure it out, I keep working on these theories of why. On the road bike when climbing or riding hard my ham and glut muscles would be the point of failure, also the lower front of my quads would burn and I felt generally weak. I assumed that because I started riding again last spring and started on the MTB bike and I had more time last season on the MTB bike then that was the reason I was better on it and had “weak road” muscles.

When I originally bought my bike last spring, I only received a partial fitting, I distinctly recall asking the shop rep. if I don’t look to stretched out as I feel pretty stretched out, he said I look good and I trusted his judgment, because what did I know  I never bought a real road racing bike before.

This winter I had been riding the stationary expresso bike trainers in our local gym, I discredited indoor training on a stationary for years, but finally gave it a try and found it to be a lot of fun and nice alternative to riding out in the windy cold snowy conditions of where I live. This winter I discovered the good and bad points of riding on a stationary bike trainer. One of the good points I found was that I could really think and feel and focus on how I felt on the bike, and what my body was telling me etc.  One day I was experimenting with the fore-aft position on the bike and for some reason decided to try moving it more forward like on a triathlon bike. What I found was that I had more power and comfort and could spin better if my knees where in just the right spot over the pedal axles, for me I even feel better with them 1-2cm forward.

So last Saturday I went for my first ride in months on the real road bike outside since it was very warm 50-60F, and I was disappointed with how weak I felt on the bike. I could tell I was stronger but I couldn’t send my power into the bike properly, within 5 minutes of not riding that hard my front lower quads where on fire. I couldn’t figure it out. I just thought that since my road bike has long 190mm cranks and the trainer in the gym has 172mm crank arms that was the reason why, and or also having not ridden on the road bike position which is partly true. Yes I was no longer adapted to the terrible riding position my road bike had.

The next day Sunday I went for a hard trail run and a road ride with a group of the fastest riders around, again I felt very weak on the bike, and had trouble keeping up, and had to drop out after 10 miles. My legs felt so wrong and off when pedaling, I though maybe again it was because I was adapted to the trainer not the real bike, which I’m sure is part of the problem, also my legs where tired from pedaling yesterday in an unfamiliar wrong position, then doing a death run on the trail with the local super fit bike shop owner, we did a “slow run” that pushed me really hard.  So after being dropped and feeling like crap for not being able to hang on I decided that I’d never let that happen again, or I’d make sure I have ever advantage possible so that I can ride with the best. I was embarrassed, frustrated, angry with my lack of performance esp. after having trained very hard this winter so far.

So I went for a ride again Monday as I was convinced my problem was that I was putting all my ride time on the trainer and not on the real bike. I vowed never again to ride an indoor trainer, even if that meant riding outside in all conditions.  I will never be dropped again like that. I want to ride at my full potential. I want to ride fast, and I don’t want to make a training mistake that could have me spending months of time training wrong.

As I was riding Monday evening, I tried moving onto the rivet, ie. the nose of the seat and pedaling on the flats to see if I would feel the same comfort and power improvement like I discovered on the road bike. I was pedaling at 27MPH on the flats with relative ease when I got more over the pedals and put my hands in the drops, I was onto something. I immediately went home and tried sliding my seat forward, but I could see that it would only move forward maybe 2 cm, I felt like I need to come forward more like 5 or 6 cm lol, so I actually turned my seat post around. I could tell this was better right away as I didn’t feel so stretched out, and like I read earlier that day about fitting I now could not see the front hub.

In my excitement I threw on the night light on the road bike and went for an hour ride in the wind, cold and blackness of the night. It was solved, the source of all my ham and glut pain and weakness, the strange burning pain in my quads, the hand numbness from stretching out far and putting so much weight on my hands in the process etc. all where fixed. That was the funnest 1 hour of riding I had ever had on the road bike, I felt both comfortable and powerful at the same time! I felt like I could really enjoy riding more and more miles. I felt like a kid discovering the joy of just riding. I was both very happy to make this discovery in my position, but also upset that I had not  know about this sooner, oh well at least I didn’t ride the next 20 years like this on the road bike.

My bike looked really messed up with the seat post turned around and I went to the bike shop the next day looking to see if they had post that was either straight with no set back, and also to air my frustration with the lack of proper fitting they made when they sold me the bike.

I went to a local bike shop and they suggested I do a fitting with them, they spend at least an hour, and have been doing fittings for 20 years, and since they build bike frames they had to know how to fit with an above average “bike shop” knowledge of fitting. It was the best $45 I ever spent, I think that they where not charging what they should for their fitting as it was night and day treatment compared to where I originally bought my bike.
They fixed a number of issues in my position, in general they found that I was too far back and way too stretched out, as I have long legs in relation to my torso.

They fixed

1. My left cleat had be worn way down from dabbing at stop lights, I didn’t even notice, but I did notice that it felt like my left pedal felt lower or I had a leg length issue or something.
2. They moved my cleats back a little, they turned my seat post back around, but a different seat on it and moved me forward and up from where I originally had been but not as far forward as in my test.
3. put a shorter stem on
4. rotated the handle bars up slightly
5. dropped the handle bars on the spacer 1cm
6. Suggested that I move my break levers up the bars more towards me, thus shorting my reach to the hoods.
7. Tilted the tip of the seat down a little bit as this new seat wasn’t comfortable tipped down.

I was excited and went for a test ride when I got home in the cold and dark.  Riding in this new position I could tell that it was a big step in the right direction, but that I still needed to make some changes, but we where 90% there I think now.

Changes I’m working on

1. This fitting position still felt like I was back to far and my legs weren’t getting used optimally, so I’ve moved myself forward about 1cm yesterday with the fore-aft position on the bike, that seems to be getting closer, but I still think I need to come forward 1-2cm more to be in my strong spot. I think this will put my KNOPS at +1-2cm, my kneed over the pedal axle. I’m just going to make small changes until I feel the strongest and most comfortable. Even if in theory I should be right over the pedal axles with my knees, for some reason it feels weaker to me, not sure why though, might be ratio of my upper to lower leg, or the way my tendons attach etc. or I’m just use to that position more, I’ll have to test it out for a couple weeks both ways to rule out adaptation. But I think they big clue you should notice is when one particular set of leg muscles consistently get sore first. I think when you’re fitted right, your legs burning is an overall feeling not just isolated excessively to one muscle, or one area of a muscle, when pedaling there should be a contribution to the pushing phase by both the front and back of leg muscles. And incorrect position could mean either the one side of the leg’s muscle are more sore and stiff then the other, or they’re both sore because the leg is being used wrong. I think that correct position on the bike is a bit of an art as everybody is built different so it takes an expert fitter and your own experimenting to find your sweet spot.
2. Since I’m more forward, I think I’m going to move the saddle up a little bit, I prefer my leg bend at the bottom position to be as shallow as possible so I’m up as I high as possible.
3. I need to put a different seat on, the seat I’m currently testing out sucks, it’s the worst one I have I have out of the three saddles I brought down. I’m going to try my two other saddles and replicate my fit to what the fitter had me at. I just have to measure what he has and transfer that over to the new seat, as each seat has it’s own thickness and fore-aft sweet spot.
4. With the new seat I need to adjust the seat to be more level as I was sliding down off the front of the crappy seat I have on now, and it’s putting much more weight on my hands as I’m holding myself back.
5. I need to rotate my brake hoods back as suggested I think that will be better.
6. Just for the heck of it in a couple weeks or so I’d like to throw my 175mm cranks back on for a few days and see what it’s like going back to them. I think the 190mm fit me good and I like them and everything, but I just want to double check, as I can’t believe more tall pro riders don’t ride longer cranks, it baffles me. I’ve only heard of Indurain using I think it was 180mm or 185mm? And only on his TT setup?

Conclusion:

Get a fitting, even if it costs you hundreds of dollars, get a real expert fitting, in fact get a second opinion. Fit is a very very important thing that’s often overlooked, and could be the key to why you’re having discomfort or lack of speed on the road bike etc. You’ll be faster, more comfortable, ride more miles and enjoy cycling a whole lot more.