Bikedoctor

Becoming a Certified Tri-Bike Fitter

I don’t have to Google the word “Xantusia” to know what it means: dog paradise. Xantusia is also the name of 13 acres of sunblasted, Juniper and Joshua tree dotted desert a bone’s throw from the San Andreas fault that Dan Empfield, and former pro triathlete Mark Montgomery, have transformed into tri-training heaven, and dog nirvana.

Dave, Gerald and I went there to become F.I.S.T. certified tri-bike fitters. If you have been around triathlon for a while you probably realize that Dan started the Quintana Roo bicycle company, and is credited with helping develop the modern, purpose built triathlon bike. Now he runs two-day courses during which participants do a lot of listening, spinning while being fitted by other participants, geometry chart-consulting, and stepping over gregarious dogs.

Our group had bike-shop staffers from everywhere from the San Francisco Bay area, to Chicago, to Canadians like the four of us from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, (three of us from the Bike Doctor and Kevin, a sports based chiropractor) and then Patrice Lemieux, the owner of Kuota North America.

Oh, and Xantusia is also a place of stories. Dan never met a set of facts he couldn’t flesh out with a full-blown beginning, middle and end. And Mark, who runs the B and B next door, would switch from Greg Welch stories, to the tale of how he hand built his amazing waveless 25m pool that sits a hundred steps from his B and B. He regularly hosts training groups such as the semi-pro cycling team that was taking over our beds, to the tri-babes a group of about a dozen strong female triathletes who like to train hard, then stay up late.

Over the years many of the players in the triathlon bike business have made the pilgrimage to the desert. You’ll see the owners of Cervelo listed on Dan’s website as F.I.S.T. certified bike fitters. His influence continues, as Patrice listened intently to Dan’s view that stem lengths should be shorter for tri bikes than for road bikes. And coincidental confirmation came the next day as a bunch of us milled around the expo at the Amgen Tour of California. We were drawn to the Felt bicycles booth with their new tri bike on display. We talked tri bike geometries with the rep, and he confirmed that they consulted with Dan when designing their latest tri bike.

The clinic itself is a two day session that teaches you the system of the fitting that Dan has developed. What is his system? Well, it’s one where rather than imposing a fit on a rider, you discover the rider’s correct fit—like Newton discovered the theory of gravity, rather than invented it.

While always keeping in mind understood norms of aerodynamics, and body power ranges, Dan’s system is one based on rider feed-back: C=P=A. In other words, comfort equals power equals aerodynamics. No, it’s not exactly that simple. If the rider really claims to feel more comfortable on a recumbent, you don’t let him or her go there (partly to save the embarrassment).

But most triathletes don’t trust that what is comfortable is often the best position for them. Even experienced triathletes are often trying to get too low in front, and while this may help them aerodynamically, it will hurt both power output, and comfort. And an uncomfortable rider will squirm around instead of bearing down in that one best, comfortable, powerful position for the full race.

All the Bike Doctor’s fit services are guaranteed. That is, most riders, for a million reasons, will need to tweak their position. At the bike doctor, all follow ups are free.

We’ve been doing F.I.S.T. style tri-fittings for two years now, with great success.

Phone us to book your tri fitting, 306-664-8555.   The cost is $250