Question: I had a question on fit. Last year I was hit by a car while biking. My left glut was hit by the window pillar and mirror. One injury I had was a severe lateral hamstring strain (biceps) on my left leg.
I recovered well without symptoms...except for the fact when I start increasing intensity in my cycling workouts I start to feel a minor strain (post exercise) in my left lateral hamstring. Other sports and exercise does not seem to bother it. So I have been paying attention to myself and am wondering if it is cleat position. Again, I am a physical therapist and about 2-3 years ago you fitted me on my bike at Countryside Cycling. What are your thoughts?
Answer: You did not mention what pedal system you are using. This might have a small bearing on your problem. The larger issue is probably a bit of lost flexibility and strength in the glut/hamstring area, as a result of your injury. The hamstring controls pelvic rotation and knee extension. So, for the short term I would recomend raising your handlebar, start with about 2 cm. This will reduce pelvic rotation and reduce strain on the hamstring. If this does not solve the problem the next thing would be to lower the saddle, 5 mm at a time and ride after each lowering. Pay attention to your knees, if pain developes in front and below the knee cap, the saddle is too low. This should give you short term relief, the long term cure is, of course, to have a PT, such as yourself, put you on a therapy program to restore flexibility and strength.
I have ridden many of the latest and greatest carbon fiber bikes over the years, and have never been impressed with the ride quality. So I keep going back to custom made steel bikes! But the beauty of carbon fiber is that it can be fine tuned to provide the ride characteristics desired by the designer! If the designer is primarily concerned with light weight, he will make a bike that is light but not necessarily comfortable or fun to ride. If the designer is primarily concerned with aerodynamics, he will build a bike that slices through the air, but might be heavy and harsh riding. I recently purchased a 2009 Trek Madone and built it up with a Campy Chorus drivetrain. I have to say that the designers at Trek have done their homework, the Madone rides like a good steel bike with a couple inhancements. The front end is very stiff and solid due to an oversize bottom headset bearing, which also makes the fork lighter and stronger. This feature aids the high speed stability and helps the bike to sprint in a straight line! The bottom bracket is 90 mm wide, which makes it very stiff so it takes off like a rocket. However, I do not believe that the BB is as stiff as my previous bike, a Waterford R-33 built with true Temper S-3 tubing. That being said, I believe the Madone's overall stiffness is greater than other Carbon fiber bikes that I have ridden, including older Treks! The Madone has an integrated seatpost, but you do not need to cut it to length. They have developed a very ingenious "seatpost cap", that is adjustable and available in 2 different lengths to fine tune your position. This is a very clever design! So, while riding the other day I made it a point to look at the seatpost area while going over a particularly rough section of pavement, I could actually see the seatpost area flexing and soaking up the bumps. This is the key to all day comfort on this bike!
A friend of mine who has been riding a Madone for several months now summed it up like this "the Trek has a damped ride, nothing stands out as overly good or bad, just smooth and efficient".
So for the final test, I timed myself on a stretch of road going up the Greenville Watershed. My previous best time was slightly over 19 minutes, I posted a new PR of 17:30 on the Madone! Yes indeed, very efficient!
About weight, I don't believe that static weight will have much effect on overall performance, but as a side benifit the Madone 5.2 frameset is 365 grams lighter than the Waterford R-33. The Madone 6.5 frameset will shave about another 100 grams.
In todays world almost everyone rides a production bike. With all the marketing effort that has gone into selling carbon fiber bikes, most serious cyclists believe that Carbon is the only way to go! However, over the course of many years of doing fittings, I have found that about 15% of the population can not be fitted correctly on a production bike! To have a carbon fiber frame custom made typically costs upward of $5,000, so what's cyclist ot do? This is an area where steel comes to the rescue! A steel frame will ride great, characteristics can be designed into the frame, and they can be built almost as light as carbon fiber. As an added bonus, a great steel frame will cost way less than most carbon fiber frames! Waterford custom frames start at $1400, this is a serious bargin in todays world! So if your in that 15% of folks who don't fit the "mold", don't shy away from custom steel!
At 5 feet tall with a short inseam, I could not get comfortable on an "off the shelf" bike. My custom Waterford fits me perfect and performs flawlessly!
May 4, 2009 The Ride Quality of Steel
Over the years I have ridden many, many bikes, made from all the popular materials. Years ago, no one who was a serious cyclist would even consider anything but a good steel frame. Columbus and Reynolds tubing ruled! Then along came aluminum, titanium and then carbon fiber. The goal of all the engineering that has gone into making bikes out of all these materials is and has been; to make a bike that rides and performs as well as a steel bike but weighs less! Most attempts over the years have failed, so I have kept going back to a steel bike. Trek has finially done it with the new Madone! It rides great, soaks up road vibration very well and is plenty stiff for sprinting and climbing! This is the first non-steel bike that I would consider to be a "keeper".
Contact me to schedule a "Free Demo Ride" on a new Trek Madone. You won't understand the difference until you ride one!
Workout with the coach! I get a lot of questions about what kind of workouts are most effective. Well, it depends on you goals. But, i will say this, there is more to Human Performance than pedaling a bike. Let me know by email, it you want to join me in some of my cross training activities, At this time of year , cross training is mostly trrail running and yoga.
