Fit Bikes, what are they good for?

A lot has happened in the world of bike fit in the last few months and in many ways I have to say it's about time. I, and a few others like me have been taking bike fit seriously for over twelve years. Personally that would be four years in a shop and eight years as an independent bike fit professional. I find it equal parts rewarding, frustrating and interesting that it's taken until this year for the major manufacturers to start taking bike fit as seriously as those of us doing the fitting.

As of this fall Dorel, parent company of Cannondale has purchased Guru Bicycles for the sole purpose of gaining access to their Dynamic Fit Unit fit bike, Specialized bought Retul in order to control their proprietary fit bike and Shimano has acquired Bike Fitting BV out of the Netherlands. I don't doubt that fit bike announcements will be made in the coming months from the other major players, most notably Trek and Giant. In an odd way it kind of reminds me of the cold war mentality of mutually assured destruction...we've got a fit bike, you've got a fit bike, don't do anything funny and everybody's fine.

So with all this new found attention on bike fit and fit bikes in particular, I felt it was time for me to weigh in with my thoughts on where the industry is headed and where I'm positioning my services in light of all this focus.

"just finish" or "compete"

So I sat down for a coffee with an old client of mine yesterday. He was almost one of the originals actually. It was a good catch up session. At one point he related a story about a friend of his who has also been to see me. His friend had come to me for a custom Guru back in the days when I was doing retail and is now being coached by another coaching group in the Toronto area. And during that conversation an interesting distinction became clear. It turns out they have very different goals with their respective athletic endeavours. My old client is all about going as fast as he can and challenging for podium finishes whenever possible. His friend was simply interested in having fun and "just finishing". At this point my old client had a bit of an epiphany about the difference between what I do and what others do. "If you just want to enjoy your time, be fit and finish then go to the other guys. If you want to be fast, be your best and see the world from the top of a podium, you go see Ian."

I've been bought out...sort of

So, I suppose I should be flattered. The big giant corporation Lifetime Fitness has bought up all the assets of NewLeaf Fitness, the company who provides (or provided rather) the equipment and support for the fitness and Vo2 testing I've been performing for the past eight years.

You can read the news release here.
 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mgc-diagnostics-corporation-completes-sale-of-new-leaf-business-assets-to-life-time---the-healthy-way-of-life-company-168037756.html

I guess myself and the other small scale centres like mine posed too much of a threat to their business model. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid. Maybe they just did a cost analysis and some number crunchers figured it was cheaper in the long run to bring the hardware and software in-house rather than continually paying recurring fees to a third party. Can't really blame them there, but if that's the case I'm sure they aren't too upset about cutting off the heads of all the small guys like me out there.

The truly frustrating issue for me is that this is of immediate concern for the viability of my business model. You see, the O2 sensor that all of these systems use is fairly similar to a fuel cell and have a finite life. In my experience with NewLeaf, the lifespan is normally around 16-18months and mine just hit it's end life two weeks ago, rendering my unit useless. All assessment appointments have been put on hold as a result. I knew it was coming up and I also knew that NewLeaf had a new unit available at a fairly modest upgrade cost which I had budgeted for. I have cash on hand, ready to spend for my cool new upgrade.

 Do you think I could get an answer from anybody? Hah! It would take at least 24hrs to get a response to any question I had from my supplier and anything I sent directly to NewLeaf was completely ignored. Well, I now know why. The deal was in the making but they couldn't say anything, so best to not say anything at all.

I'm not a big fan of delays and run-arounds, so while they were busy not getting back to me, I got busy searching for alternatives. Thankfully I found one. One that I believe in the long run is actually better for both my clients, current and future and for my business model. It is a more accurate, durable unit that is significantly more cost effective in the long run than the NewLeaf unit was. With all the knowledge I've accrued over the past eight years, if I knew back when I started all that I know now, this new unit is hands down the one I would have bought instead of the NewLeaf.

The trouble is timing. If my NewLeaf unit were still functioning (and ideally if it had been serviced back in the spring) I'd have a roughly 18 month window to budget the roughly $12,000 I need for the new unit and I'd be able to buy it when I was ready to instead of when I have to. The only thing I dislike more than delays is having my hand forced, and my hand is definitely being forced right now. Without assessment functionality my coaching programs would not be nearly as effective as they are right now. It's having that data and my keen understanding of how to apply it that sets me apart from other coaches out there. And it's that understanding, application and personalization of the results that sets me apart from mass production factories like Lifetime Fitness.

So where does all this leave me? Well to be honest I feel very much at a crossroads. Making a major re-investment in my business is not something I was planning on having to do at this point in my life. It seems to me I have two choices. Throw up my hands, wave the white flag to the big guys and walk away. Or pony up and use this as a catalyst to bigger and better things, providing a level of personalized service that a big corporation like Lifetime could never dream of providing.

For those of you who know me, the answer to this is pretty darn obvious! Besides, I'm too good at what I do, and honestly I wouldn't know what else to do with myself. I love what I've been able to do over the past eight years, I feel blessed to have a job that has never truly felt like work and honoured to have played a small part in the athletic successes of so many.

So ya, to hell with you Lifetime, you just got yourself some real competition.

Now, please be patient while I go out and rustle up $12,000! As soon as I'm up and running for assessments again, you will be the first to know.

And finally, I'd like to close this with a huge word of thanks and appreciation to all those who have trusted me with their fitness and performance over the years. Your support and in many cases friendship is what keeps me so happy with what I do.

some random thoughts on bike fit

A good fit is as much about body angles on the bike as it is about body displacement. How your weight gets displaced along the wheelbase and where your center of mass lies in relation to the bottom bracket is every bit as important as what your hip and knee angles are. In fact, I could easily argue that weight displacement is more important as it this factor that determines how the bike is going to handle out on the road.

Size Matters, or It's All About the Inches

So I’ve been meaning to write this one for awhile. It’s all about the importance of something many tend to overlook, especially when buying a new bike. That something is your gearing set up and corresponding gear ratios.

Sometimes, shorter is better

If you’ve been following equipment trends in triathlon over the last few months you’ll have noticed a movement towards shorter crank lengths. I’ve been a fan of this for a long time simply from the standpoint that a shorter crank promotes a faster spin with less torque/muscular force being applied to create your power. I’ve written here previously about the benefits to triathletes of generating your power through cadence vs force. Feel free to go check that out before continuing here.

A Supplemental

Good day and thanks for checking in. I know my next topic is supposed to be a continuation of my discussion of breaking in training and racing but I wanted to divert for a moment and talk quickly about supplements.
I get asked fairly frequently what my views are on supplements and nutritional products. These questions tend to come from two camps. My athletes, and sales reps trying to sell me on their version of the latest and greatest product to hit the market. Mostly due to an increase in queries from the second camp, I feel it's time I put my thoughts on record.