For the last five years, I have not been able to get completely comfortable on my bike.

(Did you break your bike?)

In 2014, I broke my arm when a car clipped my bike tire.

(So, actually the ground broke your arm.)

Thanks to a metal plate and seven screws, the arm healed and seven weeks later I went on to compete in Ironman Louisville.

(They have an Ironman down there?)

There are 30 different Ironman triathlons in North America each year.

Breaking the arm caused the ulnar nerve to shift and it only bothers me when I am “aero.”

(Arrow?)

Aero is a triathlon term meaning, aerodynamic or leaning as far forward over the handlebars as possible to reduce wind drag.

(You lean on your handlebars? No wonder your arm hurts.)

My forearms rest on cushioned pads. That puts pressure on my left forearms and results in numbness in my fingers.

(So just ride sitting up.)

Learning forward on my wrist for 112 miles results in wrist pain from leaning on the joint.

To remedy this I have been working with a bike fitter named Joe LoPorto at Fitwerx NJ.

(What is a bike fitter?)

It’s kinda like a tailor for your bicycle.

(How does one tailor a bicycle?)

Instead of having the pants taken out, the seat and the handle bars are adjusted in three plains; x, y and z.

(Didn’t you tell your ninth grade math teacher that you were never going to use linear algebra?)

Any micro adjustment of the seat or the handlebars will change everything about the fit.

If you shift the seat forward, the hips will be directly above the knees. That translates into more power when you legs pedal, but more pressure on your back in aero.

(How do you fix that???)

We pulled the handlebars in and my arms were now tucked under my shoulders.

Less shoulder muscle fatigue, but more pressure on the forearm bearing the weight.

(Why are you telling us this?)

The result of multiple adjustments was a fit where I could ride in aero, but now my tush started to ache.

(Your bike became a pain in the butt?)

To support the arms in a new position, we moved the seat forward. This put pressure on a new area; my adductor magnus.

(You weren’t kidding about “any micro adjustment will change everything.”)

That is because now you are engaging muscles that had previously not been asked to move in this way.

With nothing left to move, the solution was a new seat for my…ummm, seat.

(This seems like a lot of work, just to ride a bike)

Kinda like a multi step algebra problem to make me faster.

(Why do you needs to be faster?)

There’s a reason why we are going back to Lake Placid after I swore I would never do this again….

By David Roher

David Roher is a USAT certified marathon and triathlon coach. He is a multi Ironman finisher & a veteran special education teacher. He can be reached at:�[email protected]