Triathlon Bike Fitting

Finally went in to get my new bike adjusted, with Aubrey Bryce of Enduro Training Systems, who was recommended by the lady whose bike I bought. The fitting was really informative, with Aubrey explaining all the geometry behind his adjustments. I think I can sum up the process with two goals in mind: my comfort, and maximizing my power transfer to the bike.

Here's a quick comparison of the change in body position from this fitting:

Cleat adjustment:
- AB measured an angle that my feet naturally hang down at, which is inward on both feet, with the left being even more inward than the right. So he had to shim each of my cleats to correct for this angle, so that all my downward force would go straight to the pedals.
- He then moved my cleats forward on my shoe so that my metatarsal region (wide part of the foot) would sit directly above the pedal crank, again for maximum power transfer.
- Finally, he moved the cleats sideways so that there would be a straight line between my knee and my second toe, all for the same reason. He used a laser to see the line.
- Unfortunately it seems that my shoes themselves are too tight. They seem comfortable just on, but they numb my feet after a short time of riding, as I compress my feet on the pedals thereby widening my feet in the shoes. Will need to replace these hand-me-downs after all.

Seat adjustment:
- He used a bike goniometer to measure the angle of my knee and found that I'm really scrunched, so that my foot doesn't start to push the pedal with most force until it's down to about 3 o'clock. So he adjusted the seat up and back to open up the angle and allow my leg to start pushing at about 1 o'clock.
- He did assess the fact that my bum needs a wider seat: I have a size 143, and I should measure the width of my sit bones to see what size I should get (145, 155...)

Front adjustment:
- He realized that my angles were really good after the rear adjustment, so he did not change anything in the frame.
- He just corrected me to pushing my arms back a bit on the rests, so that I'm on my upper forearms instead of my elbows.
- The aero bars are a bit long for me, but unfortunately are only adjustable side-to-side, not forward-and-back, so I would need to get them replaced. But that is the last thing on the list behind shoes and saddle, as I can ride well as is, just a bit inconvenienced by pushing up to shift. He cautioned me not to let a bike shop try to shorten the stem to fix the problem, as that would mess up my overall geometry.
- AB did say that as I get more comfortable with riding this bike, he would like to get rid of a few of the stem spacers and drop me down into a more aggressive position.

So here is the BEFORE picture, from December 2011:

And here is the AFTER picture!
My back is now straight and no longer scrunched into a round ball. It was also much easier to pedal without kicking myself in the chest, haha. We'll see how it turns out on a real ride.