The Misfits Guide to Basement Bike Fitting: Triathlon Edition

The only publication for riders who use aerobars (either for time trials or triathlon) and seek to squeeze all of the advantage out of those bars. The state of the bike fitting industry is disorganized, and that is generous. A more accurate assessment cautions that there really is no “bike fitting industry”. This lack of a cohesive industry leads to a lack of consistent outcomes. This is not how it should be. I am fully vested in the concept of orthodoxy in bike fit. F.I.S.T. (The Fit Institute of SlowTwitch) is the school of bike fitting founded by the inventor of the modern triathlon bike, Dan Empfield, who said “Orthodoxy simply means an adherence to historical consensus”. Consistent outcomes are possible, and good fitters know good fits when they see them. Poor fitters do not believe they can know anything without “more information”. They do not understand that “macro sameness and micro differences” drive nearly the entire spectrum of human improvement. Our macro sameness makes orthodox bike fitting possible, even in remote settings, while micro differences allow us to squeeze the last few percent from a studio fit on a modern dynamic fit bike.About a year ago I began doing online bike fits through video and email exchange. I was initially skeptical of the efficacy, but I had been offering so much free advice to remote athletes that I attempted to formalize the process. The outcomes of the first fifty online fits have shifted my thinking. Bike fit orthodoxy could be delivered remotely! Similar to my studio fits, many of the online clients were struggling with the same problems. Today’s responses resembled previous responses. The flow of ideas that led to the writing of this book:1. Humans are fundamentally the same. 2. Sameness breeds processes which deliver orthodox outcomes. 3. Many bike fitters operate as if sameness and orthodoxy do not exist.4. Orthodoxy can be transmitted remotely. 5. The remote transmission of orthodoxy can be standardized. This book is an attempt to standardize the remote transmission of bike fit orthodoxy. In laymen’s terms, I think that, with guidance, you can do an excellent job fitting yourself to your bicycle from the comfort of your home. Read more