This past weekend we hosted our first workshop at Public Service! David Montgomery, our bike fitting partner and physical therapist from Beyond Exercise in Madisonville, presented an overview of some of the common aches and pains cyclists experience, and how we can adapt our bikes and strengthen our bodies to ride more comfortably.

The biggest takeaway from David’s talk for me was the idea of the “Fit Window” or the overlap between how your bike can be adjusted, and what your body is capable of maintaining. By actively working to improve our shortcomings in strength and flexibility, we can expand this overlap and allow for a wider range of comfortable, efficient positions. This can be especially helpful in trying to achieve a more aggressive, aerodynamic fit, in the case of some of our race team riders. For every type of rider, expanding this window means being able to ride comfortably for longer periods of time or on multiple different styles of bikes or terrain. At the core of it we all want to be able to ride our bikes more, and have more fun while we do it, and being comfortable is essential to that.

It also made me realize how much I have been neglecting a proper warm up and flexibility routine. Usually I just get on the bike and warm up in the beginning of my ride, but David pointed out how this type of warm up can neglect a lot of the muscle groups that we want to make sure are limber and loose for riding but are not necessarily activated in the typical on bike warm up. For me, tight hip flexors are often a source of soreness after hard efforts, hopefully getting a bit more of a full body warm up will help me get loosened up and feel better post workout!

I am really looking forward to part two of this series where David will be showing us around the gym and lab at Beyond Exercise and coaching us through a strength and flexibility routine that targets some of these issues. The offseason is a great time to incorporate stretching and strength exercises while we are riding less and spending more time indoors.

There are still a few spots left for part two of this series which will be a Strength and Mobility class at Beyond Exercise Nov. 22nd at 2pm, if you’re interested drop us a line and we can get you on the list!