Good Advice

My good buddy Vic told me a while back that he likes to take his bike in every now and then when he feels like he lost some speed or that it just doesn't feel right.  You know that feeling when you sit on the smallest seat you can stand for seven hours and it starts to kind of hurt?  Cyclists are so weird, but it is true that once you are comfortable with cycling you start trying to get everything as small as possible.  I bought my recent bike like six months or so ago and it felt great except I kept having funny soreness in my legs, back, and arms.  So I moved my seat a little up and down and all around but it just moved the discomfort from one place to another and after three hours on my bike I felt like it was the last thing I wanted to be on because I was bored and just didn't feel good on it.  These are not good things to be feeling with a new bike so I took Vic's advice and went into my local tri shop and had them do an eyeball adjustment (tri shops charge alot for everything so I was hoping to pay the least and get the most from them).  The before picture is on top and you can see that I was sitting like a complete dork on my bike.  Putting all sorts of weight on my arms, my back was compensating for my handlebars being in the wrong spot and my legs were not extending properly.  The bottom picture is what I looked like after (yeah still a complete dork but in proper form) flipping the handlebar neck over, the seat being raised, and my seat being shifted slightly rearward and tilted forward.  The bike feels so freakin awesome now and I would recommend this procedure to anyone.  Sure we all know how to twist this, turn that but to have someone else watch you is like night and day.  I now feel like I can sit on that itty-bitty seat forever and still pedal till my hearts content.  Then talking to the tri shop pro, he gave me all sorts of little tips to make my rides even better.  I would have never been willing to pay for this work in the first place and then even to know to get it done if it were for listening to the good advice from Vic.