Bike Whisperer - Fitting Service & Workshop

I had my fit with Scherrit a week ago now but wanted to get a bit of riding in before I gave my feedback and having just completed the Dunwich Dynamo, thought it was a good time. Before I describe the process I'll quickly explain why I got the fit.

I started cycling properly about 3 years ago. However in the past I suffered from lower back pain, which at one point had gotten so bad I couldn't get out of bed, or even roll over without excruciating amounts of pain. I ended up missing days off work and subsequently required the services of an osteopath. Whilst cycling wasn't the cause of these problems, it certainly exacerbated it.

I don't wish to toot my own horn but I'm only 26 and consider myself pretty damn fit. I used to box (thai box) at a professional level which requires a hell of a lot of training and physical conditioning. The osteopath explained that I had muscle imbalances between my front and back, most likely due to all my training (the irony). He gave me exercises which I carried out diligently and got to the point where I could box and cycle again.

However any ride over 30/40 miles would still trigger it, so every time I hop off the bike I have to do these stretches that relieve tension and crack my lower spine, the osteo tells me when I'm older I will pay the price for all this cracking. I also get knee pain which is a result of previous injury.

All of this culminated into a massive world of pain when I cycled to Rotterdam and back a few months ago now. By the end of it I was a corpse on wheels. Every bump would send shooting pains up my spine to the point of which I came to tears. My left knee hurt so much I could no longer pedal with it, instead I dangled it to the side and pedal with my right. I had just about had enough of cycling and considered calling it quits as it was just too much pain to bear.

Instead I gave Scherrit a call and got myself on the 6 week waiting list.

And finally last Monday I had my session. He is massively enthusiastic and really cares about what he is doing. As he went through each stage of the fit he explained everything that was going on as though he hadnt done so a thousand times before. Incredible that he keeps that level of interest after all these years. Its always a real pleasure to meet someone who loves what they do. I'll describe everything that I can remember below, the order of which is most likely jumbled up.

He spent a few hours examining my feet, measuring distances between joints and observing my movements as I did a series of motions such as squats, knee bends etc etc. We did some neuro-muscular stuff to. He also spent some time observing my flexibility and stability. We also discussed my previous injuries and what might be affecting my cycling today.

He then popped my bike up onto a turbo and measured up my current set up. He took me through every measurement and how to replicate it at home. His methods are very practical for people without specialist tools which was nice.

After that I hopped on the bike and he began noticing things straight away. My left foot was whipping at the bottom of the stroke, a sign that my saddle was too high. My knees were tracking funny too which he said he would remedy with cleat wedges and arch supporting insoles. He also noticed my deltoids were overactive which was wasting energy and restricted oxygen intake.

I think at this stage he tinkered my cleats (look keos). My right cleat ended up moving back about 7mm and my left only a couple. He also rotated them to make sure I had equal float left to right during my pedalling.

There was some other stuff too that I cant remember in detail, but regardless, he then set about tinkering things on the bike. My final setup had my seatpost move down 15mm (!!) which he tells me is the opposite of what 80% of his customers end up having (normally posts go up). My saddle to BB offset moved a bit and he also rotated the angle of the saddle so it was at 4deg pointing down. Luckily my bar and stem combo was ok, he just rotated the levers a tiny bit around the bars and kindly rewrapped them far better than I had done myself.

As he made changes he would put me back on the bike and iteratively move towards the final result.

As for my feet, he has a very clever system for determining appropriate cleat wedges and arching requirements. I ended up having two wedges on the left and one on the right. He then put insoles in, a high arch supporting on my right and a low arch on the left. Its shocking how different my insole requirements are considering my feet look the same.

After a bit of trial and erroring and him observing, we were just about done. He measured up the new setup and gave me a sheet with everything. I had told him I was intending to replicate it on my fixed gear bike when I got home as I was doing the Dunwich Dynamo the following weekend. He warned me that it usually takes upto 3 weeks for the rider to get used to the new setup if it is a drastic change, which i believe mine was, but regardless he hoped i would be a lot more comfortable anyway.

After the fit, I cycled about 10 miles to get a feel for it. It immediately felt right. My feet felt planted, I could smash down on the pedals with all my might without the feeling of impending knee failure. The arch supports in the insoles and the wedges is what did it I think. I can really feel them supporting my feet as I stroke.

When I got home I replicated the measurements onto my fixed bike and then patiently waited for the dynamo. I didnt ride anything over 20 miles that week so it was impossible for me to tell if my back issues were going to come.

And now its a day after the dynamo and i am shocked to say that i have absolutely 0% back pain. Astonishing, I literally couldnt believe it. I am usually quite sceptical about this sort of stuff so as the miles poured in I was just waiting for it to come but it never did. The man is nothing short of a genius.

My knee issues were also largely non existent, with only a tiny twinge remaining which I felt at the end, but is just a mere shadow of its former self. I fully expect this to disappear completely in the coming weeks as my body fully adapts to the new position.

So there you have it, for me the service he has provided was absolutely priceless. There were times during my Rotterdam ride where I would have gladly paid someone thousands to make the pain go away, and now that wish has come true.

Am thoroughly looking forward to many more years of pain free cycling!