Fitness questions and answers for December 20, 2004

Form & Fitness Q & A

Got a question about fitness, training, recovery from injury or a related subject? Drop us a line at fitness@cyclingnews.com. Please include as much information about yourself as possible, including your age, sex, and type of racing or riding. Due to the volume of questions we receive, we regret that we are unable to answer them all.

Carrie Cheadle, MA (www.carriecheadle.com) is a Sports Psychology consultant who has dedicated her career to helping athletes of all ages and abilities perform to their potential. Carrie specialises in working with cyclists, in disciplines ranging from track racing to mountain biking. She holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University as well as a masters degree in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University.

Kelby Bethards, MD received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (1994) before obtaining an M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 2000. Has been a racing cyclist 'on and off' for 20 years, and when time allows, he races Cat 3 and 35+. He is a team physician for two local Ft Collins, CO, teams, and currently works Family Practice in multiple settings: rural, urgent care, inpatient and the like.

Fiona Lockhart (www.trainright.com) is a USA Cycling Expert Coach, and holds certifications from USA Weightlifting (Sports Performance Coach), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach), and the National Academy for Sports Nutrition (Primary Sports Nutritionist). She is the Sports Science Editor for Carmichael Training Systems, and has been working in the strength and conditioning and endurance sports fields for over 10 years; she's also a competitive mountain biker.

David Fleckenstein, MPT (www.physiopt.com) is a physical therapist practicing in Boise, ID. His clients have included World and U.S. champions, Olympic athletes and numerous professional athletes. He received his B.S. in Biology/Genetics from Penn State and his Master's degree in Physical Therapy from Emory University. He specializes in manual medicine treatment and specific retraining of spine and joint stabilization musculature. He is a former Cat I road racer and Expert mountain biker.

Since 1986 Steve Hogg (www.cyclefitcentre.com) has owned and operated Pedal Pushers, a cycle shop specialising in rider positioning and custom bicycles. In that time he has positioned riders from all cycling disciplines and of all levels of ability with every concievable cycling problem.They include World and National champions at one end of the performance spectrum to amputees and people with disabilities at the other end.

Pamela Hinton has a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and a doctoral degree in Nutritional Sciences, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She did postdoctoral training at Cornell University and is now an assistant professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she studies the effects of iron deficiency on adaptations to endurance training and the consequences of exercise-associated changes in menstrual function on bone health.

Steve Owens (www.coloradopremiertraining.com) is a USA Cycling certified coach, exercise physiologist and owner of Colorado Premier Training. Steve has worked with both the United States Olympic Committee and Guatemalan Olympic Committee as an Exercise Physiologist. He holds a B.S. in Exercise & Sports Science and currently works with multiple national champions, professionals and World Cup level cyclists.

Richard Stern (www.cyclecoach.com) is Head Coach of Richard Stern Training, a Level 3 Coach with the Association of British Cycling Coaches, a Sports Scientist, and a writer. He has been professionally coaching cyclists and triathletes since 1998 at all levels from professional to recreational. He is a leading expert in coaching with power output and all power meters. Richard has been a competitive cyclist for 20 years

Andy Bloomer (www.cyclecoach.com) is an Associate Coach and sport scientist with Richard Stern Training. He is a member of the Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC) and a member of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). In his role as Exercise Physiologist at Staffordshire University Sports Performance Centre, he has conducted physiological testing and offered training and coaching advice to athletes from all sports for the past 4 years. Andy has been a competitive cyclist for many years.

Hi, I'm a 24yr male specializing in riding time trials for the last 5 yrs or so. I've had a lot of injury problems over this period mainly with my left hip and right knee. Recently I went to a specialist bike fitting centre to see if they could help prevent further injuries. They noted my left cleat was set so that my left leg was much further away from the centre of the bottom bracket than my right. Then when testing my hip flexability they found that whilst my right leg could be brought up to my chest comfortably in more or less a straight line my left leg has to move in a line that takes it away from the centre of my body towards my left shoulder. This appears to be the reason I have been riding in this position as I set my cleats up where I felt most comfortable. I also ride with my seat rotated slightly to the left for similar reasons. I would like to know whether this is likely to be a physical imperfection that I have in my hips/pelvis or if it is more likely to be a functional problem such as a muscle imbalance or twisted pelvis perhaps? My left thigh appears to be slightly longer than the right, could this also be due to the problem with my hip? Also, when I stand with my feet together my knees have a large gap between them and my right shoulder is slightly lower than the left.

From what you say you have obvious asymmetries of function at work. As to your query re the root causes, there is a multitude of possible causes and interactions. The best money you could spend is to find a quality structural health professional like a good physiotherapist, chiropractor or similar and have yourself structurally assessed. If you get back to me with the results of that, then we have some information to work with. We can go from there. In cycling like every other sport out there, the better and more symmetrically we function, the better we perform and stand up to any given training load.

The Merckx is 1 degree more relaxed in the seat tube angle and 5 mm shorter in the top tube. Off the top of my head, that 1 degree of seat tube angle should equate with 9 mm give or take a fraction at the centre of the intersection of top tube and seat tube. That means that if using the same seat and seat post, you would have to move the seat forward in the clamp 11.5 - 12 mm from your Gios placement to achieve the same seat setback behind bottom bracket as you have now when putting these parts on the Merckx. That distance is based around a guesstimation of a typical seat height on a frame of your size. That 11.5 - 12 mm if factored down to the top tube gives the 9 mm or so that you are effectively shortening the top tube. Add to this the 5 mm that the Merckx is shorter in the top tube and you would need, rounded up, a 15 mm longer i.e. 150 mm stem to achieve the same position on the Merckx as you have on the Gios.