TWO-WHEELING Adjusting for comfort

Small changes to the seat and handlebar can make a big difference.
By VINCE HANCOCK and PAUL FREEDMAN
WASHINGTON POST
OU MIGHT WANT TO GET OUT AND on your bicycle this spring -- but then you remember last year's pain ... in your arms, neck, back and bottom.
"There are a lot of people who ride uncomfortably and don't need to," says Ben Serotta, president of Serotta Bicycles of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Comfort also will enhance your safety while biking. "The more fatigued you become, the less alert you are," Serotta says.
All you might need for bike comfort are small changes to the seat and handlebar. A Web site, www.coloradocyclist.com/bikefit, can provide suggestions, or you can check out a bike-fit expert.
Lennard Zinn, a custom bicycle maker and technical writer on cycling, observed a rider who complained of pain in the neck, upper shoulder and back; he couldn't ride for more than a half-hour. Zinn put him on a stationary trainer, and after a short time, the rider looked "really uncomfortable and his head is all twisted in this weird position, cocked back really far so that he can look ahead," Zinn says.
"What I realized was that he had these really heavy glasses, and as he sweated they started to slide down his nose and he was really blind without the glasses. So then as the glasses slid down his nose, he'd tilt his head back more and more and he was in agony."
The rider got lighter glasses, and straps to hold them in place. The problem disappeared.
A simple fix
For others, adjusting the handlebars may boost comfort. Raise your handlebar a half-inch at a time, Serotta says.
"Almost everyone we see who has not been fitted by an expert is riding with handlebars that are way too low." Check with a bike mechanic that the handlebar can be raised safely, and ask how much to tighten a bolt or bolts.
Also get your seat height right. A quick way is to put your heel on the pedal -- when the pedal is all the way down, your knee should be locked out, says Chris Jacobson, a bicycle fitting instructor for Serotta.
You can safely raise a seat post only so far, however. If you don't see a line telling you the highest the seat post can go up, consult a mechanic.
A level seat, or saddle, also may help. If not, consider a new seat from a shop that lets you swap it. Many new saddle designs are now made for men and women.
"If somebody purchases a new saddle and brings it back, we start talking about bike fit right then," says Jacobson, who also is operations manager at Wheat Ridge Cyclery in Colorado.
"People who have a lot of saddle sores frequently have a bad handlebar position, so either they're too low or too stretched out," says Tami Dick of the Boulder (Colo.) Center for Sports Medicine.
"If anything, I say raise your handlebars because it puts more slack in your arms and less stress in your neck, less stress on your back."
Things to try
Adjusting your bike "a centimeter or two can make a huge difference in comfort, whether it's seat height, handlebar height or stem reach (how far the handlebar is from you)," Dick says. Stems are available to bring the handlebars closer and higher.
Try out the changes. But "if the pain persists after three to four weeks, it's time to see a bike-fitting expert," she says.
It's not uncommon for people to bring in a bike that's set up like Lance Armstrong's, Dick says. But people's flexibility and dimensions vary.
Comfort changes help, she says. "We have several people who've had bad injury histories or multiple car accidents or back surgeries. They don't look like a 20-year-old racer anymore, but they're still riding."
For those who can't ride a conventional bike, consider two- or three-wheeled recumbents, which have a seat like a chair.
Three-wheelers can help many people, says Gardner Martin, president of recumbent maker Easy Racers. He cites a child who has spina bifida "whose parents had never been able to get him on a bike and now they can." Whatever changes you need, it's worth the time to do it.
Pro cyclist Jonathan Vaughters, who's ridden the Tour de France, says, "A bike that is so well fitted to you so that everything's just perfect ... makes it comfortable right off the bat."