It’s been about three years since I last had a professional bike fit.  Although it was done virtually, it totally helped my performance and comfort on my road bike.  Best of all, my bicycle fit was what started a fantastic friendship with my (now) good friend and Cycling 360 co-host….Victor Jimenez.  If you weren’t a follower of ours back when I was virtually fitted, here’s the links explaining how it all went:

• Fit to Get Fitted
• And the Bike Fit Continues
• I’ve officially been pimped Fit

Ideally, you should have a professional bike fit each year to make sure you’re riding in the ultimate position….but I’ve sort of neglected this.  To be honest, I’ve felt great on the bike so I didn’t feel I was in need of a re-fit.  Until now.

For the past couple months I haven’t felt exactly right, and my shoulder has begun to ache once again.  I’ve moved my bike around a lot over the past couple years, so I figure I must not have something set up properly.  So I enlisted the help of Victor once again.  You know, he isn’t called the Guru for nothing…and I was sure he’d get me back on track.

I sent Victor videos of me riding on the trainer from three different angles so that he could access how I was looking.  After looking them over, his first words to me were “Dude, you’re messed up”.  Then he asked if I’d ever hurt my right shoulder somewhere along the way.  My response to him was, “Dude, don’t you read my blog”.  I guess he missed my post about how I have a messed up shoulder due to being hit by a car quite a few years back.

The video shows what’s happening better than this picture on the right, but you can tell that my right shoulder drops when I’m riding.  Because of this, it’s creating the ache that I’m feeling on the bike.

Being the bicycle guru that he is, Victor explained a few ways I could help things out and also suggested I do some shoulder strengthening exercises to improve things.

I put his prescription into effect immediately and am working towards feeling as strong and comfortable on my bike as I have in the past.  Victor has virtually fixed me once again.

If you’d like more information on Do-It-Yourself bicycle fits, have a listen to our Cycling 360 Podcast (click the play button, or play in new window link below) or connect with Victor himself.

It’s so nice to have friends with incredible talent and expert knowledge.  We already have the best Sport Nutritionist on the planet as a part of our Loving the Bike team, and now we pleased to announce the inclusion of Victor Jimenez…..World’s greatest Bike Tech.  I like to call him the Bike Guru.

You can now send in all your bike mechanic or bicycle fit questions to “Ask the Bike Tech“.  Consider Victor your own private bicycle expert.

Victor knows absolutely everything there is to know about the bike and how you and your bike can best work together.  He is the driving force behind Bicycle Lab, and Karma Bicycles; and an expert at understanding bicycles and how people interact with this machine.  Victor is a presenter for USA triathlon coaching certification and works with many coaches and athletes to improve technical skills on the bike.  He is also committed to helping the bicycle to become more utilitarian here in the US and worldwide. Victor is frequently seen riding his bike with his son and a trailer full of groceries.

Here’s a video from Victor himself welcoming you all to send in your questions:

We invite you to send in your questions for Victor, and he’ll respond with a wisdom packed video like the one below that he did for our viewer, Alex.

One of our Loving the Bike viewers, Alex Tran has been having knee problems that have prevented him from riding his bike.  Here is his question for our Guru and a video with how Victor explains how to solve the problem.

Knee Pain from Cycling

At the start of October, my friend gave me his clipless pedals and shoes (I had been using platform pedals). I used the clipless pedals and shoes for about an an hour, and had to stop, because my knees were in so much pain I couldn’t pedal.

I have since gone back to using platform pedals, but the knee pain hasn’t gone away. If I exert too much effort, even when in a low gear, it starts to hurt. If I climb a hill, it starts to hurt. 

I’m desperate for any solutions. I hate sitting around at home watching the weather get progressively worse, while all my friends are out enjoying the last few days of cycling season.

I can’t really pay for a $300 bike fit, but if I could I probably would have by now, since it might have helped. I went to my doctor and he said my knees were fine, but if they were, I shouldn’t be having this problem, right?

 Here is Victor’s response:

Just in case life wasn’t busy enough for me these days…I’ve teamed up with a couple great cycling guys and ventured into the world of Podcasts.  It feels great to announce that Cycling 360 is now on the AIR.  I am quite humbled by the company I’m keeping for these Podcasts, and am so excited to be working with Rob Grissom (Positive Performance Coaching) and Victor Jimenez (Bicycle Lab).

Yep, that right…now you get to hear that Canadian accent of mine as I sit down with Rob and Victor for our roundtable discussions on a variety of great cycling topics.  We launched the website and podcast about three weeks ago with Cycling 360 Podcast #1: Weight Maintenance for Cyclists.  This week we posted our Cycling 360 Podcast #2: Plateaus, so now both are available for your listening pleasure.  You can either listen directly online or download from itunes so you can take us with you on your ipod or other device.

Okay, so Rob is one of the hottest cycling coaches out there right now and he brings a ton of wisdom and advice to each of our podcasts.  You may remember Victor from the posts I did on my professional bike fit last year.  He runs Bicycle Lab and knows absolutely everything there is to know about a bike and it’s rider.  Two great guys and two super knowledgeable cyclists…..am I worthy of being on a podcast with them?  They are definitely the brains of Cycling 360.  Have a listen and see what you think.

Watch for our third Cycling 360 podcast: Getting Started in Racing….Coming soon to www.cycling360media.com.  Also be sure to friend us up on Twitter and Facebook so you can keep updated on the latest podcasts and Cycling 360 information.

I really look forward to hearing your input on the new site….go on now, give it a listen.