Who Should You Trust With Your Bike Fit?
One of the most common questions I see online is, "Who should I get a bike fit from?" It's a fair question, but I've always thought it misses something important.
A better question might be: What experiences and qualifications should someone have before helping you solve discomfort, movement limitations, or performance challenges on the bicycle?
Expertise Has a Scope: Why Training Matters in Cycling Support
Why Is Bike Fitting So Complicated?
Bike fitting is often presented as a technical service. People think of measurements, motion capture systems, and screenshots filled with lines and angles. Those tools can be useful, but they are only a small part of the process.
A bicycle fit is ultimately not about a bicycle. It is about understanding a human body producing thousands of repetitive movements under load, often for hours at a time, and understanding how equipment choices influence that relationship.
Cycling is a highly constrained activity. We place our inherently asymmetric bodies into a relatively fixed and symmetrical position, then ask them to repeat the same movement pattern thousands of times in a single ride. Small changes measured in millimeters can influence breathing mechanics, muscular recruitment, tissue loading, and the way force moves through the body. Riders commonly arrive looking for more comfort or better performance, but many are also carrying years of accumulated experiences—old injuries, recurring pain patterns, asymmetries, movement limitations, or frustrations they cannot fully explain.
Why Your Position Can't Be Evaluated in Isolation
What Should a Bike Fitter Understand?
I began fitting riders in 2004. Curiosity about why riders responded differently to similar changes eventually led me into formal study in exercise science, biomechanics, and integrative physiology. My graduate research focused on the relationship between cleat position and muscular recruitment during pedaling, but the broader lesson was that human beings are remarkably adaptive.
Previous injuries, asymmetries, mobility restrictions, fatigue, and training history all influence how riders interact with a bicycle. Two cyclists may produce the same power output while arriving there through very different strategies. That realization pushed me away from fitting norms and toward understanding the individual rider sitting in front of me.
Cleat position and muscular recruitment during pedaling
Does Working With Elite Athletes Matter?
Over the years, I have been fortunate to work with Olympic gold medalists, world champions, professional cyclists, and athletes competing at the highest levels of sport. Those experiences were valuable, but many of the lessons that shaped the way I think about fitting came from riders who would never consider themselves elite athletes.
They are the rider whose knee pain appears every spring after increasing training volume. They are the athlete whose neck hurts after thirty minutes despite multiple previous fits. They are the rider struggling with lower back discomfort that no one seems able to explain. They are the person who simply wants to enjoy riding again without thinking about pain every time they swing a leg over the bike.
Those riders force you to ask better questions.
Why Does Movement Assessment Matter?
As my work evolved, I became increasingly interested in the physical realities people bring with them onto the bicycle. That path eventually led me toward extensive training in clinical bodywork and movement assessment outside of the bicycle industry, which remains the most influential experiences of my career.
The experience reinforced how much muscle tone, tissue quality, previous injuries, and structural asymmetries influence comfort and performance on the bike. Sometimes riders need positional changes. Sometimes they need equipment changes. Sometimes they need a fit that accommodates long-standing realities rather than attempting to force correction. And sometimes the most valuable thing a fitter can do is recognize that the rider needs help outside the scope of a bike fit altogether.
Clinical bodywork and movement assessment
Accommodates long-standing realities rather than attempting to force correction
What Have I Learned From Research and Academia?
Doctoral coursework through the Integrative Physiology Department at the University of Colorado Boulder reinforced an idea that had been developing throughout my career: understanding movement requires looking beyond isolated variables and appreciating the body as an integrated system.
Research is invaluable, but not every aspect of human movement can be fully explained through numbers alone. The most meaningful insights often emerge when observation, experience, and science are considered together.
That background has also allowed me to evaluate new cycling-related research to understand the relevance of findings for real riders. Sadly, very few lab-based findings show strong correlations to you as a rider.
The body as an integrated system
How Do I Think About Bike Fitting Today?
I do not view bike fitting as a process of imposing a position onto someone. I see it as a process of understanding a rider and negotiating with the constraints they bring to the bicycle.
Sometimes the answer involves equipment changes. Sometimes it involves movement interventions. Sometimes it means accommodating realities rather than pursuing textbook ideals. Sometimes it means helping a rider build a team that includes physical therapists, physicians, coaches, or other professionals.
The goal is not to create a perfect position. The goal is to create a position that allows a rider to be comfortable, effective, and sustainable over the long term.
What Questions Should You Ask a Bike Fitter?
If you're evaluating a bike fitter, look beyond the technology in the room. Motion capture systems, pressure mapping, and fit bikes can all be useful tools, but they tell you very little about the person using them.
Ask about education in and out of the bicycle industry. Ask about experience. Ask how they evaluate movement before evaluating the bicycle. Ask whether they collaborate with healthcare professionals when appropriate. Ask what falls within—and outside—the scope of a bike fit.
After more than twenty years of fitting, teaching, research, and clinical work, I still approach every rider the same way: observe carefully, listen closely, and remain curious.
Because ultimately, bicycle fitting is not really about fitting bicycles - it’s is about understanding people.