Today was an enforced rest day. On Monday, I felt a pain starting in my left knee. I still did yesterday’s ride, but probably shouldn’t have done. I’m hoping, all being well, I can ride tomorrow morning.
I found my previous rest day a frustrating one. I wanted to ride, and knew that I shouldn’t. Today was slightly different: I wanted to ride, but couldn’t.
That’s not to say a bunch of indoor cycling related things haven’t happened over the past 24-36 hours that are worth blogging about. So here goes.
Saddle Height Adjustment For Beginners
Important: As should be patently obvious if you have read any of my other posts, I am a total beginner to cycling. What follows should not be considered advice / guidance / the right way / whatever. My knowledge of cycling stuff is a work in progress.
Perhaps the most important thing I hadn’t yet done is to correctly set my saddle height. But then, what is the correct height anyway?
Well, before I go into that, let’s first start with what most definitely is not the correct way to set your bike’s saddle height. And that’s by looking at what you see on GCN, and then giving it a shot for yourself.
Let me be completely clear: I am, in no way, bad mouthing GCN. I love their channel, and have devoured their videos starting months before I purchased my own first bike.
See, what I saw when I watched their videos is that they all seem to have really high saddles. High, that is, in relation to their handlebars.
And me, being a total newbie, put 2+2 together and made, well, not even a number. I made words. 2+2 = major mistake.
Slam It
What I hadn’t noticed, even though many of the presenters do often talk about “slamming” their bikes, is that their handle bars are significantly lower than my own. And this, I believe, is because they have removed the spacers on the handlebar stem, in order to get a lower profile.
Of course, I have not removed my handlebar spacers. I had just set up my saddle height to roughly the top of my pelvis (not my hip, which my wife pointed out is not even where I thought it was). So… errrr, yeah. Major, major mistake.
And maybe, possibly, but not certainly, that may have contributed to me mucking up my knee. It may also have had a significant impact on the amount of power I can put out. But I won’t know for sure until I can get back on the bike and do a proper ride.
For a laugh, here’s how high I had my saddle up until now:
Apologies for my truly awful photography skills. I am not great with a camera at the best of times, but when holding a tape measure at a jaunty angle, and trying to take a photo with my other, already shaky hand, well this is about as good as it gets.
It may not be immediately obvious as to what’s at fault here. Essentially, the saddle is fairly significantly too high.
The calculations I used are all from this video:
In the video, Clint Gibbs recommends putting on your cycling shorts, and then placing a thick book between your legs, and using that to mark the top of your inseam. Seems reasonable. I measured 80.2cm.
From here, you multiply that number by 1.09 to, in my case, get 87.4cm.
This measurement is then used to set your saddle height. To do this, you need to move your pedal so it is in line with the bar that your saddle slides into. Easier to see with another amateur photograph:
Rotate the pedal so that it continues the same line downwards as your rear stem (I don’t know the correct terms, sorry). The tape measure is at a bit of a funky angle, due to me having to hold it whilst photographing with the other hand.
Measuring from where I screwed in the pedal to the crank, up the back stem pipe thing, to the very top of the middle of my saddle (approx) should come in 1.09×80.2cm = 87.4cm.
After adjusting, an giving it a very brief go, I can conclusive conclude that the entire bike feels different. I’m no longer completely stretching on each rotation, which should, I believe, have resolved a big problem with my hips shaking. That’s not something I’ve noticed, but is highly likely something I was doing.
As such, I really want to give my bike a proper ride. So, super frustrating that I had to have a day’s rest. I am genuinely curious as to whether this will have any impact on my riding:
- how long / far I can ride
- how comfortable I feel
- how much power I can put out
- etc.
Go Bananas! GorillaPod Phone Mount
I ordered myself a Joby GorillaPod GripTight phone mount for the bike. This would not be any use outdoors, but for indoor cycling, it should be ideal.
Being completely honest, for £18.99 I expected to receive only the “GripTight” phone clip piece. Therefore it was unexpected that I’d receive the GorillaPod legs with it. Maybe I should read the Amazon listing a little closer before adding stuff to my basket.
And then what it looks like with my phone in it off the bike:
Putting the phone in place isn’t brilliant. The clip feels a bit flimsy, and even when the phone is in, it’s not gripped as tight as the name would suggest. It will move if you push fairly stiffly at either of the extreme edge positions. Good enough, but not giving me the wow factor
On the bike it seems pretty decent, but haven’t yet given it a test to see if it remains still under my intense bike-based activity (little danger there though, tbf).
Be interesting to see how it fares.
Proper Portable TV Stand For Zwift
I managed to pick up a Proper Portable TV Stand, retailing for £159.99, for just £50 on Amazon Warehouse deals. In other words, someone before me has bought it, had it delivered, taken a look-see at it, and thought… nah. Their loss, my gain.
Not put it together yet. Not even opened it. No point really, no TV for me for a few more weeks yet. Once it’s all set up, I’ll upload a picture or two.
Hopefully it all fits. The main concern is the little shelf. Will it fit over my front tyre?
Main thing is: knee is rested. Back on the bike in the morning. That’s the plan.