I know there’s alot of topics/comments on this, but I find it all abit chaotic. Therefore I dare to ask again.
I have been to several bikefitters for an uneven position. I usually drop to the right, which results in kneepain and shoulderpain.
I have tried proper insoles, wedges, shims, stabilisation in the shoes.. lower saddle, higher saddle.. I also ride 165mm cranks.
I do core/legwork every other day for stabilisation.
Yet when racing season starts and I do alot of efforts, my right side starts dropping, which really feels unstable..
Is there anyway to even out a structural difference? Like a special saddle?
I’ll post a pic for reference.
I have something like this going on all my life. In my 20s I hardly noticed it. I really started noticing in my 50s.
I’ve been able to deal with it with Assos shorts (best chamois ever IMO), liberal use of chamois cream, and an SMP saddle. I’ve also taught myself to pick my butt up off the saddle and center it. Sitting 1-2cm to the right used to feel correct and square. It felt really weird at first but now it feels fine. I naturally sit to the right by 1-2 centimeters and that was causing chaffing on the left which was the first physical problem I encountered.
Remember that you don’t actually sit on the sit bones when riding a drop bar bike despite popular belief. You are really sitting on the center section of your pubic bone (public rami). Measuring saddles by sitbone width is kind of a bogus science. Read these two Steve Hogg links here.
I was also having upper back pain going towards my neck on just the left side. This only showed up after 2-3 hours in the saddle. That seems to have resolved itself with the saddle change plus I started lifting weights last fall.
I got a lightbulb moment recently when I was listening to a Colby Pierce podcast on Asymmetry. He describes the ‘spiral’ movement pattern and that was me to a tee. He was describing a right dominant quad and then a dominant left glute. It’s like our body operates in this spiral fashion to generate power. It makes sense if you are kicking a soccer ball with your dominant foot - kick with the quad, push with the opposite glute.
This lead me to think about how I pedal especially near threshold. I think I lead with the right quad and I just let the left come along for the ride. I’ve since made a conscious effort to not do this during threshold efforts and think of the legs more as equal pistons - left, right, left, right. Just by concentrating on this during a threshold effort I see my power go up by 20 watts since I have a left side power meter.
Since hearing the podcast, I’ve also noticed that people often walk in this one side dominant fashion. They lead with the dominant leg and follow with the other. It’s not super obvious but once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Naturally, we don’t really walk in a perfectly even, symmetrical fashion. We lead with the dominant leg and we cycle in the same fashion.
good listens:
Good luck! I’ve been working on this for like 8+ years.
As far as finding a fitter who thinks about stuff at this level, I’m not sure you’ll find it with the average fitter. My guess is that all the Steve Hogg trained guys would be great. Of course, you could find some bike fit guru somewhere who has trained themself but it’s going to be hard to find.
@AJS914 Thanks for sharing those pods. I’ve just finished listening to all three episodes (103, 104 and 105) and found them so interesting and illuminating. For years I’ve been experiencing the same issues he talks about, which countless bike fits with different fitters have failed to rectify (reason: it’s me not the bike). This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone describe to me my own experiences in words I use myself. You’ve no idea how eye-opening I’ve found these three episodes. They’re certainly going to bear multiple listens. Not only that but I love his style of delivery. Thanks again for sharing. Now to start despiralling my twisted body…
This may be a stupid question but why wouldnt you shim the saddle on just the right side? Basically cut a piece of 1/4" neoprene the shape of the right side of the saddle and tape it on.
It’s not a stupid question. The reason for not shimming the saddle (or a cleat) is if it’s a muscular imbalance causing the uneven pelvis then all you’re doing is treating a symptom of the problem while allowing it to get worse.
Easiest way to think of it is almost like a chair with one weak leg. You shim for the weakness and it appears to be better at first, but really more and more pressure is being pushed over to the “good side”, which will then cause issues there as well.
I’ve dealt with this personally for 25 years as I played high school and small college basketball prior to immediately getting into triathlon. My free throw stance and better side to shoot from always involved right foot forward with right leg carrying more of the load, and left leg essentially acting as a plant foot. Who knows how many millions of shots I took that likely caused my right ASIS to naturally sit more forward than the left. I never had an idea it was an issue until the 20 hours a week of basketball turned into 20 hours of a somewhat locked position on the bike.
@Cavasta - good luck. Colby’s podcasts are great, and you might also look up a “flow rope”. I’ve been playing around with one over the last several weeks and while I’m certain there could be placebo effect, I do feel a better dissociation between my shoulders and pelvis than I have in a very long time - thoracic mobility has improved as has evenness in general walking, running, and riding.
Check out the saddle cutout topic links above by Steve Hogg. “Sit bone” saddle fitting is a red herring. It certainly seems logical and I used to believe that I needed a certain width saddle. But, in a road postion we don’t really sit on the rear pointy part those bones.
