Bike Fit, RB, Saddle & Ball

I finally got my bike fitted. The fit guy measured my flexibility, raised the saddle, adjusted the cleats, added some insole into my shoes, lowered the handle bar, increased the length of the handle bar stem (between each change, there was plenty of watching me ride and measuring leg angles). And we spent a lot of time looking for saddles. It was somewhat embarrassing explaining to him why the saddles were uncomfortable but none of them helped at all except for perhaps a ridiculous looking cut out one (Selle SMP Glider) - I may have to get that. We spent nearly 3 hours although normally it takes 1.5 hours. It would have gotten quite boring but he was interesting to talk to and I learnt a lot about cycling from him (and he's cute too). If I have his job fitting people on bikes I'd be bored out of my wits. I hope it's worth it, I'm now in a more aggressive position so I should be faster. But equally important, I hope it will resolve the knee issue.

Since I was all dressed for cycling, I went to do some laps at RB. I think doing laps around RB is quite deceiving, I pass almost everyone and it gives an artificial inflation of my own abilities. For example, last Sunday I was at RB doing laps (cos my knee was hurting) and I was passing everyone. In front of me, there was a guy who was also passing everyone, but he was slower than me so I overtook him. Then I felt that there was someone constantly behind me. It was super frustrating, idk if he wanted to overtake me or just draft behind. Anyway, after one lap, he came up and thanked me for the pull and said that I am a good rider. Haha that was the first time I helped someone and I was super proud of myself. So there I was doing laps around RB again. It was a Tuesday afternoon and I was interested to see how fast the pack was at the bowl. They were fast. I was doing 17 mph on the 'climbing' side and as they passed me, my speed went up miraculously to 20 mph without any extra effort. I did 2.5 laps for every 3.5 laps they do. This means that if I was constantly in their slipstream, I'd be able to keep up - which isn't bad at all. Yet they were highly arrogant and act like they own the road - they yelled at cars and told other cyclists to stay to the right. Basically anything and everything that is in their immortal path gets a whipping.

I tested out the bike fit on a longer ride - the typical GMR-39 loop. I'm not sure if it made me more efficient because the night before, I was being very smart which resulted in me screwing up the gears. So during the ride I was constantly fidgeting with the gears. As well, my chest was still hurting from the day before. I was sitting in front of the computer when suddenly I felt my chest been constricted and pressure been put on it. Since I'm crazily health conscious, I got an EKG. The doctor said that I have a perfectly healthy heart and asked if I'm stressed. I told her that I've been constantly stressed since the beginning of this year and even if I'm stressed now, I really wouldn't know since I'm so used to it. Apparently stress adds up and it can lead to chest pain. Anyway the pain was totally gone by the end of the ride, in total I did 2h 32 min (4 min down from 4 weeks ago).

Now that I am in a more aggressive position, the saddle pain is worse :( Today I went to a bike shop that participates in the Selle SMP try out program. The owner of the shop is a funny yet arrogant German dude. He immediately criticized my bike fit and says he knows cos he's being doing this for 25 years. I think he does know a lot but there seems to be more talk than walk. I tried out the Glider and Pro saddles....idk, but it doesn't feel much different from my current saddle. During the try out, there was a lady who went to pick up her cruiser bike. She asked if I'm racing (typical), I said to her not now but I'll when I get better, she said that you look so cute on the bike, you will be on TV, you will be famous (typical LA talk), and be in Tour de France (lol I wish!). After spending 1 hour in the shop, I still have no clue what saddle to get...

I'm doing all I can to build a good foundation in cycling. I just used my stability ball for the first time and did some exercises to improve my core. Conclusion: I have no stability! The ball rolls away faster than I can catch it.