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OPINION
The recovery position
Tue, Aug 06, 2013 14:44
23
Recovery position 2Since I've jiggered my back I've had to make a few allowances.
I've always had a fairly big drop from the seat to the bars. That's a function of my height and the fact that my legs are a touch longer than average, even for a tall chap. But that's not a comfortable position right now. Not that any position is particularly comfortable. But that one especially.
Anyway, spacers are my friend. I was building up my Equilibrium frame before I got the back-knack. Fortunately I hadn't got round to cutting the fork steerer. So I just left it uncut, and dug around in my parts box for all the spacers I could find. And this is the result.
Okay, it's not pretty. And anyone who's a stickler for Rule 45 might be spitting coffee over their keyboard right now. But desperate times, and all that. In my defence, I have ordered some matching spacers. And found a slightly more comely stem.
The venerable Charge Spoon is keeping my poorly disc comfy. I've had to drop the saddle about 2cm as I don't have full extension in my leg yet. That and the spacer stack means I've reduced the drop from the saddle to the bars by about 6.5cm, which has made a lot of difference. It doesn't feel very aero, but at least I can ride okay.
All in all the bike doesn't look too daft. From a distance. The bar tape and saddle don't match, but you're just going to have to live with that.
Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.
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23 comments
I'm on one of they back chairs at the mo. now i've got used to it it's pretty good
Dave - swap your desk chair for a pilates ball!
I did, and my lower back is much happier as a result.
Yes - get well soon. It'd be good to have a write-up of bike fit for the real world. Thanks for letting us know the lengths you've gone to to keep riding! Inspiring stuff.
And yes, I have one of those Bontrager stems in the garage, too. Swapped it out for a 130mm Ritchey Pro, which is very Pro indeed - and suits my Orangutan arms (small frame, big stem, that's just how I roll).
Hi Dave,
Terrible condition. Going through exactly the same thing as you, just a little further behind yourself, so wondering how it's going? Have you had a natural improvement in your condition yet?
Doc told me the same as you I think. Now on playing the waiting game of 12 weeks.
Cheers
Steve
i had a relapse about a week after i wrote this and spent another week in bed, after that i got booked in to have a lumbar epidural where they pump steroids into your spine to reduce the inflammation. fingers crossed, that seems to have done a lot of good. so i don't really know how much of the improvement is natural and how much down to the drugs and the big needle
i'm mostly off the painkillers now and back on the bike, managed a 30-mile round trip yesterday at no great pace, but i'm on the mend. i'm not very fit though, missed the whole summer basically
need to do a lot of flexibility and core strength work, i'm told. pilates it is then...
I've had the injection too! Which has helped to settle it down a little as I got to the point where I couldn't lie down or stand up without pain, so after four days without sleep I held a doctor hostage! It worked as far as booking me in for the nerve root block.
I'm on the waiting list for the operation, but it being at least or around 12 weeks (3 months already with this) there is all possibility it will heal itself. Which is what I hope for you and I. Take it steady and lets both wish for a good 2014 on the bikes. I also notice you're riding the Gram SL wheels, I designed the graphics for those hubs alnog with some other Velocite frames and products
Tidied it up a bit. still a big stack but at least all the spacers match
Screen Shot 2013-08-25 at 09.31.18.png
Ha ha, I have, must be the most popular stem in the world! As for saddle to bars height, it matters not a jot if it means you're still riding. Chapeau!
Seems that everyone has one of those Bondrager 2-bolt stems in their sheds!
Yes.. the Velominati rule 45... those Rapha wearing cock-jockey pretty-boy rules don't apply to anyone but themselves.
Do what you need to your bicycle so you can ride it. That's what matters.
Is the homophobic insult necessary?
You've still got a bigger drop than me! But if you can credit your height and long legs, I can blame my height (5ft) and extra-short legs, right?
Get well soon!
Hay who cares as long as you can ride don't worry about it mate.What ever gets you through a ride works for me
Oh dear got to laugh
.
NOT at your back, but my normal riding position on my Tricross is with the saddle and handle bars level and its taken me 1 year 6 months to get there, on my mountain bike when I started out the bars were about 3 to 4 inches higher than the saddle
Reason artificial shoulder joint with ligament and muscle loss after an accident.
Good luck with the recovery
I've only got 2 spacers under my stem - admittedly their 20mm each so it looks much the same.
Wish I had an excuse but I'm just very inflexible - will get around to trying Pilates at some point.
The whole bike does not look bad at all tbh.
Respect and may your recovery drop Jens Voigt!
87 degrees? Isn't the convention that 0 is horizontal, 90 is vertical - so that must be an almost vertical stem? I've just never seen one.
But yes, if it lets you ride. I'm all for it.
My stem is 87 degrees, pointed up, and has 30mm of spacer under it. All my friends laugh at me, too.
I have been borrowing a bicycle on trip away from home. The frame size is for a teenager so my knees do all the pedaling, even with the seat is up as far as it can go. I look a fool with my knees higher than the handlebars. Additionally it has a broken plastic chain guard that rattles and clicks on the pedal on every rotation, it is so loud everyone looks at me and my shame. I hold on to the thought that I prefer cycling over alternatives and screw what anyone else might think I look like. I know I look a state so embrace it.
Something reminded me of this.
thailand-long-neck-woman_12064_600x450.jpg
It looks like plenty of Rule#5 to me. I hope the back-knack packs up. Get some 28mm tyres on there too.
Just think how much quicker you'll be when you get back to slamming that stem!
It's keeping you riding. That's what matters. Ride on, and here's hoping for a speedy recovery.