"Let me tell you all the ways I CAN'T serve you"

You probably can't see that my heads about to explode. The title of this blog summarizes some of the recent customer service experiences that I have had lately. As a customer, I still find it amazing that some businesses seem to think that the I(the customer) am the one who should be doing the serving. "I'm sorry sir, it is out of our control", "Yes sir, but our systems require that you do this or that or the other". Bla, bla, bla.

If you watch the news, you hear that our economy is in the crapper. In fact the media loves to tell us this bad news. It may be time for it to go to the crapper if businesses take the attitude that they are the ones being served. However, I know of two friends who had banner years in spite of the "bad economy" and their Christmas selling season broke records. They both do one thing. They serve the customer!!!!!!! with great service!!!!!!! because they know that the customer is the one paying!!!!!!! You won't hear the media talking about this because it doesn't make for good television.

Yes, this is a bit of a tirade and yes, I'm just a bit emotional. At this point, I'm not a danger to myself or others and that's a good thing.

It's my hope that every company with poor customer service and/or poor products go out of business during this economic downturn. When the economy slows down, it's a chance for the creme to rise to the top. Regardless of the economy, great customer service and quality are still worthy of consumption. It's times like these when I start to pick and choose where my dollars are being spent and I only want to spend them on goods and services that are going to give me the greatest value!

Recently, I've been studying the concept of Lean Production. It's all based on generating the highest value product or service for the least amount of cost and working to eliminate waste where ever possible. Now that I've read just a bit, I'm starting to see waste and limited value almost everywhere. It's a bit overwhelming. Every time I turn around, I'm involved in some sort of consumer situation where I'm wasting my time and getting little value. Yet, because there are few options, I am forced to "deal with it". I can tell you that the economy is going to put pressure on these situations and fewer people are going to deal with it and that means fewer dollars being spent.

Gulf Coast Cycle Fit is designed with one thing in mind: To provide the customer the highest quality service so that they receive the greatest possible value and satisfaction from their coaching or bike fitting experience. Sessions are conducted one on one with the goal of addressing specific issues so that customer walks away with solutions. If I ever identify a road block to serving a customer, it is removed even if it is at my expense. In the end, I sleep very well at night.

Unfortunately, now I have to return to the real world of serving the vendor and paying them too! Hopefully, I will get a peck on the cheek.

Time for the tweak

It's that time of year again. Time to get tweaked(bike fit that is.)

Things have slowed down a good bit. The holidays are in full swing. Some of you may have even been lucky enough to recieve bike related gifts. It's time to get things tuned.

If it's been over a year since your last bike fit, it's time to get re-checked for fit. Most riders have purchased something new for their bike within the last 12 months. New pedals, shoes, handlebars, shifters or saddles can all have an impact on fit. If you have changed any of these products, you need to get checked out before things start ramping up again.

Changes in body composition also have their impact on fit. If you have gained or lost more than 15 lbs. You need to have your fit checked as well. (Pardon my direct approach to this). Extra weight in the thighs and abdomen changes the way the cockpit is set up. If your thigh and abdomen are touching when you are in the drops, your handlebars need to come up, or you need to loose weight. Continuing to ride in this situation causes you to loose power because you are dampening force by moving your abdomen each time it the thigh comes over the top. Also, changes in weight impact how you sit on the saddle. The size and shape of your bottom drives where you sit. If you are sitting in a different place on the saddle, your power production has changed. This requires a new look at fit as well.

Other items mentioned at the top are important as well. If you purchased new shoes, the cleat position needs to be verified. New pedals present with the same issues. If you purchased a new bar or if you are using a different component group, handlebar placement and hood placement has to be reset based on the new design.

It's great to purchase new bike stuff, however, don't discount the fact that these items need to be set properly so that you get the most from your new gear and you avoid aggravation of new injuries.

More Knowledge and Wisdom....please

I hope this is not to heavy for Christmas Eve.

We are definitely in the information age. There is more information available to us than ever before in human history. Here's an example. Last night, I was watching "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby. The movie was filmed in 1954. Just out of curiosity, I wanted to know Bing's age at the time the movie was filmed. I opened the laptop, launched Google, and typed in "Bing Crosby". There it was: Bing Crosby, born May 3r, 1903. You do the math.

Knowing Bing Crosby's age at the time he filmed is a great example of information. My Dad used to have a saying when he would have the answer to some obscure question. He would say, "That's just another tidbit from Field's vast repertoire of useless and inane knowledge". It's interesting that he characterized the type of knowledge as useless and inane. In other words, it's information that serves little purpose in decision making. It just takes up space somewhere in our memory and he only pulled out for entertainment purposes. He also knew the four letter word that starts with "T" and means mountain lake.

In today's world, we have taken the next step away from knowledge, wisdom and understanding. In the example above, Dad kept the information in his head. Don't get me wrong. There was a lot of stuff in that head. However, in today's generation, information is accessed, it isn't necessarily memorized or understood. I see this as a dangerous step but it's one that we are forced to take as the volume of information continues to expand at an exponential rate. It also seems that our culture has a growing appetite for information.

Knowledge on the other hand is a powerful tool used to make decisions. It changes lives and history. The source of knowledge is found in truth(now truth is a touchy subject, "What is truth? and that is way to heavy for Christmas Eve). The pursuit of knowledge should be a lifestyle. In many ways, it's going to become increasingly difficult to maintain this lifestyle as we march forward in this age. Going forward, much energy will be spent in the process of parsing information from knowledge well before learning can occur, and unfortunately long before wisdom can be gained.

That's the goal, knowledge and the pursuit of wisdom for effective decision making. Good luck! Don't stop pressing for more. I guarantee that your time here will be over long before your brain reaches full capacity.

To be called "Wise beyond your years", this is a badge worth wearing.

Merry Christmas!

Bucket List

I haven't had the chance to watch the movie but, as I understand it, two old guys make a list of things that they would like to do before they die. As a cyclist, I have my own bucket list. My list includes things like watching the Tour De France from a Director Sportiff car, having the opportunity to meet Eddy Merckx and riding my bike across the United States. My list also included another opportunity that I was able to check off this week. I had the chance to visit Seven Cycles and meet an incredible group of people that are sick about bikes. I was overwhelmed by their generosity and hospitality. So much for the impersonal Northeast. I felt like I had returned home after being away for years.

About three weeks ago, I contacted our local Seven retailer, Eastern Shore Cycles, to see if we could work out an arrangement where I could offer custom bikes as part of my list of services. Historically, I have been able to offer my clients stems, seat posts and other components through their preferred bike shop. I would contact the shop of their choice and place the order with the appropriate specs and the retailer would place the order for the client. It's a working relationship that facilitates customer service. In addition to components, I've helped several clients with bike selection when it was appropriate.

Now the circle closes a bit more so that clients can experience the best custom bike fit possible which includes the opportunity to be measured up for a custom frame by Seven Cycles. I've considered bringing in a custom bike line ever since Gulf Coast Cycle Fit started but it never made sense to bring another bike line into the Mobile, AL market. Seven is the perfect fit to fill this need within the scope of my services.

The tour of the Seven manufacturing facility was a great experience. I was able to see how they cut and prepare each tube for construction of the bike frame. After the tour, I spent time with each department so that I would understand how orders and sales are completed. Seven goes to great lengths to guarantee customer satisfaction.

Now that I'm back, what can my clients expect? You can expect that you will continue to receive the highest level of service possible with the comfort of knowing the most any solution is possible within the scope of Gulf Coast Cycle Fit. If you decide that you want a new bike, I think you should entertain the thought of "One Bike, Yours!" : a custom bike that is constructed to meet your needs as a cyclist.

There is another item on my bucket list that involves Seven Cycles. Sometime in the future, I'll let you know if I'm able to check it off as complete.

Yes, Virginia, there is a proper method to pedal.

I rec'd an email from my brother this morning. He sent me a link to bike fit article in Velonews - PROJECT PRUITT. The article series is following a guy named Tom LeCarner. He's a Velonews contributor, and obviously a very nice guy with a serious bike habit(not that there's anything wrong with that.) Unfortunately, his bike habit is being hampered by nagging problems that you can read about in Velonews.


Here's my position. This guy is a mess before and after the fit. Before the fit, he's an obvious mess evidenced by the excessive aberrant movement. After the fit, he's a not so obvious mess because he's not bouncing around on the saddle. He stopped moving because the bike fitters used external aids to block and control motion. This changes the way the rider appears on video, however, it hasn't changed the way his brain wants to make the body move. The underlying motor pattern has not changed. As the body tries to move against these blocks, fewer aberrant motions appear yet, increased joint shear forces lurk. In addition, there are technical concerns that will continue to feed this cycle of overuse injuries.

There is a school of thought that says ankle position does not matter in cycling. In fact, there is research to back it up**. However, if you have ever read research about cycling, you know that good information is a difficult animal to capture. There are so many things going on that research models are difficult to create. Here's what I do know. Regardless of ankle position, effective force cannot be generated at the bottom of the stroke unless the axis of rotation of the knee is vertically oriented over the bottom bracket and pedal at dead bottom center. At this point in time, the hip is transitioning from extension to flexion. It cannot contribute to force production because it's arc of motion is perpendicular to the arc of the pedal. Also, the ankle has the same predicament**. Therefore, the only joint to contribute to force production is the knee and for it to contribute effectively, the arc of motion created by this joint must overlie the arc of motion created by the pedal. This only occurs when the axis of rotation of the knee is directly vertical over the bottom bracket and pedal.

After the fit, the rider has stopped bouncing. However, his knee is several cm behind the bottom bracket. As a result, other compensatory changes have to occur to allow the body to continue to move in the circular patter created by the pedals. Yes, the pedals move in a circle.

**If ankle position doesn't matter, how should the body modulate muscle length of the gastrocnemius and hamstring? If ankle position doesn't matter, why is there a specific ankle position and method used by the brain to start the pedal stroke at dead bottom center or top dead center when inertia is not present?

Value, Value, Value!

I've been inspired over the few weeks to evaluate sources of value.

Two months ago, I took the opportunity to listen to Zig Ziglar. I don't if many of you have ever listened to his tapes on selling and goal setting. Regardless of what you think, Zig's teaching are very basic and applicable almost all the time. Even though I don't listen to Zig often, in fact, I haven't listen to one of his tapes since 1988. I can tell you that I have incorporated one key element as a foundation of life. Zig's quote(paraphrased), " The best way to get what you want is to help a lot of other people get what they want". This isn't about manipulation, it's about serving. In spite of failing at it compared to the highest standard, I continue to strive towards a servant lifestyle.

When I was listening to Zig recently, he was talking about communicating the value of a product vs. price. In his words, the impact of price is forgotten rather quickly but the value lasts for the life of the product or service. At this point, I'm still not inspired, I'm just curious.

Not to long afterwards, I had the opportunity to talk to Rob Vandermark of Seven Cycles. We started talking about the potential impact of a weak economy on bicycle sales. He gave me the same answer that I heard from Zig. Rob quickly said(paraphrase), "It's very important that we focus on the value that we are providing". Now, I can tell you that I start listening when I hear the same concept from multiple sources. However, even though I agreed with the concept, I didn't know how to evaluate, or respond to processes that did or did not enhance value.

I'm heading up to Watertown, MA next week. While I'm there, I'm going to get to see the processes that go on from the time a frame is ordered until it is shipped. As cool as this is, I can't wait to see how Seven has incorporated value analysis into every step of their system. This is critically important to me as owner of Gulf Coast Cycle Fit. I want to be able to critically assess every process or service that I provide so that it is sharpened to perfection and provides the highest value possible to each client. I need more hours in the day. When you are inspired, the negative concepts of work disappear.

Christmas list

I typically subscribe to this: "Everyone should get a new bike every year" (**disclaimer so that I don't conflict with my previous post: Everyone should get a new bike every year because its always fun to get a new bike.**)

But, if you don't have a new bike in your future, Santa's money is best spent on a set of rollers. Bang for the buck, the cycleops rollers are great. When the weather outside is frightful this time of year, time on the rollers will make spring time riding a new found joy. Dollar for dollar, these are a great gift.

If you have more money to spend, there is a combination of things to consider for indoor training. Ergvideo has a library of videos that work in collaboration with the Computrainer. These are videos of various types of training rides, group rides or races. The videos are rather inexpensive at approx $45 a piece. The Computrainer will set you back about $1500. I have six videos and purchased each of them to focus on a specific aspect of cycling. Cycling indoors is a difficult proposition for those of us who live in the South. But, the Ergvideos make it a bit more interactive and enjoyable.

Economic times drive increase in bike fits!...or it should

Part of this is tongue and cheek and part is true. Don't turn on the television, you may find that the world is coming completely unraveled. Bypass the TV and go straight to your bike and go out for a ride. The sun is still shining and a bad day cycling is still better than a good day sitting on the couch.

I've talked to several friend of mine who are in construction. At some point or another, the conversation always turns to business. Lately, it's been rather somber with most. Yet, there's one guy who is still busy. See, he's not in new construction, he into remodeling. I was unaware that remodeling dollars are spent when housing values are going down. Instead of upgrading by selling and moving, homeowners upgrade from the inside out. This extends the value of their investment.

Hence the title of the blog. Economic times should drive an increase in bike fits and training. In the vast majority of situations, I operate to extend and enhance the value of your investment. It's time to make those adjustments so that you are more comfortable, more stable and you can produce more power.

You see, there's a myth that purchasing something new can solve the problems you experienced in the past. The myth is false in good times and bad. Faster wheels... better group and aerodynamic this, that or the other. Yet, if you had cycling problems before, they are likely to continue unless something changes(with you). Now, don't get me wrong. I love purchasing new stuff. However, I don't purchase "stuff" as the first method to solve problems that have their origin in me. I buy new stuff because I think its fun and until old stuff becomes "vintage", its just old.

I'll give you a couple great examples poor reasons to purchase new stuff. "I need a new frame with a stiffer bottom bracket". I love this one because it makes great marketing. Every bottom bracket produced today is stiffer than the bottom bracket used by Eddy Merckx when he set the world hour record in Mexico City. Do I like to have a stiff bottom bracket? Yes, I like the fact that it does a better job of transferring my pedaling errors into chain tension on the wheel instead of frame flex. Here's the answer. Learn to pedal like Eddy and you will be fast on any bike.

Here's my second favorite. "I need to be more aero". Somehow, we have been fed a line of bull$#!) that we need to cheat the wind. I want to change that philosophy to "We need to conquer the wind and beat it into submission". Unless, you are able to ride at speeds high enough where wind resistance is an issue, the mechanical losses in efficiency by being in the aero position out weigh the aerodynamic advantage. The advantages of aero wheels, frame or helmets are just not there if you are riding at sustained speeds around 20mph or lower. Remember this, most of the research done on aero equipment is performed at 30mph. There is a vast exponential difference in the effect of wind resistance between 20 and 30 mph. Do I like aero wheels? Absolutely. They are very cool. Here's the answer. Learn how to pedal and train to develop sustainable power so that you can ride faster and truly benefit from the aero stuff. Don't cheat the wind. Beat the wind!

Get fit, learn how to pedal, train correctly. Then go out and purchase something because its fun and cool. Always remember, you purchase Band-Aids at the drug store, not your local bike shop.

Simple physiology

"I want to ride faster." That seems like the most common goal of the performance oriented cyclists that I work with. I think this is a great goal. There are a host of reasons to ride a bike. Riding fast is just one of them. For me, riding fast is superseded by the sense of being free. There's some sort of connection between my last ride and the first time I ever rode a bike. It's something subconscious but it's there.

As a coach, I always want to help clients ride faster. There is a multifaceted approach that includes physiologic and biodynamic development. The intent of this post is to share a brief overview of physiology.

Here's the statement: If you intend to ride faster for durations longer than 60-90 minutes, you are forced to develop your aerobic energy systems. You really don't have many options here. We are all bound by the physiology that keeps us ticking.

Aerobic energy sources derive a large portion of their energy resources from fat. You have days to weeks worth of fat energy stored within your body. Optimizing the utilization of this energy source developing the proper infrastructure so that larger and larger amount of oxygen are available during the metabolic processes is the goal. Simply said, to ride faster and longer, you have to be able to produce enough ATP(energy) through aerobic metabolism to sustain your pace. If you can't provide the adequate ATP for the intensity you are riding, begins the shift toward anaerobic metabolism which has significant temporal limitations.

Anaerobic metabolism is fed by sugars. For the most part, these sugars are stored in the body as reserve fuel. There's only a limited amount of metabolic potential in stored sugars compared to fat. In fact, there's only about 60-90 minutes worth when you are heavily depending on it. Yes, the body can convert fat and protein to sugar but it can't do this at a rate which is fast enough to supply the required needs. With anaerobic metabolism, you are also limited by your ability to manage lactate or commonly referred to as lactic acid. Lactate is a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism. It changes the pH in the cell and disrupts muscular contraction at higher concentrations. So, it should be noted that anaerobic metabolism allows for faster speeds because it gives us the ability to produce large amounts of ATP, however, there are temporal and biochemical limitations. Neither of these are seen with aerobic metabolism.

I have to move on to other things. More later.

Expanded offerings

Here's some of that news on the horizon that I mentioned a couple weeks ago. Gulf Coast Cycle Fit is expanding is scope of service to include custom frame design as part of the solutions that are offered to clients. This will fill in a gap in service so that I can better meet the needs of Gulf Coast cyclists.

Over the last two years, I've seriously considered several options that would have allowed me to expand to this level of service. Until recently, all of these included capital outlay that wasn't available or a significant amount of risk that I wasn't willing to accept. In addition, it never seemed appropriate to bring in another bicycle line to the Mobile market. To solve all of these problems, I've worked out an arrangement with Eastern Shore Cycles where I can facilitate the purchase of custom bikes offered by Seven Cycles. Obviously, I'm comfortable with the product since I've ridden my Seven Axiom SG for close to 4 years.

This month, I'll be traveling to Watertown, MA for a tour of the Seven facilities and participate in sales and fit training. Yes, I would love to say that I will be returning with a new Seven 29er or cross bike but I don't see that in the near future. I hope to return with new information and solutions that are needed here on the Gulf Coast. I'll post new information as it comes in.

After analyzing the survey that I sent out to existing and past Gulf Coast Cycle Fit clients a couple weeks ago, I've identified several other service offerings that will benefit local riders and the local riding community. I'll have more information over the next couple weeks.