Some People Get a Bike Fitting and Don't Need One...

Then, some of us don't get a bike-fitting, but apparently need one.  I'm in the latter.

Since I am a begginer cyclist, I did not know if it would be worthwhile to get a professional bike-fitting yet, but all the stars happened to line up just right so that I won one in a raffle drawing.

I brought my bike over and spent 3 hours with Josh Frick at CycleLife in Georgetown getting measured, analyzed by a computer, tested on my flexibility, and observed on my riding technique.  I left the process with a lot more knowledge about my own physical makeup -- for example, the reason my left foot is even more flat-footed than my right foot is because my left leg is about 6 mm longer than my right leg (for real?).  He raised my seat BY INCHES and changed out my handlebars so I was no longer doing a push-up trying to straddle the bars for dear life.  The result was that my upper body felt much more open.  In addition, with my legs stretched out to an efficient length, my cadence improved by 10%.

(Holy crap!)  They weren't kidding when they said a professional bike-fitting would be worth it. 

Thanks, CycleLife and Josh!