Retul your living room

This article is the third part in a 193 part series on bike fitting.

Todd Carver, Craig Alexander and Chris Carmichael pondering lunch.

I first met Todd Carver during the winter of 2006.  He flew from Colorado out to Western Massachusetts to give a talk at Incline Training.  At the time, Todd was the biomechanist at Andy Pruitt’s Boulder Center for Sports Medicine.  Back then, he was probably the only person outside of a major research university using a 3-dimensional motion capture system to look at cyclists.  With 2 to 3 fit appointments a day, 5-7 days a week, he was (and still is) one of the busiest bike fitters in the world.  Incline Training had just moved into a 4000 square foot space in Greenfield and was about to launch its fitting program, spearheaded by yours truly.  As the whipping boy/bike fitter, it was my job to make sure we were getting our moneys worth out of Todd.  After no less than 12 hours of questions, a couple of bike fits (including mine), and a presentation, we sent him back to Colorado.

At Incline Training, I was using the top-of-the-line Dartfish software with two cameras to take my measurements.  This 2D dynamic system allowed me to measure the angles of a moving cyclist and compare differences throughout the process.  However, I felt there were things going on that I was missing.  Movements that my current equipment couldn’t pick up like pelvic rotation and fore/aft movement.  It also seemed like many seasoned riders were so accustomed to their current positions that they would maintain their body angles even after bike changes were made (your knee angle is telling me “yes”, but your butt movement is telling me “no”).  If that was happening, I wasn’t able to quantify it and the angles I was measuring would be irrelevant after a couple of rides.  So I began the search for a 3D system.

By this time I had started my own business out of my home.  I narrowed the search down to the Gypsy Gyro suit from Animazoo (used primarily in computer animation) and the various Vicon systems (used primarily in research institutions).  The two biggest drawbacks to each system are the price (Gypsy Gyro, $80,000; Vicon, starting at $30,000) and the huge amount of time it takes to post-process the data.  This obviously makes for a very expensive bike fit.  Beyond that, the Gypsy Gyro requires the rider to wear a full body dance suit (hot and silly) and Vicon systems need a permanent location void of reflective/shiny objects.  Then I came across an article about a new product called Retul and a picture of company founders, Cliff Simms, Franko Vatterot, and… wait for it… Todd Carver.  Two weeks later I’m on a plane to Denver to see it in action.  Six weeks later, I’m one of the first five Retul fitters in the world and probably the only one using it in his living room.  The dream of 3D dynamic bike fitting with no post-processing was realized!!!!  For the first month or so I mostly just fit myself (with the help of my son, Myles).

I use the Retul system for all bicycle fit related services I offer as well as technique coaching/analysis.  Theoretically, it makes the process faster by taking all relevant body measurements during each capture.  The data is clean, the sensors are fast, and the measurements are accurate to less than a millimeter.  In reality, I have much more information to work with and can see changes in better detail, so I wind up spending more time with each client.  The one thing the Retul doesn’t do, is tell me how or why a rider should be setup a certain way.  For that I use knowledge, experience, and… Jedi-mind-shit…

This is how I roll.