Marginal Gains

A concept founded by Dave Brailsford during his time with British Cycling and later Team Sky suggests that marginal (1%) improvement across many aspects of life and sport will add up to cumulatively have a significant effect.

While not all of us are chasing these marginal gains in our riding I find that this concept plays out a lot as I work with bike-fit clients. It is often the case that a cyclist shows up to the studio and has a very good fit and position on their bike to begin with, they will not need a 20mm seat height change or a stem with 10 degrees more rise than they started with. Over the course of an hour, we might adjust the setback by 3mm and tilt the handlebars by 0.5 degrees and voila, the sensations of comfort are significant. Extend this to all of the contact points and a few key cues for posture or positioning and the results can be extraordinary.

This type of fit plays out time and time again and can be very satisfying for both myself as the fitter and of course for the rider who achieves more comfort, more aerodynamics, or the capacity to generate more powerful riding. This will not be the fit that produces awe-inspiring before/after photos and that is just the point, a series of thoughtful micro-adjustments to the contact points results in a significant cumulative effect.

Thanks for taking a minute to read my somewhat random musings about marginal gains as it applies to bike fitting. Perhaps the next post can be about the lower-hanging fruit of “Substantial Gains”?