Like a Dork on Your Bike “Michael Sylvester came to our bike shop in Tucson to teach us his program for fitting people to bicycles. Sylvester, 45, a veteran bike rider and racer and a yoga instructor, knows the body and how it works on a bike. “He has never owned an automobile. He’s lean and super-flexible and an example of what we should be as athletes, though few of us are. “All he does at the Gallery is bike fits, six a day, four days a week, $100 per fit. He’s booked three weeks ahead – year ’round. He fits racers and freds, fat people and thin, every kind of rider… “Our mornings with Mike Sylvester began with short yoga classes. We did poses or stretches that made us aware (often painfully) of how limited are our own ranges of motion, so that we’d recognize similar restriction in others. “He believes that we have to be comfortable to ride well, that comfort on the bike is more important (in non-track cyclists) than aerodynamics or a so-called power position. He works with nearly no formulas and seldom uses a tape measure. “He is fanatical about level, though, using an expensive spirit level that rests on identical discs screwed onto the quick-release skewer ends, front and rear. He sets you up on your bike on a raised platform so you’re eye-level. He stands a specific distance away… “If your hamstrings are tight, as mine are, you are unable to tilt your pelvis so that you can reach for your bars with a properly flat back. Alas. “Unless your pelvis tilts and your back is flat, you curl your spine as you reach forward. Spinal considerations aside, you shorten the distance between your navel and throat, compressing your lungs, restricting your breathing. “You adopt the shoulders-forward “cyclist’s slump,” further compressing your upper lungs. You need a higher handlebar position than most of us ride. “Sylvester chose me for his first demonstration. I was older and less flexible than anyone else there. Because I am so damn imperfect, I was the perfect model: So many elements to consider in the fitting process… “I took my bar-raising hard. I felt as if I was finally coming face-to-face with being old, inflexible and hopelessly unathletic. I imagined myself showing up for rides in front of Café Paraiso with my bars above saddle level. “I imagined paying a hundred dollars to someone so they could tell me yes, that’s just what you have to do to be comfortable and fully effective on your bike. I’d have paid a hundred dollars, plus the cost of a Technomic, plus installation, for the privilege of serving as the laughingstock of the Saturday ride…” From a collection of writing by Maynard Hershon, recommended by Gary Boulanger of Cycle Gaansari