While I was out on my Tuesday 25 mile ride I started to feel cooped up in my cockpit, like I was scrunched in there too tightly (reach wise, bar to saddle). It was an interesting sensation and one I didn’t expect. I wrote about tinkering with my saddle height a couple of weeks ago and I’ve taken the time to get that meticulously dialed in to the nearest millimeter so when I was struck by the weird sensation that I wasn’t stretched out enough it really caught me off guard. When I bought the saddle, about six weeks ago if I had to guess, we started out with it right in the center of the rails and I decided that I was too stretched out and promptly moved it in to the very first mark on the rail where I rode comfortably since.
I’ve recently started working on a better breathing technique (more from the diaphragm/belly) and that’s where this is coming from – there’s just too much bend from my hips to my ribs so I can’t get a full deep breath without arching my back ever so slightly…so I’ve begun to tinker with my cockpit length by moving my saddle back a full centimeter to start. I’ll see how I like that this evening (an unexpected round of hail and rain required the postponement of a ride that I was very much looking forward to yesterday – daddy don’t ride in hail). Now a full centimeter is quite a big move really and may not be the best way to go (?) but the sensation of being cramped up was quite profound so I’m going with a bigger move just to see where that takes me – I do carry a compact multi-tool that has a 6mm allen wrench so if I have to make a mid-ride adjustment, I can.
More to come as the situation unfolds…
As far as training goes, I had the bright idea that I might scrap my triathlons this year and concentrate on a few more Century rides instead (The Tour de Lacs in Fenton, and the Pere Marquette rail trail with Steve and another 40+ with my wife if she’s feeling adventurous). More on that bright idea after it’s discussed in committee, and then with my wife.
Fit Recovery 
Don’t forget the other side of that equation. In general, if you bring a saddle forward, you’ll need to raise it, and when it slides back, you lower. I’ve found that most of the time when I forget to address both that I end up revisting my change.
I’ll keep an eye on that, thanks for the tip.
[…] sense to reduce that as much as possible. The main trick is to get your saddle height properly adjusted, then dial it in over a few longer rides (mine is dialed in within a millimeter or 39 thousandths […]