The BipedFred Blog

It took a while to get my Salsa Podio’s fit dialed in and it’s feeling pretty good right now.  I did a strong ¾ Horsetooth on Sunday, that is Bingham Hill south across the dams to the overlook just past Stout and return back north across the dams.

Since I mentioned I bought this bike to help me with climbing (not as in “climbing fast”, but as in “not totally sucking on the steeps”) I thought I might say something about it.

Before I do, here’s a bit of background.  This is only the third bike I’ve used on my climbing routes which are mainly Horestooth Res and Rist Canyon (the easy side). So I don’t have a lot to compare it with.

I’ve only ridden my Podio 400 miles  500 miles on those routes.

Anyway, here is my preliminary assessment of my Salsa Podio as a climber: YES!!!!

Your results may vary.

(PS- I maxed out at 51.9 mph (83.5 kph) coming down the big hill at Horestooth Dam, first time I didn’t have bad cross winds and the bike didn’t feel twitchy at all.)

I’m surprised how much difference small adjustments make to bike fit.  I’m not talking about riding the wrong size bike, but rather adjusting a properly sized bike so you feel “at home” riding it.

Some background: I bought my Salsa Podio with an eye toward improving my climbing performance and, after the first few climbing rides, I’m just starting to get a feel for the steeps.  But  I have to ride 15 miles of mostly flat to rolling terrain on my regular route to reach the start of the various climbs.

The flats were where I decided some fit tweaks were in order. Somewhere during the return 15 miles I’d start getting a little “squirmy” and I’d be shifting around trying to find a more comfortable posture.  I think that means my bike wasn’t set right for my natural pedaling posture.

Anyway, yesterday’s 50 mile climbing ride felt  pretty good all ‘round and I finished without getting squirmy which I hope means I finally have the fit dialed in.

So here are the fit tweaks I made from the factory build spec:

Changed the 110mm 0 deg stem for a 90mm 5 deg stem. The old stem had a much taller steerer clamp height so I think my net bar height change was a wash.

Changed the stock 23mm offset seatpost for a zero offset seatpost which allowed me to move the saddle forward about 10mm.

Lastly, I raised the saddle nose a couple of degrees above level.

That’s not a whole lot of change but it was enough so I’m starting to feel  at home on this bike.

(I read somewhere the most frequent fit mistake is setting the saddle height too low. However, I always seem to start out too high and end up lowering my saddle in tiny increments unti I stumble on the right height.)

I changed out the Shimano 105 SPD-SL pedals on my Salsa Podio for a set of Look Keo 2 Max Carbon  (No pictures, they look just like the catalog shots) and got the chance to try them yesterday on a 40mi ride up Horsetooth reservoir.

It was my first time riding Look pedals and I’m sold.

I’ve used Shimano Ultegra and 105 SPD-SL Pedals the last couple of years.  The big difference seems to be clicking-in. I can feel when the nose of the Looks is engaged with the front of the pedal and then it only takes a very light weight on the heel to get clicked in.  The difference is subtle, but I like the feel.

If you can believe the reviews, the cleats won’t last as long as the SPD-SL’s, but they have a wear indicator so I don’t really care if I have to replace them once (or twice) a season.  They have a little alignment piece that stays on the shoe so you can mount replacement cleats in the exact same position, but my shoes don’t have the added mounting point . No big deal.

In the past I used SpeedPlay Road and Frog pedals, and at least three different variants of Crank Bros Egg Beaters, plus the aforementioned Shimano SPD-SL’s.  I like my new Look Keo 2 Max pedals better.

(For my road bike that is, I’m sticking with Shimano SPD’s for my touring bikes.)

There’s a new bike in mine.

Best parking spot in the house.

I like to tell myself that I give a lot of thought to my bike purchases subconsciously. That, deep down inside I weigh the pros and cons of different types of bikes and their place in my evolving cycling life so that, when I finally decide I want/need/can’t live without a certain bike,  the decision is fact and analysis based, even if I don’t remember doing any analysis or fact gathering.

Yeah, that’s what I like to tell myself, but here is the reality;  I got a ‘hankering’ for a light, quick, road bike that can climb and the Salsa Podio had already caught my eye a couple of months ago.

There is very little Podio info (which is kind of fun to say out loud) anywhere.  Never ridden one, never seen one, don’t even know anyone who has*. But this is definitely the bike for me.

Call it a “gut feel” decision . I should be riding my new Podio by this Saturday.

(*That’s not quite true, Errin over at http://www.frontageroads.com rode a Podio, but heck, I was on a roll.)

Later:  It’s more like “Spidey Sense”, this bike gives me a tingle.