{"id":543,"date":"2008-12-01T09:35:48","date_gmt":"2008-12-01T07:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conradstoltz.com\/visiting-specialized-bicycles-in-morgan-hill-california\/"},"modified":"2008-12-01T09:35:48","modified_gmt":"2008-12-01T07:35:48","slug":"visiting-specialized-bicycles-in-morgan-hill-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conradstoltz.com\/index.php\/visiting-specialized-bicycles-in-morgan-hill-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Specialized Bicycles in Morgan Hill, California"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Checking my flexibility, Scott Holz, bike fit guru at Specialized’s OSBU headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA.<\/p>\n


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I’m looking to do some 70.3 (road tri) races next season, so I got set up on a Specialized Transition. Here, Scott looks at how my knees are tracking. The right knee dropped in a little so he fixed it with the Specialized’s green foot beds, and a 2.5 degree outward sloping wedge.<\/p>\n

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Using a clever computer program that Scott help develop, they measured my frontal area in 2 positions: One looking forward, and one looking down at my feet. Then they measured the surface area. (the yellow on the screen) Looking down has slightly less area, but most importantly, your head fills the huge (un-aerodynamic) gap between your arms. Mark Cote (an enthusiastic 23 year old who ran the wind tunnels at MIT) is the Specialized aero guy, and helped with the set up, tips and trying to stress the importance of leaving no stone unturned in the search of free speed. I have had the mentality of : “aero is overrated- just pedal harder.” Apparently not…<\/p>\n

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Ian Dewar (from Specialized Riders Club<\/a>) and Scott Holz.<\/p>\n

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Obviously Scott doctored my mountain bikes’ position as well. My position has changed radically- hopefully it will make winning easier!<\/p>\n

Visiting the Specialized office was great. I did a couple of lunch time rides- I think I had more lactic acid in me in the Thursday ride than I had the whole year racing! These rides are legendary- about 20-35 employees would ride, including 60 some year old Mike Sinyard, company founder and owner.<\/p>\n

I met with various designers and engineers, we talked about future product development, I gave some feed back, and we planned next summer’s racing and marketing.<\/p>\n

I also did a little slide show, a talk and signed some posters for some of the employees, which was fun. 15 years ago talking in front of a group like that would have given me a nervous breakdown.<\/p>\n

Shortly after this visit, I returned to South Africa for the summer. (and didnt have internet for a week- hence the slow blogging)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Checking my flexibility, Scott Holz, bike fit guru at Specialized’s OSBU headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,78,102,137],"tags":[263,1754,380,733,767,776,980,1806,1031,1076],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n