Ok so I found a guy that does bike fits out of his house. Has 30 years experience and went through posts on the FB group he is in and people seemed happy with his work. He also does mechanical services. My thinking was, I had so much doubt about my positioning that I needed a pro. Figured it couldn't hurt and would help me get some reassurance that I'm at the correct saddle height. He wasn't very expensive either. $125 USD. Seemed like a good deal to me.
Turns out it wasn't (the "correct" saddle height I mean). Not sure why such the big discrepancy but he raised it up high. This was based on the angle of my leg that he measured, as well as the data about the angle in which I was putting pressure. Also coached me some on cadence (90rpm), showed me that I was heavily favoring my right side, more coaching on the pedal stroke etc. He also adjusted the bars. They were basically angled to high and the drop position wasn't that usable or optimal or what not.
I'm still getting acclimated to all the changes, so we'll see how I get on, but I'm hopeful this will help me out in the long term. He seemed to know his stuff.
Top is the before and bottom is the after.
Before:
After:
Not very flattering pics with the beer belly but hey at least I'm working on it!
Oh yeah, as you have probably spotted he also gave me the push needed to go clipless.
May not be the "best" shoes but hey for $59.99 I think they'll do the trick for now.
For the pedals I just "had" to go the matching route and get the 105 to represent the "groupset of the people".
These were like $150 USD but it is what it is. Gotta "pay to play" as they say.
I went on a 1 hour ride and didn't fall (yet), so I'll take that as a win! My rear end hurts a bit but bike fitter says I need to acclimate to actually sitting on my sit bones rather than soft tissue (butt). Not actually any faster yet but was too busy worrying about unclipping, cadence, pedal stroke etc. to be fast. I'll get there! Lol