I did a fit for a friend of mine over the weekend.

He’s a smart, experienced road rider, he’s been in the bike trade for 20 years and he’s pretty savvy when it comes to bike position.

Which is why I was surprised at the number of relatively straightforward improvements we were able to make.

Not big changes in a your-saddle-needs-to-go-up-four-centimetres kind of way, but subtle alterations that should still have a significant effect on his efficiency and performance.

And that hit home just how difficult it is to fit yourself, even if you’re armed to the teeth with up to date theory.

Because while a rider’s intuitive feel and feedback are one of the most powerful tools a bike fitter have at their disposal, it rarely reveals the full picture, simply because you can’t observe yourself as clearly as someone else can.

Sure, you can get a long way along the road towards a decent position armed with a tape measure and some YouTube instructionals.

But to really get the best out of yourself, whether that’s winning a race or just smashing your Strava times up your local climbs, you might need to involve someone else as well.