Bike fittings

I was amazed at how the few millimeters the woman at my LBS adjusted this and that made such a HUGE difference in my comfort. She really dialed me in in way I don't think I could have done myself.

IMO, a good bike fit is 100% essential and probably second only to training (if even that) in terms of importance to enjoying/improving as a bike rider. But where I probably differ is when serious (but non-pro) bike riders depend totally on professional fitting.

IMO, Fitting is an art that must take a lot of things into consideration such as aero position, comfort, preferences, etc.

For a complete newbie these probably don't matter much since their bodies will adjust to the fitting which will probably be done by the fitter leaning towards comfort over aero-position anyway.

But for me, I choose to learn how to do it myself, get the angles within customary ranges and then tweak it like crazy to get it perfect for me. Taking it in to a fitter constantly to make these tiny little tweaks just wouldn't be feasible for me. OTOH, if I was fully sponsored, had constant access to a fitter, and access to a wind tunnel, I'd sure think differently for me. I'm also sure that when I get my Computrainer for this winter and therefore get access to power readings, I'll go though a whole 'nother sequence of tweaks on both my bikes.

Lastly, I've been waiting for someone to tell me that my seat is too high in my avatar but nobody will bite. That photo was taken after a one minute fit before my first ride, and before I started getting my angles corrected. While I do prefer a wide knee angle, I now have it within a customary range. But I'm still too wide on my shoulder angle because I've always ridden road geometry with aero bars and so I prefer to be a bit stretched out.

I noticed an immediate difference.

realize there is a right way to do it. 

I got two fittings, one took 20 minutes, the other took 2 hours. 

Don't mean to hijack the thread but I have a quick question. 

I have a cyclocross bike.  There is a local fitter that many here in the Kansas City area recommend.  I've met him and he's offered to fit me on my current bike and not charge for a separate fitting if I were to buy a tri bike in the future.  It would be $150 for a 90 min ish fitting.

I have no idea if I'll ever get a tri bike (budget issue.....I'd love one now!).  Listening to you guys, you would recommend me going through with this? 

How specific are these fittings?  What I mean is, will I be out of luck if I change pedals down the road, switch saddles, pack the bike, etc?  Will I have to be re-fitted or should I learn enough from this fitting to be able to dial it in myself or at least get close?

I can only speak for myself but I'm down to moving things about 1.5mm at a time so yes they are VERY specific. IMO, once you get a bike tweaked to fit the way you like it, you should write down whatever information you need that would allow you to reproduce that setup if you took the bike completely apart.

That's kind of what I was thinking.  Thanks.