I’ve been around bikes for as long as I can remember. I come from a cycling family – my grandfather raced as a pro back in the day, and my dad and uncle were both strong state level cyclists. Strangely, even though I am from a cycling family, I was introduced to bike racing by one of Australia’s greatest cyclists, Sid Patterson.
From the day my own cycling journey (1995) started at Carnegie-Caulfield Cycling Club velodrome, I was hooked. I read all the books, hung out at the velodrome and in bike shops, and talked to every cyclist around to learn everything I possibly could.
I wasn’t blessed with the greatest aerobic capacity, so I worked hard on all the aspects of cycling within my control: training, race tactics, work ethic, equipment maintenance, and position on the bike. From my very early days, the importance of a good position on the bike so as to be as efficient as possible was drummed into me.
For my 14th birthday my grandfather gave me Bernard Hinault’s book which goes into a lot of detail on his bike fitting theories. I geeked out on all that info, even though it is dated now to an extent, and I just loved how you could put so much time and effort into the rider to come up with such an individualized position on the bike, to help make the bike fit the rider perfectly.
As I got a bit older I started to get better at racing. Maybe that was because all the best riders of my age moved onto new things, maybe it was because I am so passionate about cycling and maintained my motivation to train as hard as possible and learn new things. This passion, with the help of my good friend Baden Cooke, got me racing as a pro in the USA.
I went on to spend 10 years racing all over the world and getting wins and podiums in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Asia, Uruguay, Belgium, France, Holland, to name a few. During my time racing professionally I had numerous bike fits and started to gain a real understanding of the rider-bike relationship. I’ve had good fits, and not so good fits, and over the years cycling has been my life, I have developed what I believe is a great understanding of how to make the most of each rider’s position on their bike which has nothing to do with numbers or angles, but everything to do with assessing each cyclist’s individual abilities and the techniques they bring to the task. The passion for all things cycling that rules my life and the need to gain information led me to gaining a degree in Sports Science and Human Movement.
I feel like even if I didn’t reach my personal goals as a cyclist, I fulfilled other areas of my full-blown cycling passion with constant learning and studying of different views on cycling from all over the world. During this time overseas, I met my beautiful wife Keally at a race in the United States, in Georgia. We now have two young girls: Maddie and Georgie.
Coming soon!
Email: tommy@tineli.com.au
I have been working in the bike game for years, and currently work for Tineli cycling apparel. As a sideline I’ve fitted numerous people, ranging from weekend warriors to pros, to their bikes. I love it!
I have always wanted to become a bit more of a bike fit specialist and after reading Steve’s articles on CyclingNews for years, have always wanted to learn more about his methods. This leads me to a funny story. I fitted my friend Ryan to his bike, when he was returning to cycling after 6 years of not riding. He wanted a “proper fit”. I argued with him, telling him that he’d just got one. He wouldn’t have it. He said that his seat was too low and raised it up 6mm higher than I had set it. He then said he is going for a “proper fit” somewhere. I told him there was no one in Melbourne I would recommend, but as he’s adamant that I couldn’t do it, then he must go to Canberra to see Steve Hogg.
The punchline being that when Steve saw Ryan pedaling, the first thing he said was “Your seat’s too high” and dropped it by, yes, you guessed it, 6mm!
The awesome body work and quirky methods that Steve has invented Ryan found super interesting and intriguing, so I went back with him to meet with Steve. Over the next few years, I visited Steve many times, sometimes with a friend who also wanted to be fitted by Steve. We had some great chats, and over a couple of years of back and forth we decided it would be great for me to be the Steve Hogg Approved bike fitter in Melbourne.
Note from Steve: Every time that Tommy arrived for a chat, he was accompanied by various friends of his that he had already fitted. On each occasion, all that I had to do was sort out their foot correction and postural distortions. I made no changes at all to their positions and it was THAT that convinced to accept Tommy for training.
The training with Steve is quite intense. I lived with Steve and his wife Margaret for a month, talking bike fitting and doing bike fits daily, then reading up on things at night. The only time we weren’t talking about the body and bike fitting was when our footy shows were on, or we were watching the footy. Steve is a mad Rabbitohs fan in the NRL and I am a mad Melbourne Demons fan in the AFL. To get a “pass” mark and be a Steve Hogg Approved bike fitter, I needed to pass with a full score during my training, and on the final day, fitting Steve himself. Thankfully, I passed, and am now the only person in Victoria fitting with Steve Hogg’s bike fitting methods.
