Found the cure ?

LastGasp

I was moaning on a thread a while ago about getting throbbing aches/pains in my toes every time I get to about 80kms, changed shoes etc, didn't help much. Always tried to have the ball of my foot over the pedal spindle as recommended. Anyway I was looking at my shoes during the week and the cleats seemed very far forward, so I said worth a try, and moved them most of the way back (about 1cm from where they were), tried them for a few yards up the road, seemed comfy enough so I said I'd give them a tryout today.
Headed out at 7.30 this morning, Dundrum, Enniskerry, Djouce, Laragh, Shay Elliott, Slieve Maan, got to the bottom on the far side, U-turn at the junction after the Youth Hostel, (said to self "must be bloody mad") Slieve Maan, Shay Elliott, Laragh, Coffee and extra large Chocolate Biscuit Cake and a chat with a couple of other cyclists, Roundwood, Djouce, Poggio, Dundrum. 110kms, 22.4kph, 4hrs 53mins.
NO PAINS IN FEET ! Felt stronger too, both in the saddle, and standing, and the hills seemed to have much less effect ! Hopefully that's that sorted.
What a fantastic day for a spin, the mountains were really looking good. A bit chilly though at 7.30 this morning. Should have put on a jacket, but didn't want to cover up the new Boards Gear and still no-one spotted me !

LastGasp

LastGasp wrote: »

but didn't want to cover up the new Boards Gear and still no-one spotted me !

You never know... sometimes it takes a day or a week before people post up comments on the jersey spotters thread!

Raam

I'm a fan of rearward cleat position, except for off-roading where it makes engagement more difficult.

Shows you how personal it is. When I rode your bike with your shoes, the cleat position felt incredibly strange and completely wrong for me... but if it is working for you then it's right for you.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

Shows you how personal it is. When I rode your bike with your shoes, the cleat position felt incredibly strange and completely wrong for me... but if it is working for you then it's right for you.

It felt wrong for me, and still feels wrong. But I haven't had any more achilles issues

niceonetom

I moved my cleats backwards by about 15mm last spring and, while it did take some getting used to, it feels totally natural to me now.

I was getting cramps in my calf muscles quite a bit and after reading an article (I think by Joe Freil?) about how your calf does very little to contribute power to the stroke I experimented a bit. Moving the cleats caused me to have to lower the saddle and that made me need to remove a couple of spacers from the under the stem, but all that actually improved the handling of my bike due to a slightly lower centre of gravity (or my imagination).

Consequently I've come to think most people have their cleats too far forward because it feels more powerful pushing the pedals around with your calves tensed even though it's actually not - and that the first step of fitting a bike is cleat position because once you change that you have to change everything else to compensate.

LastGasp

niceonetom wrote: »

the first step of fitting a bike is cleat position because once you change that you have to change everything else to compensate.

Ehhh...what ?? Everything else felt pretty OK ! What else should I be changing/looking at ?

jwshooter

LastGasp wrote: »

Ehhh...what ?? Everything else felt pretty OK ! What else should I be changing/looking at ?

good stuff , that spin you done if you had a problem it would show up on it.

niceonetom

LastGasp wrote: »

Ehhh...what ?? Everything else felt pretty OK ! What else should I be changing/looking at ?

I'm going on personal experience here...

When I moved my cleats back I had effectively increased my saddle height because my toes (like most people's) point slightly down at the bottom the pedal stroke. I think I moved the saddle slightly down and forward to compensate. Then I moved my bars down so the drop from saddle to bars remained the same as it had been.

Depending on how far you've moved your cleats you might not have to do any of this, but I did.

LastGasp

jwshooter wrote: »

good stuff , that spin you done if you had a problem it would show up on it.

Thanks. Yeah, that's why I did it really. Wanted to put myself under a bit of pressure and see how things felt, and they felt pretty good thankfully !