Fitness questions and answers for December 12, 2005

Form & Fitness Q & A

Got a question about fitness, training, recovery from injury or a related subject? Drop us a line at fitness@cyclingnews.com. Please include as much information about yourself as possible, including your age, sex, and type of racing or riding. Due to the volume of questions we receive, we regret that we are unable to answer them all.

Carrie Cheadle, MA (www.carriecheadle.com) is a Sports Psychology consultant who has dedicated her career to helping athletes of all ages and abilities perform to their potential. Carrie specialises in working with cyclists, in disciplines ranging from track racing to mountain biking. She holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University as well as a masters degree in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University.

Kelby Bethards, MD received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (1994) before obtaining an M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 2000. Has been a racing cyclist 'on and off' for 20 years, and when time allows, he races Cat 3 and 35+. He is a team physician for two local Ft Collins, CO, teams, and currently works Family Practice in multiple settings: rural, urgent care, inpatient and the like.

Fiona Lockhart (www.trainright.com) is a USA Cycling Expert Coach, and holds certifications from USA Weightlifting (Sports Performance Coach), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach), and the National Academy for Sports Nutrition (Primary Sports Nutritionist). She is the Sports Science Editor for Carmichael Training Systems, and has been working in the strength and conditioning and endurance sports fields for over 10 years; she's also a competitive mountain biker.

David Fleckenstein, MPT (www.physiopt.com) is a physical therapist practicing in Boise, ID. His clients have included World and U.S. champions, Olympic athletes and numerous professional athletes. He received his B.S. in Biology/Genetics from Penn State and his Master's degree in Physical Therapy from Emory University. He specializes in manual medicine treatment and specific retraining of spine and joint stabilization musculature. He is a former Cat I road racer and Expert mountain biker.

Since 1986 Steve Hogg (www.cyclefitcentre.com) has owned and operated Pedal Pushers, a cycle shop specialising in rider positioning and custom bicycles. In that time he has positioned riders from all cycling disciplines and of all levels of ability with every concievable cycling problem.They include World and National champions at one end of the performance spectrum to amputees and people with disabilities at the other end.

Pamela Hinton has a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and a doctoral degree in Nutritional Sciences, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She did postdoctoral training at Cornell University and is now an assistant professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she studies the effects of iron deficiency on adaptations to endurance training and the consequences of exercise-associated changes in menstrual function on bone health.

Steve Owens (www.coloradopremiertraining.com) is a USA Cycling certified coach, exercise physiologist and owner of Colorado Premier Training. Steve has worked with both the United States Olympic Committee and Guatemalan Olympic Committee as an Exercise Physiologist. He holds a B.S. in Exercise & Sports Science and currently works with multiple national champions, professionals and World Cup level cyclists.

Richard Stern (www.cyclecoach.com) is Head Coach of Richard Stern Training, a Level 3 Coach with the Association of British Cycling Coaches, a Sports Scientist, and a writer. He has been professionally coaching cyclists and triathletes since 1998 at all levels from professional to recreational. He is a leading expert in coaching with power output and all power meters. Richard has been a competitive cyclist for 20 years

Andy Bloomer (www.cyclecoach.com) is an Associate Coach and sport scientist with Richard Stern Training. He is a member of the Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC) and a member of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). In his role as Exercise Physiologist at Staffordshire University Sports Performance Centre, he has conducted physiological testing and offered training and coaching advice to athletes from all sports for the past 4 years. Andy has been a competitive cyclist for many years.

In the last two years I have had experienced a painful knee after prolonged cycling (more than 50 miles). The pain comes on quickly at the 40 mile point. At first I feel a slight pain or tightness at the back of my knee, which then seems to focus just underneath the kneecap. I am forced to stop my bike ride because of the pain. For a few hours afterwards I find lowering my body weight and descending stairs on that knee to be extremely painful. After 24 hours rest and ice the knee feels better enough for moderate cycling. The problem has been with me now for two years!

I wanted to thank you for your advice given freely in your columns. You're passionate about your work which shows through in your well thought responses. I have (over the past 5-6 months) adjusted my cleats and position slightly according to your suggestions. It's interesting to note when viewing in a mirror (standing) my hip line is pretty even now, post adjustments. Before, my left hip was noticeably elevated and forward and off the bike I experienced a constant throb in my gluteus medius. Also, my quadriceps was over developed with an underdeveloped gluteus region. Through your adjustment suggestions, stretching and remaining properly hydrated, I am now relatively pain free.

I still am playing with the cleat position and have a question that is probably obvious to you but perplexing to me. I have different placement of my metatarsals due to different insteps in each foot. I assume this is the reason for the difference in length in each of the feet. My question - why not take the measurement from the ankle bone? Wouldn't this properly line up the knee and pelvis better than using behind the 1st metatarsal of different length feet?

My next question is concerning crankarm length. I have a 74cm inseam and switched to 165 crankarms about 1.5 years ago because I was experiencing difficulty getting on top of the gears on the climbs. I am looking at upgrading to 10 and after four years of cleaning and taking care of my Ultegra and my husband's Chorus 10, there is no comparison in quality. (His Campy, I think, looks better than when he bought it, if that's possible!) The two issues - my little hands on Campy levers may have a problem wrapping around comfortably for thumb reach, and crank arm length. They do not carry 165's. I am thinking with my cleat position corrected I may me ok on the 170's.

My question is how long should I give this to experience if this is a good move and how will my body react if this is a bad move? I may add, my body will react negatively with 1-2cm off any of my measurements so I will initially go through pain, I'm sure. It's after that - what should I be looking for? Perhaps I should wait to try this experiment in winter after racing is done? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you!

I have thought in the past about what you are saying, but there are a few practical problems in measuring from either malleolus [the bumps on the side of the ankle] or the heel. Firstly, the plantar fascia, which is a flat tendon-type structure, attaches to the rear of the foot and the metatarsal joints. The type of cleat positioning I advocate reduces stress on this as well as having a pronounced effect on the musculature enlisted further up the chain.

Now it is Christmas time and I'm ready to get my bars. I run an ITM OS Millennium 42 with an OS stem (9). It's a very deep drop and I would like the levers to sit on the bars similar to a Campy lever. You suggested a Deda bar. I would like less drop (my knees hit my abdomen, I'm very heel up in my pedal stroke at the top) but don't mind the distance of the levers on the tops (it's what I'm use to). However, you are right, there is a break in the wrist, and I'm losing the advantage of these levers. But I am not willing to give up reach to the brakes.

Hello, I'm a 46 year old male and have had chronic wrist-hand pain for about 6 mos now. I do believe it is mostly caused by road shock from the 6000+ miles so far this year. Sometimes I'm forced to rest a day or two, especially after long distance rides. I'm using a carbon fork and have dbl-padded handlebar tape. My seat is adjusted where I'm not tilting my body weight down to the handlebars through my arms. My arms appear not over extended as well. I'm not quite sure if they are badly bruised, have nerve damaged, or early arthritis. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!

I come from a triathlete background but am doing more and more road races. Over time I have found a tendency to ride steeper angle road frames (saddle forward or zero setback seat posts, my TT bike is 80°) and also I seem to generate more power up a hill while seated on the nose of my saddle. My inseam length is 89cm and my femur is 41cm long and tibia 42cm long. As far as I can tell with a short femur length, I lose the mechanical advantage or leverage of a long femur.

I seem to enjoy longer crank lengths 180mm on my time trial bike 175mm on road. I seem to be severely hampered by short crank lengths (I am almost unable to ride with my group on a flat recovery ride with 172.5mm cranks, I mean face grimacing 80% -90% efforts to get up inclines I usually ride at 65%). I am equally comfortable spinning 180mm cranks and 175mm cranks at 110rpm, I just seem to climb better with the longer cranks.

Thank you for considering my email. I am a C grade club level cyclist and am considering upgrading my saddle from a Selle Italia Flite to the Fizik Arione. I have been professionally fitted by John Kennedy who has me riding 8.5cm behind the bottom bracket with the flite. My question relates to translating this position to the new saddle given the obvious length and width difference. Obviously, measuring from behind the bottom bracket will no longer cut it. Is there any scientific method (through measurement or calculation) to ensure I remain in the same relative position other than by feel alone?

However, I can not ride for any more than ~2 minutes at a time in the bar-drops (not comfortable and stiff neck due to having to lift it too much after ~2 min). I also feel like I can not generate enough leg power to stay in the drops for prolonged amount of time. So I suspect my drops are too low. I do have poor back flexibility, I can only get to ~10cm middle-finger to the floor if I try to bend over and touch my toes. I recently started stretching which is helping but very slowly.

This is on behalf of a friend that lives overseas. His left leg below the knee is approximately two inches shorter than the right due to an accident. His left foot is a 42 and right is 43, so he's using different sizes of shoes but same model of shoe. The question is what's the most appropriate setup on the bike for him? Should he build up the shorter leg by two inches? Or should he ride a low saddle height. Bear in mind that from his hips down to his knees on both legs are even in length. The only difference is his lower leg. Thank you.

Beginning two years ago I began moving my seat back in an effort to eliminate a patellar tendonitis problem in my right knee, which has gotten better. In so doing, I changed seatposts twice, each time achieving more setback. I currently use an Oval post that has about 25 mm setback, resulting in the front of my seat being 8mm behind the bottom bracket spindle. (I am 180cm tall and my inseam length is 83cm.) Further, this position puts me in fairly good balance when I do the hands-off-the-drops test while pedalling hard - I do fall forward slightly.

In addition, I believe I have a pretty good pedalling technique in that I pull back on the pedals, push forward early, and my upper body is quite still. My seat height allows me to pull back with power and control, with my heels down, as he advises.
However, when I ride hard for 45 miles including a 3-mile climb, my quads (and to a lesser extent, my calves) always feel sore and tired, while my hamstrings and glutes feel fresh.

Your advice it wonderful! Thank you again. Your recent advice has focused on rotated hips and LLD, and I seem to have similar issues. But, my problem seems to be different from people you've recently helped. My left hip rotates forward while I'm on the trainer; however, my left leg seems to have the smoother stroke compared to the right while the left knee is closer to the top tube. Here's the difference; when I have my wife compare the length of my legs while sitting or lying down, my right is about three to five millimetres shorter. I may be reading your advice wrong, but it seems my hip rotation would mean my left leg should be shorter, correct? My varus on both feet has been measured, and I'm using shims on both feet to correct it. Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated! Best regards.

I am a 47 year old male triathlete, riding about 100-150 miles a week. Recently, I have developed pain under the lower outside of both knees. Although the pain may be running related (I stopped running to see if it improved), I am also concerned it could be bike related. While I know injuries are often the product of many causes, I am a bit concerned that my tri-bike or something related may be causing the knee pain. I have been using the tri-bike (a QR Kilo) regularly since September.

2. The problem is caused by my position on the tri bike. When I use the tri bike, I tend to ride the rivet, putting almost all my weight on the nose of the seat. I have also found that when I use the tri bike, I get tight adductors, which sometimes cramp (seize) after my rides. That fact and the knee pain lead me to believe that maybe I am unstable on the tri seat and that my inner thighs and knees are forced to provide support the seat isn't.

Hello, I have been told I need a combination of Lemond wedges on my left leg by my local bicycle fit professional. However, I use Time MTB pedals and I have been unable to make the combination of SPD style shims work with this pedal system. The shims get caught up on the the cleat and pedal engagement system causing inconsistent performance from the pedal, as well as sloppy and sometimes "sticky" feelings from the pedalling platform. I need four wedges (shims) and this causes another issue which is rocking from side to side or sloppy cleat to pedal interaction due to the stack height. I have addressed this with the man who fit me and he only offered one solution trim the wedges. Are you aware of a similar product that use shims specific to time MTB pedals/Cleats? Please help.

I appreciate your response; unfortunately it has taken me a while to get back to this. Before I try this I just wanted to clarify a few points. Just to make sure I am interpreting your instruction correctly, when I am making the folds are each fold in half of itself? Or am I to fold on another line or is the width of the fold not important? Also does the number of folds include the first fold of each sheet of paper "Fold them in half along the short axis"?

Once again, thanks for your help; I have been struggling with this issue (over pronation) for some time. I could never get my left leg to "feel right". I see a chiropractor, for routine maintenance, for an issue of my left hip rolling forward. The adjustments seem to help that, but despite my efforts of stretching, technique drills such as isolated leg drills pedalling, and others I have been unable to get the powerful smooth feeling stroke I have with my right leg. Once the issue was diagnosed now getting the correct fix will be a relief. I have tried custom insoles, professional fit, specialized body geometry shoes. I have spent hours reading your column on cycling news and find the overall picture of biomechanics that you and your staff provide to be very insightful. Thanks for your work in this area! Cycling needs more talented specialists helping the athletes develop.

I have been hitting the gym about three times per week and yesterday I was shot and not in any mood to be there, but I did it. I am thinking about how I sacrificed so much last season and have nothing to prove for it: no upgrades or any good results. Why is my motivation waning so much? Can it be the stresses of school and money? Can this be a nutritional thing as well? I am just concerned because I am trying to this the "right way" this year (i.e. letting myself REST!), but it's killing me!