Fitness questions and answers for June 13, 2007

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The arch cleat position(Image credit: Steve Hogg)

Form & Fitness Q & A

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.

Well the improvement has been dramatic and the extra speed on the bike is a real bonus. I was able to move my cleats about 3cm further back than was possible with Speedplay pedals and Specialized triathlon shoes by drilling a single hole further back and turning the base plate around. You have to be careful because there is no room for error if they aren't lined up because you will have very little lateral movement to get your shoe closer or further from the crank after doing so but with a ruler, pencil.6mm drill bit and a steady hand it isn't too much of a problem. I am willing to send pics if you like.

The reason I say this is because I can still feel that my I am resisting the downward thrust of my quads with my lower leg muscles which apply upward pressure in order to prevent your ankle joint from angle from becoming more acute in order to get the wattage into the cranks. Somewhere along the length of your foot there is a point of balance where all your quad power goes into the cranks and your lower leg muscles don't have to resist this power.

It doesn't matter if you're a butterfly, diesel engine, or cyclist the fewer joints involved the more economical the machine. The next step I guess would be for bike manufacturers to move the bottom brackets as far back as possible, almost touching the back wheel to avoid the overlap of the front wheel which is inevitable when moving your feet forward, adding a little bit more rake on the forks wouldn't hurt either, or making slightly longer top tubes since your centre of gravity is more forward.

Thanks for passing on the tip regarding moving Speedplays rearwards. I don't know exactly where you have your cleats, but ideally you want the pedal axle more or less under the middle of the arch of each foot. If you can achieve that, you should resolve the last niggle you mention. I am happy that you got the result you sought and what you say about the performance gains is in line with what I and others that have tried it are finding. It would be nice if a few shoe manufacturers offered a shoe that allowed midfoot cleat position as an option. It shouldn't be too hard to redesign the sole of a shoe so that it had two sets of 3 hole mounts. Early days yet though, and if that is to happen, I suspect it will take some time.

While the arch cleat may alleviate problems for riders with weak ankles or under-developed calves, it has no benefits in racing situations. It does have a similar effect as putting the saddle way back. This probably explains why some riders sense improvement, comfort, or efficiency. Many riders today have moved their saddles forward in imitation of triathletes or various time trialists. This may be more aerodynamic, but it does not use the muscles as efficiently as a normal saddle position.

I read Tim's mail with some interest. Good luck to him and his opinion. I wish I had such certainty in my life. My experience of bike position to date, and it's fairly extensive, is that the more I learn, the less I am certain of! So when a correspondent has such certainty in their views, I worry a bit. Anyway for your info and amusement and possibly to convince Tim to look again, here is how I heard about this and what convinced me to try it. When I first heard about the arch cleat thing, I was skeptical based on very limited experience with it, and then only as a rehabilitative measure. I started corresponding with Gotz Heine and it turned out we know some of the same people in Europe.

Simply put, my gluteous maximus cramps so severely I have to return to the brake hoods just to finish the race. I assume my long legs and short upper body are the problem, since I've experimented extensively with saddle position, frame size and stem length to no avail. I've also tried a stretching program without noticing any significant improvement. In sum, I can't ride in a low position for very long without cramping.

You know more about them than I do. I have looked at the site and yes, they are interesting and I don't want to prejudge them. However, this is not the first time this idea (dropped pedal) has been around. Shimano did one (AX pedal) in the 70's, a Euro friend tells me that there was a Siligardi pedal in the late '80's (not strictly a pedal but a short secondary crank that attached to the normal pedal axle hole and then had the pedal of riders choice attached to the secondary arm) and I have seen more than a few home made versions.

My left leg is longer than my right leg - roughly 1.5cm in the tibia. However on the bike, my hips have rotated such that my long left leg is functionally shorter than my right. When I drop a plumb line from knee, my left knee is ~2cm behind the pedal and my right knee is ~2cm in front of the pedal spindle! I had a 1/2cm worth of shims under my right cleat (my measured shorter leg), but now I am thinking of removing them (should I ship up my functionally shorter leg to straighten things out?)

At times, I can feel myself hanging off to the left side of the saddle, but recently (last few years), I feel as though I've been sitting more on top of the saddle. My odd body is causing me some serious pain in my perineal area - not surprisingly on the left side in one particular place. I assume that the pain is being caused by pressure on the left side as my functionally shorter leg stretches at the bottom of the stroke. The pain is especially bad when I am racing or going hard (read: in the drops or hunched over).

What you describe is not epidemic but far too common, i.e. the measurably longer leg is the functionally shorter leg on a bike. A life time of exerting greater torque at the hip with longer leg, can cause the ilium on that side to rotate inward or rotate forward or both, pivoting on the sacro iliac joint. Either way, the function of the sacro iliac joint is compromised. This causes the longer leg sided hip, ilium and lower spine to function as a unit rather than separately. There may be various other complications; sacral twists and interesting patterns of asymmetric muscle tightness and so on.

However, I often question this because I have no problem riding hands free on my mountain bike. I noticed today that the front wheel doesn't sit centered in the fork. The wheel looked leaned to the left. I centered the wheel and my no hands problem got worse. So then I pushed the wheel as far left in the fork as my drop out would allow and the problem went away. Interestingly, I also felt very square on the bike too.

Could these results suggest my hands free problems aren't primarily due to my leg length difference but more so from an unbalancing of my bicycle? Alternatively, could an asymmetrically laced rear wheel unbalance a bike? I am curious to ride the bike farther than around the block to see how I feel (i.e. does my right hand which goes numb on long rides still do so) but I'm totally freaked out by the thought of the wheel slipping and eating it.

This cannot be sorted (consulted an orthopedic doctor) and it causes the inside of my heel to collide with the rear chain stays and excessive rubbing on the crank arms. On climbing on occasions my feet have even forced beyond the float of my look cleats to tread on the big ring of my FSA compact chainset. Even with the free arc limiting on the pedals I am still wearing away my shoes, crank and chainstays.