Cleat Wedges at Yorkshire Bike Fitting

Let me introduce you to one of the most valuable fitting tools I have..

This is called a wedge, and whilst there are many variations, cleat wedges are often the most popular in the industry.

Have you ever noticed that one knee comes in closer to the top tube than the other? Or do you suffer from numb points/hot spots on your feet?

Wedges are really effective at bringing the foot back into it's natural position, which is often ignored during some bike fits, especially the measurement style fits that some fitters offer that don't necessarily look at the rider on the bike.

The method of fitting wedges includes the use of a forefoot measuring tool, which determines the number of wedges required to correct the tilt. You simply hook the end piece over the heel of the foot and read off the number the arrow on the device is pointing to.

A good fitter will know what these numbers mean, and the correct style/number of wedges to use.

Cleat wedges fit under the cleat, and insole wedges under the insole (not surprisingly) and act in slightly different ways.. Whilst I won't bore you with the details, in most cases I use insole wedges, as they encourage the foot back into the natural position, which most modern cycling shoes force it out of, which is when things like numb toes start to appear.

When combined with correct cleat positioning, wedges are a great tool for any cyclist, and are well worth their relatively low cost!

Cleat wedge use comes as standard on my advanced and pro fit services, full details of which can be found on www.yorkshirebikefitting.co.uk

The importance of choosing the right fit consultant.

 So you’ve bought your brand new bike, spent hundreds of pounds on all the fancy gear, pedals, shoes.. the lot!

The shop have “fitted” you by eye on the shop floor before you leave for your first ride, everything seems great, until you hit the local roads and find a niggling pain somewhere. It’s often numb toes, or sore knees, and it’s super, super annoying, you’ll probably persist with the pain for a few rides, but it’s not clearing up!

Your first port of call will more than likely be local shops who offer “specialist” services with fancy marketing material and claims of high tech services with all the bells and whistles.

These services can often be compared to a beginner pianist performing on a grand piano.. They may not have the skills necessary to perform well with the equipment, and fail to get the desired result.

When you think of a bike fit, you should consider that you’re spending money on a service, and that level of service can fluctuate massively from one fit consultant to the next.. The fitter that you want fitting your bike has to know the human body inside out, and it’s abilities to cope with different positions on the bike.

Whether it’s crit racing twice a week, a sportive once every 6 months, or just riding for fun, your position will be different to the next client, and needs to be right for you.

I’m a firm believer in working with numbers, angles and measurements, whilst using common sense too. The data gives a high degree of accuracy and predictable results, whilst harnessing your common sense ensures that you don’t just follow these numbers blind and make obvious, stupid errors.

Since starting fitting, I’ve conducted over 300 fits, and have learned a vast amount of fitting related things. I combine this knowledge of fitting with my experience as a sports therapist, and the understanding of human anatomy I have developed over my career.

This enables me to provide some of the highest quality bike fitting available in Yorkshire.

Why would you invest in a service of poor quality from a shop that specialize in the sales of bikes, not the mechanics of the rider?

You wouldn’t expect the salesman from the garage you bought your car from to be able to conduct the MOT/Servicing of that vehicle, so why would you expect the salesman of your bike to be able to conduct a high quality fitting service?

As someone who’s ridden in sportives, raced midweek town center crits on the national series, competed in road races and dabbled in a bit of time trialing, I don’t just know the fitting process inside out, but also the sport!

Enough about me now! Here are my 5 top tips for picking the right bike fitter!

1)   Look for deeper knowledge than just a bike brands own training course.

2)   A shop with a dedicated area is more than likely more serious about fitting, if it’s half fitting room half storage space, avoid!

3)   Look for someone who’s worked with a range of athletes, as they will have the broadest range of experience.

4)   Price doesn’t always represent level of service, if one fit costs more than another, ask why, usually it’s just a boutique shop adding a premium on!

5)   Don’t be sucked in by fancy marketing material, get the key facts such as level of training, areas covered in the fit, the fitters specialist areas and price!

This isn’t meant to be a “pick me” style advert, it’s meant to give you an idea of the other services that exist out there, and the reasons why you should pick a specialist as opposed to anyone who offers the service..

The importance of bike fitting

Position is often underestimated by riders, and they won't even have considered it when buying a high value or performance bike.

Things I aim to cover are the importance of:

1. Cleat position

2. Insole use / Cleat Shims & Wedges

3. Saddle position (both height and fore/aft)

4. Choice of saddle

5. Stack height of front end

6. Stem length/angle

7. Bar width / type

1) Cleat position is something that can't be ignored when doing serious milage on the bike, and falls into three different adjustments:

•     Angle: If you think of cleat positioning as being similar to the tracking of steering on a car, if the tracking is out, the tyres wear to either the inside or the outside more, likewise, if cleat angle is out, your knees are open to injury, and knees can't be easily replaced like tyres can!

•     Setback: The mentality of 10 years or so ago tended to suggest that the centre of the pedal axle, this has changed now, and the position shouldn't be directly on the ball of the foot, or problems with nerves and soft tissue can arise.

•     Stance width (q factor): effectively how far away your foot is from the crank arm is determined by lateral/medial cleat positioning and is vital for a good pedalling action.

2) Insole use should only be considered when seeking the advice of a fully trained bike fit consultant or suitable therapist. My background in both disciplines as a sports therapist, and a bike fit consultant means I have a good understanding of their uses and their effects on the mechanics of the pedal stroke whilst cycling. I only consider insoles when one or more of the following things arises during the fit:

•     The tracking of the knee isn't correct, causing muscles to fire in the wrong order or causing compensation issues in other areas

•     The arches in the clients feet are dropped.

•     Shims are used when the tracking/alignment of the knee is incorrect, and should only be used by a trained fit consultant

3) Saddle position falls into two categories, height (measured from centre of BB to top of saddle) and fore/aft (measured in setback from BB)

•     Saddle height should be determined according to the flexibility, range of movement and injury history of the client, a saddle too high can stretch various areas and increase the risk of injury, a saddle too low can affect knee tracking and also cause injury.

•     Fore/aft is set by knee over pedal spindle, and this affects both power output (argument suggests the further back it is the more power you can put out) and bike handling (due to altering the centre of gravity over the back end of the bike)

4) Choice of saddle is vital to any bike, regardless of milage. A saddle chosen through a system like the Bontrager Inform range is a fantastic idea, as it has an unconditional comfort guarantee, so if it's not comfy, they will have it straight back! This is due to the instore system that measures the width of your seat bones, and you purchase a saddle that corresponds to those widths. Simple yet effective! A good saddle will:

•     Support you in the correct place (in terms of width) providing setback is correct.

•     Allow free movement of your legs (some wider saddles hinder this)

•     Provide superior comfort even on long rides.

5) Stack height of the front end refers to how high the front end of the bike is, some of this is pre determined by the height of the headtube of the bike, but additional spacers can be placed under the stem to raise the front end up. A lot of cyclists, especially those who race on the road, will be tempted to drop the front end as low as possible, even if this is past their physical limits, they fight through the pain, and their performance suffers as a result! No matter how aero your position is, if you can't cycle without pain, you won't perform as well as you would pain free. A reasonable stack height should:

•     Provide the rider with enough room at the top of the pedal stroke to fully inhale. If this isn't possible, the muscles won't get enough oxygen, and the rider will be more prone to cramping.

•     Allow the rider to look straight ahead when on the hoods without strain. Strain will eventually lead to tightness in the shoulders/neck and probably headaches!

•     Be determined according to saddle height in most cases, to regulate the drop from saddle to bars, seeing as the saddle needs to be in the correct position. The amount of drop a rider can cope with varies from rider to rider.

6) Stem length is a bit of a funny one, as its often personal preference, and people know what they like and like what they know. Unfortunately, this is like anything, just because their mate down the pub told them its correct, it doesn't mean it is. As you would imagine, stem length alters the reach to the bars and also the height of the bars depending on the angle of the stem. Choosing the correct stem enables the rider to:

•     Ensure the bike is handling correctly.

•     Make sure the reach to the bars is suitable to the riders style and disciplines.

•     Fine tune their position for aero advantages/comfort.

7) Bar width / type is very important when looking at bike positioning. Width is determined by measuring the width of the shoulders from two bony landmarks on either side, and the handlebar width should be as close as possible the the width of the shoulders in my opinion. This opens up the shoulders and back to avoid fatigue/pain in the shoulder region.

•     Another school of thought is that a wider bar gives you more leverage for steering and opens your chest for more volume of air, i.e. more oxygen into your lungs. But that depends on the individual rider and their discipline of riding.

SUMMARY:

In brief, no one measurement I have gone into will make for a good bike postion. When every part of the postion on the bike is correct, thats when things "click" into place and everything just feels right.

Speaking from experience, you just know when your position on the bike is correct, and until you've had a bike fit, you wont know this feeling.

The chances are that at least one of the variables of your bike postion isn't right, and it may be the missing link in the chain to take the next step in performance or comfort.

It's worth getting it checked, so get in touch today!

Stephen@yorkshirebikefitting.co.uk 

The importance of recovery!

Last July, three others and myself took on the first stage of next years TdF route when it visits gods own county, Yorkshire in July.

The route should have taken us from Leeds, out towards Skipton, Kettlewell, Hawes, over Buttertubs Pass to Reeth, Grinton, Masham and Ripon and onto the final run in to Harrogate that afternoon.

However due to an error navigating we ended up taking a detour up to Scotch Corner instead of turning off after Reeth, this meant the total mileage for the day was in excess of 150 miles, the furthest I've ever ridden!

Good nutrition and training stood me in good stead for the mileage, which proved not to be much of an issue, although very tiring.

After a stop in Ripon before the final run into Harrogate, I found myself thinking of how best to recover when I got home.. Combining sports therapy knowledge with personal experiences, I have come up with 5 top tips for recovering after a long ride, event or training session of any kind. Short recovery is essential for any athlete so that they can progress with training and ultimately, perform better in events.

Here they are below, in order of importance:

+ Sports Massage - By far the most efficient way of flushing out lactic acid from the legs, used by professional athletes regularly, the client feels fresh & tiredness of the area reduced. It can also iron out any knots in the muscles, release tightness and improve muscle function.

+ Elevation - Raising the legs to 45 Degrees by propping them up on a duvet, pillows or anything else of reasonable height will help drain the lactic acid out of the legs towards the heart to be distributed evenly around the body.

+ Contrast bathing - Contrast bathing uses the principals of vasoconstriction and vasodilation to flush the lactic acid from the legs through both the lymph system and the circulatory system. Firstly, the client should get into a cold/ice bath for a small amount of time (too long and a risk of hypothermia is possible) this will have the blood and lymph vessels to constrict. The client should then get into a hot bath soon after to open up the blood & lymph vessels, increase flow to the area and flush toxins out & induce inflammation, the bodies natural method of repairing damaged tissue. This process of switching between hot & cold should be repeated several times for highest efficiency.

+ Foam Rolling - Similar to massage but less focused, foam rolling is ideal to do at home straight after a ride due to its simple nature and ease. A foam roller is an inexpensive way to consistently reduce recovery times. Disadvantages are that the client often won't push hard enough into muscles due to discomfort and this will reduce the efficiency and overall effects of foam rolling.

+ Stretching - The most basic of all of the above and completely free both in terms of cost and hassle. Time should be taken to stretch thoroughly all the major muscle groups post exercise for at least 30 seconds per stretch to be at all efficient. It should only be done post workout as doing it cold can do more harm than good to muscles by tearing fibres.

Stephen from Yorkshire Bike Fitting also runs a company called Leeds Sports Therapy, check them out! www.leedssportstherapy.co.uk