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07-17-03, 11:21 AM
After searching the archives, I still have a question I would like to pose. . .
Situation: I have Look cleats with float. For years, I have ridden with the cleats in both shoes positioned symetrically, with the spindle directly under the ball of my foot and toes pointed straight ahead. However, when I am spinning 100 rpms and up, with little resistance, for an extended time, my left calf and arch of my foot start to tighten up. If I up the gear a bit and the cadence slows to about 90, the problem subsides.
I never have this problem with my right foot/leg. I also know that my left foot does not naturally point straight ahead as my right does. If I hang my feet naturally, the left toes point slightly outward. I figured I could ride with left pointed straight and "train" my body to become accustomed to what I assume to be proper form (feet pointed straight). Since I never experience any knee pain, I continued to ride this way hoping I could overcome the occasional muscle tightening in my calf/foot arch.
Questions: Should I just give in and reposition the left cleat to allow my foot to point with the toes slightly outward? Is there any harm, efficiency loss, etc. with this? Rather, should I just try moving the cleat back slightly to ease the load on the calf, but retain the straight/forward angle I have currently? Or should I just ride on and someday my body will give in and accept my current setup up as inevitable, unchangable truth?
Situation: I have Look cleats with float. For years, I have ridden with the cleats in both shoes positioned symetrically, with the spindle directly under the ball of my foot and toes pointed straight ahead. However, when I am spinning 100 rpms and up, with little resistance, for an extended time, my left calf and arch of my foot start to tighten up. If I up the gear a bit and the cadence slows to about 90, the problem subsides.
I never have this problem with my right foot/leg. I also know that my left foot does not naturally point straight ahead as my right does. If I hang my feet naturally, the left toes point slightly outward. I figured I could ride with left pointed straight and "train" my body to become accustomed to what I assume to be proper form (feet pointed straight). Since I never experience any knee pain, I continued to ride this way hoping I could overcome the occasional muscle tightening in my calf/foot arch.
Questions: Should I just give in and reposition the left cleat to allow my foot to point with the toes slightly outward? Is there any harm, efficiency loss, etc. with this? Rather, should I just try moving the cleat back slightly to ease the load on the calf, but retain the straight/forward angle I have currently? Or should I just ride on and someday my body will give in and accept my current setup up as inevitable, unchangable truth?