Road Cycling - proper foot position

i am noticing that when i pedal...my left foot stays parallel with the bike frame (facing straight forward) however, my right foot naturally finds a position where it points inward. meaning the front of my foot/shoe points inward to where it is not parallel with the bike frame.

my question for anyone who may know ...is ... is there such thing as proper foot alignment? can i develop an improper pedaling cadence?

thanks...

jf

foot position won't cause an improper cadence. Cadence is
number or rpms the pedals make.
If you are using something like speedplays, or any pedal
with float your feet are going to find whatever position is
"correct" (in regard to angle of foot to frame etc.) and
you're good to go.
I wouldn't worry about it, and I'd bet most of us have a
similiar foot position.

Marty

Unless you're having pain. Then I say look at alignment on and off the bike and bike set up.

I think foot position is of prime importance.

Everytime I would ride in the past two-three months, by the time I hit about the 15 mile mark my left kneee would start to ache and throb.

If I continued riding and finished say a 30 mile route, the kneee would be stiff and sore through at least the next day.

I didn't know what to do until a friend told me to go have my bike custom-fitted. After hemming and hawing I finally did it. The gal that fit me was a magician. She immediately looked at my foot position and knew that because my toes were naturally pointing inward that my foot was twisting my knee inward as well which is what was causing the discomfort. She also told me that your heel should naturally drop below your toes as you pedal and she adjusted everything so that that would happen as well.

In addition to measuring the angles of every dangle that I have and readjusting everything on my bike from seat to handlebars she put spacers on my cleats that turned my foot back outward allowing my legs to come down straighter.

Since then - zero pain.

Sheesh, my post got lost....

Anyway, I say if you don't feel pain, you may be ok, but to be on the safe side, if you can get to a bike shop for a professional bike fit, that would answer all your questions.

In my situation, I have one foot that goes straight forward when I walk, and the other foot turns slightly inwards. This is the same thing when I ride, and it kind of makes me off centered when I come out of the saddle. A couple of years ago, some idiot that I thought knew a lot told me that I was off centered and attempted to make me turn my feet out- the pain in my knees were horrible. When I went to see someone about it, the real cyclists told me to just let my feet go as they will, and when I did that, the knee pain disappeared.

If you're not sure, have the professional fit. But if you're not having any pain, there may not be a problem, and you could be ok.

Mixed message, I guess. Hope something out of this helps. :-/


Koffee

I naturally point toes in a little and thu set up my cleats so that they wont strain that natural orientation. Doesnt it seem in the pro peloton that many people have their knees relatively close to the top bar? I find that with my toes inward my knees are close to the top bar and I can get more power than I can with my knees out to the side? Is there any correlation between the inward toes (if they really are, I could be seeing things) and the knee to top bar distance?

Soupcan and Koffee Brown are absolutely correct. Having your LBS do a custom fit is absolutely the right thing to do....IMO even if you aren't experiencing pain yet because improper positioning can cause pain down the road.

Teski

thanks for all these responses. i do use speedplay pedals which allow a good deal of float. no pain on any rides in my knees....and i feel more comfortable and natural when i don't worry about the position of that foot. i was fitted at the LBS and so for now i think i am ok and will go with what seems comfortable.

jf