smoke

i've always been a masher. i'm comfortable around 80 rpm or so, and i time trial in a 75-80 range. i've read that time trialists like to get their foot a little forward of the "over the pedal spindle" position. i'm the kind of guy that figures if a little of something is good, then a lot of something must be great. so for years, most of my biking time, my cleats have been full aft on the bottoms of my shoes. i've never been much of an ankler, either. well, after another poor performance in a TT a week or two ago, i decided to step back and start my TT setup all over. i started at the cleats and worked up. i thought maybe i had mis-read that stuff, so i put the cleats full forward on the shoe, just the opposite position. i rode 4-5 rides like that, and noticed climbing was more difficult than before. i didn't like that, so i put the cleats in the middle of the adjustment range. and since i've done that, i've noticed that spinning seems to be a lot easier. and i'm ankling more. i'm not claiming this is a giant difference, but my normal cadence has gone up, almost to 90, and my cruising speed is higher as well. top end seems the same, but what the heck. maybe i oughta get used to this. i wonder if the original position of the cleats was keeping me from ankling. again, no massive changes, but noticeable. has anyone else found that a slightly different cleat position makes a significant difference?

GuitarWizard

Yeah. I just had a fitting done on Friday, and my cleats were moved back a bit and adjusted side to side (I'm awaiting the arrival of my fixed cleats and custom insoles to complete the "package").....along with some seat adjustments. Took my body about 16 miles or so to start to adjust to the new position....my seat was raised a bit, and moved back quite a bit....but I can already feel how much more powerful this new position is. I can also feel new muscles that I hadn't been previously working before as well......prior, I must've been using mostly quads, as now I can feel my glutes and hamstrings quite a bit, and also some new areas in my quads as well.

It's good stuff. Now with the cleats adjusted to how they should be, my toes have been fairing a bit better (they used to start to go numb after an hour of hammering). Once I get the insoles and cleats in, my back and hip should be doing much better.