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sore calf and cleats position?

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sore calf and cleats position?

Old 02-11-09, 05:02 PM
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sore calf and cleats position?

i got new cleats and noticed two things on monday while riding rollers. my left calf felt tight and my right cleat had slipped a little so it was pointing my toes outward a bit more then the left, which had seemed comfortable on the rollers.

now i have never had this tightness while riding my old cleats on rollers or on the road and the new cleats have never caused this feeling on the road either. (of course i havent put in that many miles with them) so i thought maybe i would try moving the left cleat into the same position as the right. so i ride the rollers today, a little warm up and then some intervals of how fast i can spin without falling off, and holding that for as long as i can(the same workout i do everytime im on the rollers). everything feels fine until i get off and my left calf almost immediately starts hurting, on the inside of my leg at the bottom of the calf muscle. it hurt pretty bad(hard to walk) for about 15 minutes and then it just ached. could it be cleat position?

my only other thought is the saddle is maybe to high when im just riding in street shoes to school and whatnot, straining the muscle, but that hasnt caused any discomfort in my legs. the only time ive had this calf tightness/pain is riding the rollers with the new cleats.
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Old 02-11-09, 08:11 PM
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The further forward the cleat is on the shoe, the greater the load on your calf muscle.

Consider that your foot pivots at the ankle, and when you push down on the pedal with your foot, your calf muscle is under tension, to keep your foot from just flexing up at the ankle. The further that the cleat is away from the ankle, the more leverage that your foot has, thus more loading of the calf muscle.

I loved physics and statics in engineering school as it explains much about cycling and bicycles
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Old 02-11-09, 09:21 PM
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that makes sense, except in this situation i didnt move the cleat forward or backward any. when the right cleat slipped i mean it just twisted a little, but both are still set up so the pedal spindle is under the ball of my foot.

the cleat position is really only rotated a couple of degrees at most.
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