Riding techique

Something I have noticed lately. Often when peddling, I notice that most of the pressure from the pedal is on the outside of my foot ie behind the little toe and decreasing pressure towards the crank. I will often make a conscious effort to put more pressure on the ball of my foot ie behind the big toe just by rolling my foot, and it appears more efficient.

MAybe it is all in my mind. but I would think it would be best to have more even pressure accross your foot. Assuming that to be true, would this be a case for Shims?

Hello Michael,

Yes, absolutely. I have found the book: "ANDY PRUITT'S Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists" an absolute Godsend on the subject of bicycle fitting. I have referred to this resource time and time again.

This being said, I would NOT add shims under the cleats of my riding shoes unless and until I have, not only read the entire book cover to cover, but also fully understand the concepts. Having done this, I was able to completely eliminate the knee and ankle issues that I was having by using the shims that he recommends. Hope this helps...

CUL8R!

Siegfried

A good bike fit by a qualified specialist works extremely well.
Also, certain brands of shoes have inserts. For example, Specialized puts the "Red" insert as standard in their shoes. This is for flat feet. I didn't find this out until my bike fit and as I have a normal arch, it was suggested I purchase the correct insert. This corrected a host of issues.

Thanks for the input

A good bike fit is probably a good idea,but expensive. Like many things in this hobby and every other hobby there are plenty of ways to separate one from their money. I like Siegfried's suggestion as it would be a good idea to understand the fitting process to get the most out of a professional fitting. It would hopefully reduce the trial and error approach to self fitting.

Thank you Michael,

I have spent a lot of money on 4 different bike fittings from 4 different places. While they were all good and while I did learn a lot from each of them, not one of them were able to solve all of my problems. Keep in mind that I am not bad mouthing any of them, I'm simply stating facts as they happened in my personal experience.

Once I bought the book that I recommended to you previously, I gained my courage back from years ago when I used to self fit with great results. One of the biggest things that I have learned is that our fitment changes over time. What was once a perfect fit X number years ago may not be the proper fit today. Once I discovered this, I realized that, since my fitment on my bike is changing over time anyway, I may as well learn how to be an integral part of this ever changing process.

And today, I am so glad that I did. The rewards of learning about my body, my bike and how each works with the other has paid off well for me. As it stands right now, I would never go back to being totally dependent on someone else. I like having the knowledge of what my body wants and then to be able to make the adjustment(s) needed for a comfortable ride.

I hope that this has helped you, perhaps even inspired you, to buy that book and see if self fitting is right for you. Thanx for listening...


CUL8R!

Siegfried

I got the book. It was only $13. I have started reading it and it appears to be helpful. I have not tried any of the measurements it suggests yet as I have been quite busy since I got the book. Thanks for the tip.

Wonderful! I hope that you're able to glean from the book all of the info you need to address your concerns. Please keep us/me posted, I look forward to hearing from you...


CUL8R!

Siegfried