Fitting Specialized BG Shoes

I recently visited Jake Mestre, a friend and racer on the University of Nevada Reno Cycling Team for a bike fit. Jake just got a new replacement Cervelo and wanted to have his position dialed in for max power; I told him that our fits are dialed in for max comfort which leads to max power. Jake rides Specialized BG shoes and when I saw him riding I noticed that his knees where way in close to the top tube. The handy FFMD gave the the indication that Jake could benefit from having 1 or 2 wedges placed under his shoes. When he took off his shoes what did I find? A 1.5mm valgus wedge in there, but wait the FFMD indicated he was a varus!!! Was the Specialized valgus wedge placed in there to offset the 1.5mm of varus that the shoes have? Was the previous fitter's idea to bring back the foot to a 0 degree tilt without even measuring the actual fore foot tilt?

Once the wedges were placed under his soles, he got back on the bike and voila`, the knee was tracking pretty much perfectly. Unfortunately due to Jake's size 47 shoe, going for a shorter Speedplay spindle length is not an option as the width of his shoes offer no clearance between the inside of the shoe and the crank arm. We were able to fine-tune the tracking by moving the cleat outwards to allow the foot to come further in and get even a better alignment.

Furthermore this adjustment changed his fore/aft position on the saddle - he moved backwards, which allowed us to move his saddle forward on the rails and made his reach even better. Before the bike fit Jake was contemplating moving to a 120 stem, but now he did not have to. With this slight move forward his arm/shoulder/back angle was a nice 90 degrees vs 92-94 before hand.

While placing 2 wedges is a drastic adjustment for someone that pedals in a completely different fashion, a short adaptation time will be key to make sure that his body gets used to the new foot/pedal position. Keep you eyes open if you are going to be competing against Jake in any of the collegiate races out West or during the 24 Ore di Feltre in Italy this summer.

Arkansas' amazing experience

... once I arrived in Fayetteville at 11:00pm where the temperature was a balmy 26 degrees and dropping, it was time to rest-up for the next 2 days of training. Needless to say that watching Paul in action and his thinking process for each "outside the box" situation that was presented in each fit during the 2 days was just incredible; we saw drop shoulders, skogliosis, leg length discrepancy, strange pressure points on saddles, limited ROM in lower backs and much more.

I am now a convert to Speedplay pedals, sorry Look but our 24 year relationship is over. The simplicity to get them dialed in is just way too easy from a bike fitter's view.

As a rider I have heard in the past that people did experience "hot spots" under their feet when using Speedplay pedals, but the more I learn from fitting individuals, I can tell that those hot spots are caused not by the pedals but from improper foot/cleat/pedal interface. All of the subject being fitted suring this training required a change in the spindle length to achieve a perfect position on the bike, with 6 needing longer spindles on 1 or both pedals and 1 subject needing to go with shorter spindles.

Back to the fits ... as mentioned before every subject that was fitted presented our group with some challenges however everyone of them left a happy cyclist! The common underlying theme was too long of stems!!! If you are experiencing lower back pain or shoulder pain make sure to revisit your reach! If your hands do not gravitate to the hoods, revisit your reach! There are some great handlebars out there available in shorter reaches and shallower drops which should be considered when building up your new bike or upgrading your old bike.

Until next time ... ride in comfort!