Ball Of Your Foot Cleat
Pay attention to the cleat plate.
Ball of your foot cleat. Shoe width and height matter. Some local bike shops offer specific shoe and cleat fittings. It can be tricky to locate the exact ball of your foot and place the cleats so that the balls are directly over the pedal axles. If the cleat is to far forward pain and.
Extra bonus points if you can identify the 5th mtp the pinky toe you ll need that landmark in. The bike fore aft cleat placement is important in placing the pedal spindle directly under the head of the metatarsals of the foot ball of the foot. Moving your cleat position might allow you to be more aggressive on the descents but make sure changes are incremental while your muscles adapt. If you can feel the cleat plate beneath your insole it will increase the pressure on your foot.
Variations in foot proportion require the provision of some adjustment if the cleat is to be placed directly under the ball of the foot but this is only part of the story. Whoever told you the ball of your foot wasn t the most powereful and efficient stroke position is wrong. If you visit your lbs local bike shop and request a foot fitting they must examine the width and tilt of your foot to remedy pain sources. Or maybe your feet weren t meant for that positioning.
The ball of the foot is created by a row of bones called your metatarsal phalangeal mtp joints see fig 1. I d look elsewhere and try different shoes and cleats before giving up the ball of your foot positioning of the cleat. Slip off your sock now and see if you can identify your 1st mtp the big toe which is indicated by the pen below on fig 2. The feet transfer power through the cleat apparatus and our connection to the pedal via the shoe is the single most important piece of the bike fitting puzzle.
The importance of cleat position the bicycle connects to your body through three contact points the pelvis hands and most importantly the feet. Not everyone sits in the middle ground though trek factory racing rider katy winton is more of a ball of the foot rider due to a start in xc riding. As she s moved to enduro. Wedging is the solution to the foot tilt issue that causes excessive pressure on the outside of the foot.