Fit question re: cleats

[Chad Engle]

I've posted on this before, my knee was bugging me, outer aspect. This occurred in conjunction with some symptoms that convinced me it was an IT issue. Even saw ortho, he agreed. Tried some stretches before and after riding, seemed to take the hip/leg pain away, but then the knee acted up.

The knee pain ended up shooting down the outside of my calf. Could my cleat alignment be contributing to/causing/exacerbating this? Pedals are Shimano Ultegra, with float. At times they do feel like I should adjust them to allow my heel to move outward more.

I've been off the bike for 4 weeks now, going to stay off another 2 and see if it helps, again per the ortho doc.

Just thinking aloud. Any suggestions?

Thanks all and have a great weekend.

[benb]

If you've got the fore-aft position dialed and you're having ITB or outer calf issues try moving the cleat to the inside of the shoe just a bit to move your foot out.

This should put your heel out where you want it and straighten your foot out.

The Ultegra pedals (I have them) seem to have pretty short spindles. Depending on your crank you could have too narrow of a tread/q-factor.

Other things effect it obviously but my understanding if all other variables are correct:

Inside of knee issue - tread too wide
Outside of knee - tread too narrow

You're definitely on the right track, give it a try. There is not a whole lot of lateral adjustment in these cleats though.

[Bart001]

How about a RAD fit for your cleats? Have you done that?

I'm pretty new to this board, and I'm not sure what the locals think about that, but it made sense to me somewhat intuitively.

[Chad Engle]

I have not done a RAD fit (had to google the RAD part). I did think of that as an option which is partly why I posted the question. I wanted to see if this kind of pain was related to cleat alignment.

I'm seriously considering getting some professional help aligning the cleats.

Thanks!

[barry1021]

I have not done a RAD fit (had to google the RAD part). I did think of that as an option which is partly why I posted the question. I wanted to see if this kind of pain was related to cleat alignment.

I'm seriously considering getting some professional help aligning the cleats.

Thanks!

I suggest you spend some serious time reading the current and older Q&A here in the fitness forum. Hundreds of discussions on positioning.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=2007/letters05-29

b21