Help - pulling out of cleats!

[paulrad9]

I started experiencing an annoying problem and it's costing me spokes. For some reason, if I pull hard on my left pedal, stand or sprint, I'm twisting my left leg into the wheel. On a few occasions my foot went into the wheel and bent a spoke. I'm using SPDs and I've duplicated this problem using two different bike and shoe combinations, which I think rules out a bad cleat/pedal. I'm right handed with a right dominant foot

LBS recommends going to a road cleat to eliminate float, but I'm not sure if this would help as my foot twists out of pedal before it hits my spokes. I'm thinking I need to drop a bad habit of leaning my hip (which others in my group tell me I do) or twisting my foot but not sure what I'm doing wrong or how to rectify. Any thoughts?


Thanks,

Paul

[Pete Serotta]

as my foot twists out of pedal before it hits my spokes.


Thanks,

Paul

Paul I do not think zero float would help much for you say your foot comes out of the pedal before it hits the spokes.


Sounds like you need to let someone like Legendti or some other very experienced person work with you on how not to twist with that force.


Going to a stiffer or harder release of pedal will just mask the problem and also could induce other problems (body wise).

Question is "have you always done it?" If not what has changed?

Also "Under what circumstance does it happen and can you focus on just that time is lessening the times it happens and eventually eliminating. I am assuming you are talking the rear wheel.

[paulrad9]

Correct, this is just the rear wheel, with my left foot disengaging around the 2 o'clock position.

This started earlier this year, never happened before, but only occurs under power, typically when I'm standing. My guess is my standing/sprinting technique needs to be improved, but not sure where to start.

[palincss]

Correct, this is just the left wheel, with my left foot disengaging around the 2 o'clock position.

This started earlier this year, never happened before, but only occurs under power, typically when I'm standing. My guess is my standing/sprinting technique needs to be improved, but not sure where to start.

Is this a recumbent trike?

[paulrad9]

Is this a recumbent trike?

No, regular bike. Sorry for typo

[Karin Kirk]

. My guess is my standing/sprinting technique needs to be improved, but not sure where to start.

I'd suggest starting by having a friend shoot some video of you sprinting. Most point-n-shoot digital cameras can shoot video clips, so this should be easy to capture. I'd get a shot from an oncoming veiwpoint and also one taken while you are riding away from the camera.

Sometimes just seeing what's going on can go a long way toward helping you change your technique.

[Peter P.]

Is it possible you're using the Multi-Release Shimano cleat? If so, they try the NON-multi-release version: SM-SH51. It will eliminate the possibility of some angles of release.

[bironi]

I'd suggest starting by having a friend shoot some video of you sprinting. Most point-n-shoot digital cameras can shoot video clips, so this should be easy to capture. I'd get a shot from an oncoming veiwpoint and also one taken while you are riding away from the camera.

Sometimes just seeing what's going on can go a long way toward helping you change your technique.

+1 :beer:

[paulrad9]

Thanks for the replies. I'm using regular (black) SPD cleats.

I loosely followed Karin's recommendation and had another rider keep in eye on me last night while we were on the road. Two things were observed:

- When I ride out of the saddle, it seems I'm way too far forward. It was suggested that I keep my rear just slightly ahead of the nose of the seat; I was about 15cm/6" away

- I think my standing/sprinting technique lacks finesse: when standing, I typically grab the drops and use it for leverage while pushing and pulling pedals. When I'm out of the saddle, I may be pulling up too hard, especially between the transition from being seated to standing. Another rider told me he never pulls while sprinting, so this too may be contributing to my problem.

[Onno]

T Another rider told me he never pulls while sprinting, so this too may be contributing to my problem.

Don't believe everything other riders tell you!!

I'm not much of a sprinter, and I'm certainly not a coach, but I simply can't believe that anyone can "never pull"--on either the pedal or the bars--when sprinting. Watch the final seconds of any pro race sprint in slow motion. It's insane how much their bikes rock. They are certainly pulling and pushing, using as many muscles as they can as hard as they can to go super fast for a short burst. Track sprinters don't (or didn't) use clipless pedals because they are worried about pulling out of them, so this is not really a super-weird problem. If your foot is coming out of the pedal, then there's either something wrong with the shoe/cleat/pedal, or you are simply using the wrong pedal for your style (and strength) of sprinting. This is not to say that you couldn't make your style cleaner and/or more efficient (it can't be good to have your heel rotate radically during the pedal stroke), but sprinting is mostly about power, not neatness or efficiency.