Might not be 100% training but best place I could think of.
I found a quite recent video about fitting cleats that said the regular ball of the foot position is outdated.
He said you want to slam the cleat back as far as possible (I think for maximum power output) and consequently also lower the saddle a bit.
Everywhere else ball of the foot still seems like the way to go, so I’m curious if there’s indeed a “new way”.
Nothing new. Bike fitters recommend that as a starting position since years. It saves work for the calves to stabilize the foot. And the calves are the weakest point in the chain.
Be aware for toe overlap though! It takes some time to get used too because you need to avoid being in the 3 o clock position at low speed.
I have my cleats set like that for over 5 years. Typically, when applying max force with quads, your calves will suffer less.
At my last bike fit, I asked about cleat position. The fitter turned my shoes over, saw the cleats were “slammed back” and said “that’s probably as good as it gets.”
As it happens she made a minor adjustment laterally to one shoe. I couldn’t tell any difference, but it made something on her screen go from yellow to green.
With bikes decreasing bottom bracket width (triple to compact/double/single) comes a decrease in stance width. Unless you are a pocket climber, you will be more comfortable with a slightly wider stance. Cleats all the way in, to separate the feet a bit more will reduce lateral knee movement which can cause discomfort or even pain in the knees. It has to do with foot pronation. And that can influence saddle interaction.
A product that is very much a nice to have for cleat fitting / adjusting is the ergon TP1
There is one for most cleat types and it makes alignment / adjustment much easier, repeatable and precise
That actually surprises me since every clear positioning video (also the Ergon one) says to find the base of the big toe and base of the little toe and mark that as the point where you want to be.
And that’s how I’ve been setting it up forever.
Any idea why this might be?
I have that one and they are basing it on finding the ball of the foot. Which was the source of my confusion.
