Slightly different post today.
I did do some riding, but it was all to test out my new shoes – or more accurately the cleat positions on the new shoes.
Excuse the poor quality photo – I’m no artist – but what we have here is my new Fizik Vento Infinito Carbon 2 Road on the left, and my well worn / used to be equally white Specialized Torch 3.0 Road.
For both, I purchased from Sigma Sports. I got the Torch 3.0 back in ~2019 and they’ve served me exceptionally well. The only reason I didn’t replace like for like is because the Specialised shoes have their own version of Boa laces, and I really wanted to try “the real deal”.
For a variety of reasons (mainly end of season, I guess) it was super hard to find a pair I liked the look of, in my size, and within my price range. Originally I ordered the considerably cheaper Fizik R3 Aria, but I really didn’t like the shiny black bit. My wife commented they looked like tap shoes. So they had to go back. Ha.
Now, I didn’t get to “try before I buy-ed” in terms of fitting. As above, I went solely off looks. How superficial. Heck, I’m not even sure how you pronounce Fizik – is it physic like the science, or physique like the body… guessing the later, but it is just that: a guess.
Fortunately though, they fit supremely well. Amazingly well. Like a glove. Could not be happier. And to be fair, both the R3 and the Vento both seemed to have the same fit, so super pleased with how they fit. By contrast the Torch took a little bit of time to break in, but once they had, they have been sterling.
Cleat Position
Anyone who follows this site will know I am an idiot / newbie, learning all my lessons the long and hard way. Frequently people do correct me, and for that I am very thankful. But being a solo cyclist, not knowing anyone local, I have had to “best guess” quite lot when it comes to fit and finish.
Cleat position… yeah, let’s just say the last two years or so has – I am now guessing – been entirely wrong.
I’ve been through two types of cleats. First the Shimano SPD SL cleats which were with what I learned to ride clipless pedals. They were fine, but they didn’t fit when I upgraded my pedals. Those pedals came with Look Keo cleats (or some equivalent called Xpedo). Needless to say, I forgot this when I ordered my shoes and ended up ordering / receiving / installing / removing the SPD SL cleats before re-ordering the Look Keos. Whoops.
Like an absolutely boob, I had forgotten I even needed cleats until the shoes arrived. I could have swapped my old ones over, but they are in bad shape. I figured new ones – for £15 give or take – would be nicer on a fresh pair of shoes. Also, keeping them old ones meant I’d have a spare pair.
This time around I took one look at the bottom of my old shoes and realised I had no idea how to copy across the cleat setup from one shoe to the other. That meant a trip to YouTube where I found that awesome video above.
The tip about where the ball of the foot fits over the pedal axel being found with a couple of dots and a ruler was eye opening. I did this on the new pair and … oh boy, was I wrong on the old pair.
As soon as I put these shoes on today I felt the difference in where the pedal felt under my foot. I guess I’ve been riding on my toes for the last two years. Yikes.
One bad thing though, whether it was poor cleat angle, or new cleat stiffness, I couldn’t unclip. Thank God I was on a turbo. I had to undo the shoes, get off, and pull them off by hand. Yowser.
In trying to force the cleats off with my leg, I put a lot of torsion on my knee joints. This is partly why I didn’t do a great deal of riding today. I was off and back on the bike maybe 10x trying to find the right angles and positions… thankfully I do think I’ve found it now, or very close, and they feel so much better. They’ve also become much easier to unclip, but not quite as easy as my Torch. Yet.
I’m wondering if this will translate to any power gains. Probably not. Comfort should be up though. Hopefully. Not that I’ve noticed pain in the knees or whatever, even with my old setup.
I did try to do a Zwift Halloween ride today, but I couldn’t get into it. The rides were too slow and I was frustrated by that. Also I didn’t want to risk doing damage to my knees, so pretty much called it a day. Hopefully with a rest ’til Tuesday, I should be back and raring to go.
Exciting times.