Bike Fit - Calves Ache

Gav888

Hi,

Ive found that I have always had aching calves when riding, been doing it for a few years now but didnt think anything of it really, but these days they seem to be aching more and more and also getting quite big....

So it got me thinking if my bike fit is ok.

Last night I did a threshold test to reset my zones so it was all out for 30 minutes, I noticed that the lactate build up seemed to be around my knee area and front 1/4 of my quad, then rest of the my quads didnt ache, also my calves ached the whole 30 mine....

From what I have been reading recently is your quad should ache, but more the whole things and your calves shouldnt really ache much at all, maybe even some butt ache as well, but I dont find this.

At present my cleats are over the pedal axle, ive read about moving the cleat back a bit so your foot is further forward, ie ball of your foot is in front of the axle a bit, and also adjusting seat high / fore / aft.

Does it sound like I need to play around with this, if so, what way should I go, cleat first, make the seat a bit higher or further back etc?

Cheers

Gav

Monty Dog

Calf ache is typically down to over-doing it i.e. lots of hard, out of saddle climbing or hyper-flexion i.e. a lot of foot / ankle movement - you can reduce it slightly by moving your cleats rearwards so may be worth experimenting. If you do move the cleats back, then you may need to adjust the saddle setback accordingly.

Gav888

Cheers, will give it a go as only one way to find out...

Also I hadn't done any stretching before but have started stretching in the last week or so to see if that helps, so that again might be part of it.

I was also contemplating starting up running again on a couple of my off days between rides to see if that helps, but previously when I tried my shins didn't like it despite spending a lot on good shoes and getting my gate done.