The Revolution Report #7: Pedals, Cleats and Shoes
Pedals, Cleats and Shoes
🚲 Setting the Foundation 🚲
Thank you for subscribing to our bi-monthly newsletter! 🎉 We’re thrilled to have you as part of our community, and even more excited to be a part of your cycling comfort and performance journey! Twice a month you can look forward to us sharing some information regarding the topics below!
🗒️ Business Updates: Stay informed about the latest news and announcements from our bike fitting business.
💪 Movement Health Tips: Get expert advice to improve your mobility, build strength, and elevate your quality of life.
🚴 Bike Fitting and Performance Education: Gain simple, practical insights into understanding your bike and why an individualized fit matters.
🙌 Community Highlights: Meet our trusted health and wellness partners and discover how they can support your goals.
📆 Workshops & Events: Be the first to know about our interactive workshops and learning opportunities to help you take charge of your health.
🚴♀️ NOW LET’S DIVE IN 🚴♂️
Business Updates:
Exciting News — Revolution Bike Fitting is Moving!
We’re excited to share some big news — Revolution Bike Fitting is moving to a new location!
Starting May 1st, you’ll find us inside Dugan Sports Performance at:
403 Industrial Drive, Carmel, IN 46077
This move puts us right in the heart of the north side, making it easier than ever for our clients from Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, Fishers, Zionsville, and north Indianapolis to access the personalized care and results-driven services you deserve!
Our new space will allow us to continue growing, collaborating, and expanding what we can offer — all while keeping the same commitment to your cycling journey!
Stay tuned! 🎉
We’ll be hosting an open house after we settle in, and we would love to have you stop by, see the new space, and celebrate with us!
Thank you for trusting Revolution Bike Fitting with your care. We can’t wait to welcome you to our new home!
If you have any questions or want to schedule your next fitting, feel free to reach out! Just reply to this email or click this Scheduling Link!
Movement Health Tips:
🧠 Neck & Upper Back Relief for Cyclists 💪
– Combat Postural Fatigue on Long Rides –
Cycling posture demands sustained time in a forward-flexed position, often leading to tight shoulders, stiff necks, and upper back fatigue—especially on longer rides. But with a few intentional strategies, you can stay stronger, longer in the saddle. Here’s how:
✅ Why It Happens – Holding your head up to look ahead while your spine rounds forward places strain on the neck extensors and upper back muscles. Over time, this creates tension, tightness, and even nerve irritation.
✅ Common Signs – Do you experience numb hands, shoulder tension, or neck pain post-ride? These are often signs your posture and muscle endurance need attention.
✅ Build Endurance, Not Just Flexibility – It’s not just about stretching—it’s about building postural strength in your mid-back (rhomboids, traps) and endurance in your deep neck flexors and scapular stabilizers.
✅ Better Bike Fit Matters – An overly aggressive riding position can contribute to excess strain. Make sure your fit allows for a neutral spine and minimal hunching.
Quick Reset Exercise: Wall Angels
Stand with your back against a wall, feet 6–8 inches away, and flatten your lower back. With elbows bent to 90 degrees, slowly raise and lower your arms along the wall like a snow angel. Focus on keeping your head, ribs, and arms in contact with the wall.
Do 2–3 sets of 10 reps after your ride or during work breaks to improve posture and shoulder mobility.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is for educational purposes only, and is not a substitute for individualized professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please seek a qualified healthcare professional when it comes to your unique pains, case, findings, health, etc.
Bike Fitting and Performance Education:
🚴♂️ Pedals, Cleats and Shoes 🚴♀️
When it comes to bike fitting, most riders focus on saddle height or handlebar position — but the connection between your feet and the bike is just as critical. Pedals, cleats, and cycling shoes form the foundation of power transfer, and small adjustments here can have a major impact on comfort, injury prevention, and overall efficiency.
✅ Shoes: Cycling shoes come in a range of stiffness levels, shapes, and closure systems. A stiffer sole improves power transfer by minimizing energy loss, especially in competitive or endurance riding. However, for casual or recreational cyclists, a bit of flex can improve comfort. Fit is crucial — too narrow, and you risk hotspots or nerve compression; too wide, and you lose stability. Footbeds or insoles can also support arch height and help distribute pressure more evenly across the sole.
✅ Cleats: Cleats are the interface between the shoe and the pedal, and their positioning — fore/aft, medial/lateral, and rotational (or “float”) — is a key part of a professional bike fit. Poor cleat setup can lead to knee, hip, or foot pain and reduced pedaling efficiency. For example, cleats too far forward can overload the calf and Achilles, while those too far back may reduce leverage. Rotational float is another consideration: some riders need more float to accommodate natural movement, while others perform better with a locked-in position.
✅ Pedals: Pedals themselves come in various systems (Look, SPD-SL, Speedplay, etc.), each with different float characteristics, platform size, and stack height (distance from the center of the pedal spindle to the foot). Larger platforms can offer more stability and comfort for some riders, while systems with adjustable float allow finer tuning of movement and alignment. Some pedals also allow for stance width (Q-factor) adjustments, which can relieve pressure on the knees or hips if a rider is bow-legged or knock-kneed.
Why This Matters for Bike Fit:
This foot-pedal interface is one of three major contact points (with the saddle and handlebars), and any misalignment here can lead to inefficiency, fatigue, or overuse injuries. Optimizing it not only helps with comfort and injury prevention but also maximizes power transfer — meaning more speed for less effort.Quick Tip:
Here’s how you set up your cleats in a “neutral” position. This position is best for beginner and intermediate riders, but as always, your goals, riding style, past medical history and current feelings on the bike impact the position a professional fitter will put your cleats.
Community Highlights
We have some amazing people around us in the surrounding communities, and we cannot wait to start highlighting our partners! Check out our Partners Page to see who we collaborate with, and if you want to learn more about someone not sponsored in this month’s newsletter please reach out to us and we will connect you to more information…or to them!
Check Out Our May Spotlight! 🎉
You'll be welcome at Bicycle Garage Indy, no matter where you might be on your journey.
Sales: BGI has a vast selection of the very best gear in bicycling and fitness.
Service: Our staff is well- trained, focused on quality, and ready to offer friendly, expert advice.
Sure, we often work with high performance athletes and technical equipment, but we also strive to be the best choice for beginners, casual riders, aspiring enthusiasts, and everyone else.
Come on in, you're invited.
Workshops and Events
If you, your team, or your community are interested in virtual or in person workshops, just REPLY TO THIS EMAIL!
If you have topics you would like to learn more about, or have questions you want us to address in this newsletter… REPLY AND LET US KNOW!
The more we can provide what you want, the better the experience will be for everyone!
Thank you for trusting us on your unique health journey!
To your health and success,
The Team at Revolution Bike Fitting
LIKE WHAT YOU READ?
The Revolution Report only reaches more people when you share it. So if you know anyone who could benefit from the information being shared forward them this email!
SUBSCRIBE HERE
Ready to Work With Us??? Click Below!
Copyright © 2025 Revolution Bike Fitting, All rights reserved.
10730 Bennett Parkway, STE D, Zionsville, IN 46077
Our e-mail address is:
[email protected]
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can unsubscribe from this list.
