racing shoes with very rear cleat position

sam said:

Hello

Due to a recently recovered achilles tendenitis I am supposed not to stretch
my achilles too much. Therefore I'm looking for a racing shoe (or a
combination between shoe/pedal system) with either a very flexible cleat
position or one where the cleats can be attached very far back.

I plan to gradually move the cleat from the rear to propre front position as
I get more into shape.

Thank you for any advice!

Sam

Many SPD shoes have two cleat positions on a sliding attachment. Using
the rear most position on my Pearl Izumi (MTB) shoes puts the cleat so
far back that I had to trim the rubber quit a bit to avoid it hitting
the pedal axel. Pearl sells the same shoes in a road version called
Vortex but others will probably work as well.

sam said:

Hello

Due to a recently recovered achilles tendenitis I am supposed not to stretch
my achilles too much. Therefore I'm looking for a racing shoe (or a
combination between shoe/pedal system) with either a very flexible cleat
position or one where the cleats can be attached very far back.

I plan to gradually move the cleat from the rear to propre front position as
I get more into shape.

Thank you for any advice!

Sam

Hi Sam,

Have you seen:

http://tinyurl.com/ftxo9

and

http://tinyurl.com/hn6m9

My sports physician agrees that these eccentric calf exercises really do
work in many cases. I had a chronic achilles tendon injury (both sides)
many years ago (1973-1977) and calf stretching cured it almost
overnight. I think I was unknowingly doing a light form of these
eccentric exercise as I stretched. I now do a few eccentric calf
exercises when I stretch before a ride as a preventative measure.

If you aren't doing these exercises now, you should start with a few
reps and build up very slowly.

Hope this helps.

Martin
Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor etc
--
Removed z before replying by email.

sam said:

Hello

Due to a recently recovered achilles tendenitis I am supposed not to stretch
my achilles too much. Therefore I'm looking for a racing shoe (or a
combination between shoe/pedal system) with either a very flexible cleat
position or one where the cleats can be attached very far back.

I plan to gradually move the cleat from the rear to propre front position as
I get more into shape.

Thank you for any advice!

Sam

I use Sidi which have an extra threaded hole toward the heel. I'm not
sure what kind of cleat it is there for. But I use X2 Speedplays and
turn the 3-hole first layer around backwards. That puts it about 1"
minimum farther back than normal. The next layers will fit onto that,
but there is no in-out adjustment left (one pair of holes is wider than
the other). This works for me to get the cleats back. The only issue
is that there is a jump (the 1" I mentioned) in turning them back
around, rather than infinite adjustability.

Another poster mentioned mountain bike shoes. It appears to me that mtn
shoe / cleat combinations are typically farther to the rear than road
shoes, so going mtn alone may do the trick for you.

David