We’ve all heard it before: Never make equipment changes before a big race, but sometimes even the most experienced riders seem to forget.
Recently, while riding down to a race, a team mate and I were discussing new shoes and adjusting cleat position. He’d just had a very minor ( a few mm) adjustment done and now was experiencing some knee problems. Luckily, he had another pair of shoes with the cleats in the old position and was able to wear them and race without an issue. On another occasion a team mate had just gotten a new pair of shoes and was excited to wear them, but the first opportunity to do so was in a race. He, unfortunately, was not as lucky: the new shoes and cleats were not completely dialed in, and he wound up missing some time to heal a bit of tendinitis in his knee.
The point of these two anecdotes?? one is that they illustrate once again why the conventional wisdom that you don’t make changes to equipment before a race is, well, wise. The other is that even minor changes, moving a cleat a few millimeters especially with a non- or limited float system like Speedplay zero or the gray or black Look cleats, can have a major impact.
I was reminded of this issue while surfing cyclingnews.com:
Moncoutié forced out with knee injury
While David Moncoutié (Cofidis) was not among the fallers on Monday, the Frenchman was forced to abandon the race on stage two with a knee injury. He had already lost over eight minutes on stage one due to the ailment. According to La Dernière Heure, Moncoutié’s knee problem stems from his decision to change his cleats on the Thursday before the race, which led to a slight alteration in his position.
The Frenchman abandoned 60km into stage two and it remains to be seen if he will be fit for the next race on his programme, the Tour of Catalonia (21-27 March). http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ls-haedo-abandons-paris-nice-after-police-motorbike-collision
Apparently, even the pros ignore conventional wisdom just as much as Joe Mastersracer and suffer for it as well…
