achilles pain after bike fit

Question

I had a bike fit a few weeks ago as I was uncomfortable on the bike. Prior to the fit on this bike, I had pain in my right foot, would generally sit on my right leg some causing sores on longer rides, and would 'hop' around in the saddle constantly, front to back, side to side.

After the fit, my saddle was replaced as it was no longer stable, lowered 1.5-in (unsure of fore/aft), my handlebars dropped .5 cm by adjusting the spacers, and 2 shims were put in my left shoe (as I had mentioned that my previous fit from about 5 years ago showed a dynamic leg length discrepancy). My left foot is about 1/4-in shorter than my right, but I had properly positioned my cleats over the average between the 1st and 5th metatarsals.

As a result, the pain in my right foot went away entirely, but I then ended up with pain in my right Achilles. At the time, I was riding about 100 mi per day and doing about 6000-ft - 10000-ft of elevation whereas most of my riding is about 40 mi per day with about 2000-ft of elevation. I wasn't hopping around the saddle like I was before, but after having been in this position now for a few weeks, I am starting to hop once more.

The fitter said that my feet should generally be flat when pedaling and after the fit, they are.

With all of that said, my Achilles pain has vanished (mostly). I think that is since I'm riding much less with much less elevation gain. But, I did start to feel it come back when doing a longer continuous ride but still under 40 mi. I commute back and forth to work and that ends up around 30 - 40 mi. If I do that with little to no break, then my Achilles starts to hurt.

Aside from stretching, is my saddle too low? Why does my left foot / Achilles not bother me?

Answer 1

Without seeing you, it is difficult to be precise. Even if you posted photos to Reddit, you would likely get a bunch of contradictory answers from people who aren't actually deeply informed, but they think their experience generalizes. Also, your static fit is different from your dynamic fit under load, and a good bike fitter would be assessing you when you're putting out some effort.

If you're correct that they lowered your saddle by a full 1.5", nearly 40mm, that's a huge change. If the fitter was correct, your saddle was massively too high. If this was true and your saddle is now in the correct position, then I'd definitely not expect pain. Fitters are human and can make mistakes, so you should go back and see if maybe the change was too big. Generally, I wouldn't expect pain after a good bike fit. It will take your muscles some time to acclimate to the new position, and ones you previously hadn't used may wind up sore, but I assume you can differentiate that from something like joint pain.

Speaking of this, we'd normally recommend an easy week to adapt. The way you describe your current activity level doesn't really sound like easing up. I would recommend actually easing up.

In the first paragraph, you seem to be saying that your pelvis was generally unstable in your original position. If your saddle was much too high, then I would expect pelvic stability to improve after the fit, so it is odd when you seem to be saying that you still have some pelvic instability.

I have some concern over the cleat shims. You say you had a functional leg length discrepancy. That means your legs aren't structurally different (i.e. bones longer), but rather that they are different in practice probably due so some sort of difference in physical/muscular function. It would be better if you were given some exercises to help address the functional issues, but perhaps your fitter didn't know any. I think the better bike fitters will tend to have some idea about this. Also, lowering the saddle should have reduced pelvic instability, so it seems to me that perhaps they should have held off on shims until that was resolved. I don't believe most cyclists need shims unless they have structural leg length differences. Steve Hogg, an experienced bike fitter, reported that as of about 2011, less than 1/3 of his clients needed shims in his assessment.

Answer 2

Be aware that pains moving up and down the leg is an indication of sciatica. Sciatica pain in the foot is felt on the outer edge and in the fourth and fifth toe. What seems to be leg length discrepancy (as partly covered by user Weiwen Ng) can be caused by a permant rotation of the pelvis which also can lead to sciatica.

Pain in the achilles area can be caused by a sore Soleus muscle. Does this muscle feel hard? Then use a foamroller or likewise. Did the bike fitter use watt pedals (independent power measurement of each leg)? Perhaps you are pushing harder on your right leg.

Did you suddenly increase distance, load or intensity per ride/day/week/month before the incident? Do not increase more than 5-10% per week to stay safe. Remember cool down and days with low intensity/low load.

Be careful when selecting shoes. Does the width of the forefoot match? (The area where you are pushing). The sole should bend in a pleasant way.