Review – SOLESTAR Supportive Cycling Insoles

Supporting the arch and heel of your foot when cycling is crucial to both performance and injury prevention. Supportive insoles such as those from SOLESTAR help to hold your foot in a safe and secure position—allowing for maximum power transfer and maximum support throughout your pedal stroke. When you push down on the pedals, it places great force through the arch and ball of your foot. You transmit power through a relatively small surface area underneath your shoe's foot bed, so cycling shoes are made to be stiff, so power transfer is not lost by flex in the shoe. However, few riders consider the lost power from the foot itself flexing during the pedal stroke; equally they do not consider the potential for injury when your foot abnormally contorts. During work I did with Phil Burt, the lead physiotherapist at British Cycling, he highlighted how important the structure of a cycling shoe is to power transfer. For the Beijing and London Olympic Games they designed custom carbo...