This is the least substantial, but most substantive, product I'll review this year. It's not often that I'm able to say, "Use this product, you'll probably go faster," and to be able to say that unequivocally.

There are some caveats, of course. What I write below presupposes that you've got a problem that needs to be fixed, and further on I'll write about the symptoms, so that you can determine whether you are in fact Wedge-worthy.

With all the writing I do about one's feet and how to keep them healthy and happy, one might consider the time I spend on feet out of proportion to the space I allot to the other body parts. For example, I have written no fewer than three articles about the shoe dog, Jim Rice, who builds my running orthotics. Limited to its relationship to triathlon, I imagine my preoccupation with feet does rise to the level of fetish. But I owe a lot to my feet and you do too if you think about it.

LeWedge is what this system of shoe canting is called, and that's because (I'm guessing) of its relationship to LeMond Fitness. LeMond is, among other things, a line of bikes named after Greg Himself, and is owned by the Trek Bicycle Corporation. But this LeMond, LeMond Fitness, has no relation to the bicycle company. When asked what LeMond Fitness is (apart from its other revenue generator, a stationary bicycle akin to a spin bike), LeWedge founder Paul Swift said, "It's an adjunct that completes anybody's bike fit system."

Swift is himself a bit of a road race fit guru, and founder of what used to be called, "Big Meats." These Big Meats were simply Little Wedges that appeared to be plastic slices that were slightly thicker on one side. Depending on whether you needed your shoes canted on the outside or inside, you just flipped the wedge upside down or right side up. If you needed more cant, you doubled up on your wedges. Or tripled, or quadrupled. If you had a leg length discrepency, you used them in pairs, with one wedge flipped, to create a platform between your cleat and your shoe.

It's an elegant solution to a variety of problems. Big Meats were further developed by its owner, who made different versions to serve a variety of pedal and cleat styles. A dealer also was provided a large variety of screws that were each slightly longer, and of different screw head styles, so as to accommodate just about any rider, any shoe, and any number of wedges between cleat and shoe.

The fit system Paul Swift (a former 8-time national cycling champion on the track, and a 15-year national team member) brought to LeMond Cycling is much more comprehensive than simply the system of wedges that were Big Meats and are now LeWedge. But it's only the wedges I'm writing about today, because LeWedge is rather unique. There are many fit systems, but this is the only shoe canting product I've used, and with which I'm familiar. Since it's patented, it's also the only wedge system you're likely to find for sale.

Who needs LeWedge? Here is my list (not LeWedge's list, or Paul Swift's list) of those who ought to consider having the cleat's canted:

• Do you feel pressure on one side of your foot after riding awhile? Most often, you'll feel pressure on the outside of your foot. This means that this part of your foot is the part applying pressure to the pedal. The outside of your foot is sore because it's what is making sole contact (sort of a pun, yes) with the shoe. Putting LeWedge under your cleat so that the thick part of the wedge is on the inside—the medial side—will cause your foot to contact the shoe evenly, and will distribute the force area.
• While your knees are tracking up and down during the pedal stroke, are they also moving back and forth? You may find that they stay in the same position relative to the centerline of the bike with your cleats properly canted. You may also find that your knees stay closer to the centerline of the bike, or at least straight over your pedal, with your cleats correctly canted.
• Are your feet sliding on the pedal at the bottom of the pedal stroke? In other words, assuming you have floating cleats, is your heel moving back and forth, inside and out, during the pedal stroke? This might be a sign that your foot is trying to find the correct point of power application, and that it's finding some difficulty in doing so. This is again possibly an issue of cleat cant.

You may find that the amount of canting you need is minute. There are eight wedges provided in a LeWedge kit, with the possibility that you may need up to four wedges per shoe. The instructions recommend that you start with two wedges per shoe. I did. After my first ride I discovered that instead of undue pressure on the outside of my foot, now I had pressure on the inside. I'm still in the process of deciding how many wedges I need, and I may move down to one wedge, or perhaps stay with two wedges on one shoe and one for the other.

My riding partner, Mark Montgomery, likewise has had problems for years, and maybe the most dramatic test of LeWedge for me was riding behind Mark and watching his "new" pedal stroke. For 20 years he's had a very idiosynchratic riding style that incorported all of the "warning signs" I list above. Now they're all gone, and he's a much smoother rider. As a consequence, his cadence is a few beats higher than before, because of all the superfluous motion now omitted from his pedal stroke.

What is the empirical benefit of having your cleats properly canted, you might ask. There are three potential benefits, as far as I can tell. One is mentioned above, and it is probably the least often considered by those who use LeWedge. If your knee is taking the scenic route laterally as it's doing its work vertically, your cadence can't help but suffer. Second, and probably most frequently considered, is injury prevention. Finally, there is the issue of the application of power, and frankly I'm reticent to write much about this, because I have no data, yet, to back up my working hypothesis—which is this: If your leg is vertically aligned, you're delivering more power to the pedal.

Finally, I have found yet another use for LeWedge. My Apple mouse had developed worn edges over the past six months since its purchase, and I was just about to order another when the light bulb lit up inside my head. As you can see, with a little creative sculpture I've fixed my mouse problem thanks to LeMond Cycling and Paul Swift, who probably did not know they had drifted into the consumer electronics category.

How do you go about LeWedging if you think you're a candidate? It's quite hard, in fact, to find LeWedge sold online. One of LeWedge's largest dealers is Bicycle Sports. They buy so many, so I'm told, that they buy them bulk—like 1200 wedges at a time. "They've been with me since the early days," says Paul Swift. "The only thing is, they run out of them so quickly, I'll get a call from John Cobb himself, who'll say, 'Paul, aah need 600-a-your wedges... tomarrah.' So I have to overnight them."

Bicycle Sports has not, to my knowledge, been a big seller of LeWedges online. The great majority of their wedge business is in concert with the bike fits they execute. When sold aftermarket in a retail store, LeWedges are $25 for eight wedges, complete with replacement screws and instructions. If you can't find them and you want them online, Bicycle Sports is as good a bet as any.

You can read more about LeWedge on the LeMond Fitness website, which includes a semi-reliable list of LeWedge retailers.