YES, we make running orthotics!!

We are well known for hand crafting cycling orthotic solutions for all athletes from Pros to weekend warriors. Our off site Northern Suburbs Orthotic Lab allows us the freedom to create all types of unique solutions for cyclists and yes, also for runners as well.

Our access to the Carbon Lab at our facility means we can create light weight dynamic ‘Pure Carbon Fibre’ running orthotics for intermediate / advanced runners and also a mixed Carbon / EVA version for beginner / intermediate runners who may be a little heavier.

The main benefits of using Carbon Fibre as the core material of a running orthotic are

• light weight

• excellent stiffness and memory

• very low volume

• snappy dynamic return to shape properties

• improved foot feel

There Is a good reason why Nike are using Carbon plates in the midsoles of their latest trainers.

The only trade offs for Carbon over Plastic is the materials are more expensive (that’s our problem, not yours) and that the life span of a carbon device is closer to 12 months. Whilst this isn’t as long as a standard plastic polypropylene version, it does provide far better foot feel over the life of its use and with our standard No Gap policy on 2nd sets, you won’t be out of pocket when you replace them anyway (must have applicable health insurance).

If you’re looking for a more dynamic lightweight solution for your running issues, make a time to discuss your needs and issues with us at The Pedaler and let us work with you to create a unique cutting edge solution.

The Pedaler Labs

DON'T MISS OUT. Free Orthotics*

It's that time of the year again! 

For most health insurers, December 31st marks the point where your benefits reset. It means, if you want a 2nd set of orthotics to use in your cycling or walking shoes, now is the time to use your benefits prior to the reset period.

All our valued clients at The Pedaler are entitled to 2nd set of orthotics with no 'out of pocket' costs with the use of their Private Health Fund*. 

Make sure you book a time, or give us a call to avoid missing the December 31st deadline as we get quite busy in December.

We are fortunate to be one of the few remaining Podiatry Practices that still has its own lab. This allows us to create unique solutions for all shoe and foot issues.

If you’ve been putting off seeing a Podiatrist to organise orthotics to alleviate pain, improve comfort or prevent potential problems, then get in now and we can prescribe your custom set of orthotics now, then issue you with a 2nd set in the new year at NO GAP.

The benefits of being a Pedaler Patient.

(*must have had previous orthotics from The Pedaler for a No Gap set - please check your health fund for details)

2nd Set Fund Only

It's that time of the year again.  For most health insurers, December 31st marks the point where your benefits reset. It means, if you want a 2nd set of orthotics to use in your cycling or walking shoes, now is the time to use your benefits prior to the reset period.

All our valued clients at The Pedaler are entitled to 2nd set of orthotics with no 'out of pocket' costs with the use of their Private Health Fund*.  Make sure you book a time, or give us a call to avoid missing the December 31st deadline.

*must have applicable podiatry and orthotic coverage (minimum costs apply)

The Pedaler Podiatry

WHAT WE DO

15 months after opening our doors in Milton, we have become widely known and relied upon to make the feet and legs of the cycling community pain free.  It is a mission that kicked off our unique enterprise, drove us into cycle shoe retail, and now stands us apart from your typical local bike shop / podiatry service.

Over time, the families of our treated cyclists have come to realize that we also provide comprehensive podiatric care for every member of their family as well.  From growing pains right through to offloading heel pain and pressure relief insoles for Grandmas tap shoes. 

The Pedaler remains one of the few Podiatry practices in Brisbane to still run a full onsite Orthotic Lab.  Each and every pair of cycling or walking orthotics remains hand crafted by head podiatrist Nathan White with his 17 years of industry leading experience.  It also allows us to run our now famous no gap second set of orthotics* for loyal Pedaler patients.

As part of The Pedaler Community, if you need any questions answered about foot health, drop in, give us a call or make an appointment.  Sometimes it only takes a few minutes to set you in the right direction.  

*subject to conditions.

Use it before you lose it

It's December, and now is the right time to make sure you have received the best value from your amazing health insurance.  If you haven't been to see us this year, need a quick orthotic review or body tune up, now is the time to get it done.  With most health insurers resetting on January 1, make sure you don't waste your benefits.

Contact us now to make an appointment.  Get ready for 2017!

12 months on. The Pedaler story thus far.

It has been 12 months since we kicked off this new venture and it is amazing how much has changed in that time.  The journey continues but I felt it may be interesting to provide some insight into where we have come from.

My background has always been specialised sports podiatry.  This has been my bread and butter for the last 16 years.  Over the last 9 years, cycling orientated podiatry has also become a focus. I love riding.  I love bikes and I enjoy the culture around the industry.   

My first foray into the cycling industry was through Cobra9 Cycling Orthotics.  I started this company in Hobart in 2009 with my close friend Chris Angel who had reintroduced me to cycling in 2007.  We started making specialised carbon insoles for cycling shoes and grew from there.  We played to our strengths.  We also enjoyed plenty of nights on the wines thinking big about our fledgling company.

In that same year, we sponsored our first race team - Cobra9 Racing.  This was a bunch of early adaptors and hubs, including myself, who raced down the grades and got belted at events routinely.  The first kit was fairly basic but the core and ethos was born.

As the racing team grew, so did our associations within the industry.  Our earliest supporter Dion from 4Shaw has hooked us up with socks since 2011.  I can still remember his email discussing a collaboration (rare in that time) with our socks.  I ignored the email as I didn't have a clue who he was.  A year later, 4Shaw was huge and meekly I finally replied to his email and we organised our first hook up.

With Cobra9 growing, the racing team became an important focus for marketing purposes. The team has grown from 5 riders to around 35 currently.  The team's involvement has shifted from Elite B, to Masters A and now to the Elite A level.  The team now competes regularly at NRS events and occasionally at UCI races.  The same underlying ethos remains. Race hard and enjoy the experience because the journey is the destination.  Every moment we race, travel and train is there to be enjoyed.  It won't last forever and the time to embrace it is now. As we commence preparations for season 2017, Cobra9 Intebuild Racing has become one of the longest standing active cycling teams in Queensland.

The team's emergence and increased prominence has grown some of our most important connections within the industry.  Long time supporters Megabake emerged out of this evolution and Wurkstand grew alongside the team's journeys.  Industry heavyweights, Attaquer jumped into our corner in 2013 which has been enormous for our brand and business.  I can't speak highly enough of the crew behind this particular company in terms of their professionalism and work ethic.  In an industry full of hollow promises and whingers, these guys keep delivering.

The Pedaler was conceived to capitalise on these strong brand associations.   However it would be another 12 months before the shop opened.   In the foot hills of the iconic Park Rd 'Eiffel Tower' where the cycling scene kicked off in Brisbane, The Pedaler was born.  The business model was supported by a sports focused Podiatry business in parallel with a strong core of quality cycling brands.  

We set out to only carry brands that we believe in.  POC safety gear fits this concept neatly as do the shoe offerings from Suplest, Fizik and Lake. The fabled Italian brand Colnago was our primary bike brand followed shortly after by Johnson Bikes from Ben Johnson in Noosa. Another example of a quality human in the cycling industry.

Our onsite lab has allowed us to build all types of orthotic solutions for our clients.  It also helps us ensure the best fit for our clients and their cycling shoes.  We have grown from one shoe brand to four and hope to create a proper 'wall of shoe' for our customers. It naturally plays to our strengths as qualified podiatrists.

None of this would be possible without our crew.

Our staff started with a very small core group. Podiatrist and now born again trackie, David Gruhl has been with us from the start.  He has been a stellar example of continuous endeavour and purpose.  His manual therapy skills have been incredibly important to our practice and his relationships with trainers and industry professionals continues to grow. 

Phil Cavdarski has manned the front desk regularly since opening and always presents with purpose.  He also brings humour and coffee.

The most recent arrival to our team in March of this year was Josh Prete. He is a huge addition for us as we have transitioned into comprehensive bike servicing and more complex builds. His customer relations are impeccable and he has grown into an integral part of The Pedaler providing assistance in developing brands and generating new market directions.  

We also need to laud the assistance of some other 'staff'.  Hadleigh has cleaned up our books enormously and allowed us more time to focus on the business and less time spent trying to untangle my BAS musings which look a lot like a scene from 'A Beautiful Mind'. Dugald runs the racing team with an efficiency that could only come from working at Australia Post for decades.  Adam my brother is a constant with the race team and co owner at Cobra9 Cycling Orthotics.  Daniel of Cycling Enquirer fame has also helped us look better then we really are on a regular basis driving much of our social media. 

Abbie and myself continue to learn important lessons daily. The first 6 months were pretty intense.   Up front costs associated with starting the business from scratch were epic and the ongoing expenses were uncomfortable.  As our community and the business has grown, the pressure has eased and the head space this allows has fuelled more creativity.  We like enjoying our days at work and subscribe to concept that our staff are our most valuable asset. We toast mars bars, take suicidal photos on Douglas St, create album covers and enjoy the experience.  In this way, the ethos of The Pedaler is similar to the race team's.  Enjoy the journey now.  Our other motto is just as important.  Don't spend every moment of every day worrying about the next.  If you have a quiet period, relax and use it.  

In our first year we have also had our fair share of set backs.  We lost our mate and most loyal fan JJ to depression.  He was an enormous help for us over the first few months of our journey. He was also our biggest supporter and it was a huge shock to lose him in such painful circumstances.  We hope to create an event in the coming months as a fitting memorial to our mate and one that typifies what this colourful character meant to the Brisbane cycling scene.

We also lost another of our best friends Steve Small from Wurkstand.  He was the victim of a hit and run on his way home from work in Noosa.  It is impossible to put into words how much he helped us create The Pedaler and also, how much he meant to our race team.  His untimely death is still painful to digest.  Fittingly at our 1st Birthday, we will unveil our Tribute kit to Steve.  All profits from this venture will go to his family to help reconcile a tiny portion of their loss.

There are more ideas and business ventures we are hoping to launch in the coming months. We remain loyal to our foundation brands and will grow from this base.  We also remain focused on providing comprehensive best practice Podiatry care and a top shelf customer experience. Each interaction is a relationship, not a transaction.   

Thank you all for your support.  Come along on Saturday to our Sausage Festival and enjoy the snags (maybe even a few vegan versions by popular demand).  Tunes, drinks, banter and epic snaps.  It's The Pedaler way.

Nathan

Podiatry Myth Busting - Flat feet are bad.

I love this topic.  It's one of my favourite bug bears.  'Your feet are too flat'.  'You need arch support'.  'If you don't treat that, your arches will drop'.  'We can build your arches up'.

What a load of complete BS.  This sort of science belongs back in a era when the concept was used as a determining factor for admission into the Armed Forces during the Second World War.

There have been a large number of studies that have investigated 'foot posture' and it's relevance to injury rates.  There is no correlation between injury rates and flat feet in most instances.  Indeed there are some studies that indicate injury rates in certain activities are actually more prolific in cavoid (high arched) foot types against their more planus (flat) incarnations. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16130646

Lets address each of these statements individually.

Your feet are too flat.  This would suggest that their is a normal or perfect foot type (there isn't).  It simplifies the assessment of mechanics down to a purely static visual assessment rather then as part of a thorough investigation.  It also creates an arbitrary ranking system where every clinician's opinion drives intervention. Many of the world's best athletes have planus feet and excel in their sport.  

You need arch support.  I love this one.  Do your arches need some form of guidance counselling? A support group of sorts?  Anyone who has passed through The Pedaler Podiatry would have seen first hand our reluctance to use this arbitrary term.  Orthotics don't 'hold feet up' so as a consequence, popping an orthotic into their shoe won't provide the theoretical 'arch support' they require.  An orthotic is simply an inert material placed inside your shoe that your foot lands on.  It doesn't push back.  It doesn't stick to your foot and hold it up. 

If you don't treat that, your arches will drop.  Umm, no.  No studies support this theory.  The key driver of intervention should always be pathology, pain or function impairment.  Treating based on the assumption that not treating will cause the arches to drop further is inaccurate.

We can build your arches up.  Holy cow.  Firstly, why?  Secondly, how?  We know that flat feet don't cause any more problems then more cavoid versions, so why are we doing this?  We also know that putting orthotics inside shoes won't lift the arches over time either.  

Now, don't let my cynical musings convince you of other false generalities.  There are exceptions to every rule.  Human anatomy and mechanics are not simple structures.  There are examples of planus feet that may require treatment, as there is when dealing with cavoid feet. There is also a place for orthotic therapy when required within this space especially when dealing with pain or imperfect function.  In these instance, the use of an orthotic insert may assist in shifting load from overloaded tissue or changing the length of time a structure undergoes load.  

Orthotic therapy can achieve pain relief, but if your about to prescribe it, you better have a better reason then - your feet are too flat.

Benefits of being a 'Pedaler' Patient.

If you're lucky enough to be one of our special podiatry/orthotic clients and your feet reside at our 'macabre' storage facility, then you're set for life.  All of our orthotic customers are able to organise a second set of orthotics for no out of pocket expense if they have applicable health insurance.  

Simply make a time to see us and we can ensure that we have your prescription and needs met, then we can fabricate and get your new orthotics out to you within a few days.  This may be a set of walking, running or cycling orthotics.  

This may be a set of walking, running or cycling orthotics

If you're unsure regarding your entitlements, contact your Private Health Fund today and make sure you are getting the most from your coverage.

Call us for more details.  If you aren't an existing client of ours, then rest assured, once you are part of The Pedaler family, you too will be entitled to the same generous treatment.

The Pedaler Cares.  Your LBS and LPP (Local Podiatry Practice).