Celebrating women’s cycling

Creating the best possible cycling shoes for women 

If you look at the data around the most successful French cyclist of modern times, it might surprise you… but it shouldn’t. With a recent Tour de France femme victory, Pauline Ferrand Prevot stands head and shoulders – and feet – above the rest; winning the first ever TdF for a French cyclist since 1985. Yes, the times are changing, and thankfully, women are finally starting to get the recognition, support and global cycling events that they deserve – for no other reason that it should be a natural aspect of our sport, not a ‘nice to achieve’ target.

Here at Lake, we’ve been designing women specific cycling shoes for many years. Our chief designer, Hutch, works with top cyclists and anatomy experts around the world, ensuring that our cycling shoes are not just designed for the variety of foot shapes and sizes that exist; but that they’re also gender specific where required. Looking across our range of some of the world’s best road cycling shoes, we now have women’s models in all of the following ranges:

CX333  •  CX20R  •  CX302  •  CX403

And we will be looking at other models in the future too, because we understand that women’s feet are different from men, and that trying to fit a woman’s foot into a men’s cycling shoe isn’t the right solution. It can cause pain, discomfort and lead to other significant health issues. That’s why we at Lake use so many different shoe Lasts; ultimately, some lasts are better designed to cater for a low instep – and these are the lasts that we at Lake use for our women’s specific cycling shoes.

The anatomy of a women’s foot

Despite the obvious anatomical and physical differences between men and women, the feet also require a women-specific solution. First of all, women have a narrower heel in general than men, relative to their forefoot. A male foot is generally more uniform, whilst as stated, in women, the heel in a cycle shoe needs to address the difference in width if it is to hold the foot firmly in place, be comfortable and transfer that power into performance. Shoes such as our women’s specific CX333 and CX403 also have a moldable heel counter, too; adding that extra element of fit and comfort for women cyclists.

Looking at the arch and the instep, a women’s arch is usually higher and more flexible than a flatter male arch. Add to this the shallower nature of a women’s instep, and it’s critical to design in factors to address this and the volume issue, how the shoe is fastened or laced and even the positioning of the BOAs. In relation to foot shapes too, women tend to have a more curved inner line to the foot and a shorter outer length. As you can see, even before we look at how the foot itself then functions and distributes the weight, we already have significant aspects of the female foot that tell us how important it is for women to have access to cycling shoes that are specifically designed for their own unique feet.

Taking a weight of the mind of women cyclists

Working with our Lake global cycling ambassadors such as Eleanor Barker, Xan Crees, Debby Frenken and Kerri-Ann Upham, we’re able to lead the way in all cycling genres; from road, to mtb, to endurance cycling, gravel and cyclocross. Our women ambassadors help us to understand how our world-leading women’s cycling shoes perform in real-life situations. It helps us to see how women tend to experience greater loading on the lateral (outer) side of the foot, particularly in the midfoot and forefoot regions, compared to men. This seemingly small fact can contribute to a higher possibility of the following foot problems in women: bunions, corns, and plantar fasciitis.

Yes, here at Lake cycling shoes, we’re dedicated to taking the weight off the minds of all women cyclists, by designing and creating women’s cycling shoes that are fit for purpose and fit for the female foot. Whether you ride a road bike, a gravel bike, mountain bike or simply a leisure or commuting bike; you deserve to have your feet wrapped in comfort by some of the world’s best cycling shoes.

There’s a long way to go still, in giving women the recognition, parity and support that they deserve within the global cycling arena. We’d like to help to speed things up, by providing all cyclists with the right cycling shoes for the journey ahead – by Lake, where power always equates to performance!