I have mountain bike shoes and clipless pedals. When I go on long rides, my feet fall asleep and then very, very painfully wake up (on my most recent long ride, this started happening after 30ish miles and continued for the remaining 45 miles). What can I do to avoid/fix this problem?
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I've been suffering from this recently now that I've upped my mileage to 40+ mile rides. My solution was 3 fold: 1) Starting the ride with my shoes quite loose. I have Shimano road / race shoes with 2 velcro straps and a ratchet strap across the top of my foot. I found that I was ratcheting the shoes down too tight. 2) Cleat position. Try experimenting with your cleats in different positions, I've found having my cleats at the rear most setting, allows some of the pressure to be taken off the balls of my feet. 3) Insoles - I've bought some decent insoles as I have quite a high instep, which means all the pressure gets put through the ball of my foot. |
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I often get tingling in my outside 2 toes during long road rides. I find periodically taking one foot off a pedal and stretching my leg out and flexing my ankle around really helps. Doesn't even require stopping. If it becomes more severe, you may find stopping and doing some full stretching will help. |
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It could be that you over-tighen the upper part of your foot. |
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I second the recommendation to visit your LBS for a fitting. Not only might they be able to help with shoe/cleat placement, but a fit in other areas such as seat height may help alleviate any nerve impingement that might be happening. If you ride a lot, this is pretty important to take care of. Hope it gets cleared up. |
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Correctly fitted shoes must be part of the solution. However it is not good for our body’s to keep making the same constrained movement for a long time. So you could try stopping every hour, and removing your shoes and then flexing your feet. |
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I ran into this issue a couple of seasons ago. It took a combination of three things to make my problem go away. 1) I wear custom-made orthotics for running and walking. I had new casts done and new orthotics made. (The type I use breaks down/wears out after a couple of years) 2) On the recommendation of my podiatrist I loosened the laces/straps on my cycling shoes. I try to keep them barely snug enough to prevent my foot from sliding around. 3) I lowered my saddle about 1/4". My saddle position was set by a fit kit at my LBS years ago. I never messed with it. But, you are supposed to used that initial fit and make small adjustments from there. The slightly lower saddle position also helped reduce the occurrence of sore knees. |
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I had this exact problem for a while on my hybrid (which was at the time my only bike). It turned out not to be shoe/foot-related at all - it was the saddle. It was a wider "comfort" style saddle that came with the bike. When I bought a road bike, I found that I didn't have the same problem there, and I replaced the saddle on the hybrid with a narrower road bike saddle and never had the problem there again either. My guess is that somehow the way my legs were meeting the saddle was pinching a nerve or something. |
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I've run into this issue recently, too. Luckily, I'm in the shoe business and have easy access to custom-made orthotics. I'd highly recommend visiting a local pedorthist who can fit your feet correctly in your cycling shoes to ensure proper blood flow to all areas of the foot. If that's not an option for you, you might consider visiting your LBS for a good fitting on your bike. This should include proper cleat placement on your footwear. |
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