Sore Feet

[29er]

Need some advise please,

I did the BMW Auto Alpina road race in Nigel on Saturday.

My feet underneath hurts like hell especially the left one, a lot of effort was put into my pedalling due to the wind and climb on the return (did the 60km) leg of the race.

Is this due to the SPD’s on my road bike and the fact that I'm riding with MTB (Shimano spd) shoes ?.

Edited October 24, 2011 by 29er

[Carmichael]

Feed ?? like in eating ? Is your stomach sore when you feed ?

[Just Keep Pedaling]

Sorry to dear bout djour feed. By dose is blocked so sorry for dat.

 

Maybe it is just weak muscles in your feed. SPD shoes normally have a solid base to prevent this. If it a 'numbness' you might be pressing on a nerve, where the best solution is to find a way to stop pressurising that nerve.

[Johan Bornman]

Need some advise please,

I did the BMW Auto Alpina road race in Nigel on Saturday.

My feed underneath hurts like hell especially the left one, a lot of effort was put into my pedalling due to the wind and climb on the return (did the 60km) leg of the race.

Is this due to the SPD’s on my road bike and the fact that I'm riding with MTB (Shimano spd) shoes ?.

Welcome to cycling. Hotfoot is something most of us suffer one time or another.

 

Common wisdom has it that the bigger the platform under the shoe, the less hotfoot. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. Modern shoes are so stiff that platform size has very little effect on how much they flex during a pedal stroke. Pedal force is a fraction of your weight. Stand on a marble with your cycling shoes and you'll feel how little they actually flex. Remember, that your pedal force is much less than that - the guys withpower meters can tell us how much.

 

Your feel swell during cycling. I don't know why. Coupled to that, most cycling shoes are very, very narrow and that combo causes squashed foot, that presents as burning. It is the nerves between the metatarsals that react with such a typical "hot" feedback.

 

Don't think it is temperature, since cooling your feet doesn't solve the problem. Overall ambient temperature contributes to swelling but the actual pain is not from heat.

 

Lots of people will tell you to buy wider shoes. Take this with a pinch of salt since wide shoes don't exist. For years and years I visited bike shops armed with a set of vernier callipers. The shoes are narrow, the soles undercut the uppers so that your feet actually hang over the soles. With swelling, this constricts the foot.

 

Buy your shoes as big as practically possible, have your feet checked for Morton's Neuroma by a podiatrist and try one or two different style pedals/cleats. Don't go wild on the latter since I've been there, done that, with zero positive results. In the end I had the nerves removed. Now I can walk on hot coals. I don't because it smells very bad if I linger too long.

 

Good luck with those feed of yours.

[29er]

Sorry about the spelling %#^#%@!!

Maybe admin should give us Boertjie's a spell checker ??.

 

Thanks for the advise.

[RocknRolla]

Sorry about the spelling %#^#%@!!

Maybe admin should give us Boertjie's a spell checker ??.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

get a proper browser like Firefox - has built-in spell checker.

 

I've been watching this feed, and it's been quite entertaining.

[Tiny K]

Welcome to cycling. Hotfoot is something most of us suffer one time or another.

 

snip snip

 

 

JB - here is a Q for you then.

 

I used to use Diadora road shoes - really old, so replaced with SIDI Energy Comp 2's. had no issues with the Diadora's.

 

When I ride, I get pain in the outer underside of my right foot. It got so bad after the One Tonner (153Km) race that I could not walk on my foot at all it was so painful. Got the DC in a months time so I don't want the same thing to happen on a larger scale.

 

Here is a pic of where the pain resides:

 

This pain only started with the new SIDI's but is it just a matter of wearing them in, or is it the shoe itself?

[RocknRolla]

TITS

 

Time in the shoe....

 

I also had some severe foot pain when i started riding with cleats. it's tapered off completely.

 

so i gues what i am saying is the more you ride, the less the pain will become.

[davem]

Mmmm sore feet.. you need to watch this.

 

My link

[Johan Bornman]

JB - here is a Q for you then.

 

I used to use Diadora road shoes - really old, so replaced with SIDI Energy Comp 2's. had no issues with the Diadora's.

 

When I ride, I get pain in the outer underside of my right foot. It got so bad after the One Tonner (153Km) race that I could not walk on my foot at all it was so painful. Got the DC in a months time so I don't want the same thing to happen on a larger scale.

 

Here is a pic of where the pain resides:

 

This pain only started with the new SIDI's but is it just a matter of wearing them in, or is it the shoe itself?

 

After carefully studying the picture I know exactly what the problem is: the intermetatarsal plantar nerve in either the third or fourth metatarsal space is being squashed and is forming a perineural fibroma.

 

Translated, it means the shoe is squashing your forefoot and the nerves there don't like it. They respond by thickening, which of course aggravates the problem.

 

Solution: Cut that nerve out. It's an op done by a orthopaedic surgeon specialising in feet. You can go to a podiatrist to have it diagnosed and confirmed. The test is easy - squash your foot sideways with your hand and move it. If you hear clicking (and whimpering), you have a fat nerve in there.

 

Although I wasn't conscious when they did mine, I have a pretty good idea of what they did. If you want, I can scrub my workshop, sharpen my Leatherman and do yours. Stitching the wound up is easy for someone who used to sew tubbies. You can bite onto an old saddle if the pain gets too much.

 

I bushitted myself for years that I'll find wider shoes or that the podiatrist's inner sole inserts will work. It doesn't work. Cut it out.

 

PS. the picture only appeared after I made my diagnosis. That area doesn't suffer from Morton's. Buy if you come in I'll dig around a bit with my Leatherman and see what I can find.

Edited October 24, 2011 by Johan Bornman

[SuperChick]

JB, I suffer from Morton's Neuroma and have been advised, several times, by the orthopedic surgeon to have it removed. But I am too scared. How long could you not exercise for and was it painful? Any regrets now? I run as well, and really worried that I wont be able to run for some time.

[Johan Bornman]

JB, I suffer from Morton's Neuroma and have been advised, several times, by the orthopedic surgeon to have it removed. But I am too scared. How long could you not exercise for and was it painful? Any regrets now? I run as well, and really worried that I wont be able to run for some time.

Do it. Do it, Do it Do it. If you've suffered with this for years you will kick yourself that you didn't do it earlier.

 

I had mine done at the end of January and April I rode the Epic. Problem gone.

 

I had both feet done and had to hobble on crutches for a couple of days and later a walking stick, but this was mostly for effect since I bought a walking stick with a built-in sword and this made from great entertainent in the office. I rode within 10 days (or earlier), IIRC. Running will definitely take longer since you'll have stitches on top of your feet in a 30mm long would running between the metatarsal bones.

 

My only regret is that I didn't do this when I was 18. I suffered with it for close to 30 years. How stupid.

 

The only side effect is a numb spot under each foot. The sole is dead in an area the size of a R5 coin. It doesn't bother me. The one complication that could happen is the nerve stump could form scar tissue, creating exactly the same pain. I was told the chance is 20%. Considering that I therefore have a 40% chance of it happening and it didn't, I'd take the chance.

 

Edit: Was it painful? Not in the least. I don't think I suffered one bit of pain and I didn't take anything for pain other than what I was given in the theatre.

Edited October 24, 2011 by Johan Bornman

[levett]

Hi Johan,

 

Slight hijack, but still related (?)

 

Are people's feet getting wider? I have VERY wide feet - as a 'youth' I used to wear Doc Martins, and my foot used to 'stretch' the leather (eventually) and 'overhang' the sole on the outside. I recently went back to the 'traditional' Doc Martins and, over the last couple of years, they have changed the last to a wider last.

 

I had Nike Kato MTB Shoes which were wider than any others, and were a great shoe for me - unfortunately Nike have 'got out' of the cycling shoe business, and I've never found any that fit as well. Occasionally you see 'new old stock' or second hand Nikre Kato shoes come up on EBay, and they sell for stupid money (a lot more than I paid for them when they were 'current', so there are obviously a number of people who still want them.

 

It seems like most cycling shoes are built on what they call an 'Italian Last' - If you, like me, have a 'high volume foot', which is wide, with high arches it seems to be that, in cycling, you're doomed to never find any really good fitting shoes!